Times Quick Cryptic No 2929 by Pedro

Author   rolytolyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Another quite challenging QC.

Perhaps I was bang on wavelength yesterday, but at 8:24, today’s took me a good couple of minutes longer. I was slow to get 1ac, which foxed me with the unusual appearance of WOLVERINE and KLINGON, and there were plenty of tricky things going on elsewhere.

Lovely puzzle, with some cracking clues on offer – many thanks to Pedro!

Across
1 The standard greeting in the Magic Circle? (4,6)
HOWS TRICKS – Cryptic definition, gettable enough when you get it, but I was dithering over OPEN SESAME, despite it not making any sense.
7 Oxford college that is surrounded by old hands? (5)
ORIEL – IE (id est = that is) surrounded by O(ld) and R+L (hands)
8 Quiet conclusion still to occur? (7)
PENDING -P (Piano = quiet) ENDING (conclusion)
10 What could replace a super tom at work? (9)
MOUSETRAP – anagram (at work) of A SUPER TOM, with the literal referring to a TOM, as in a male cat. Chambers tells me a TOM can also mean a big bell (which cropped up last week) or a prostitute (which didn’t). So, your choice whether the surface is referring to a very loud electronic chime or a sexbot.
12 Leave a region of India (3)
GOA – GO (leave) A
13 Excellent source of fibre, very much recalled as weaving material (6)
RAFFIA – AI (A-ONE = excellent) F (“source” of Fibre) FAR (very much) all reversed, or “recalled”. FAR = VERY MUCH for example in far better/very much better.
15 Stone expert adopting new position (6)
STANCE -ST(one) ACE (expert) adopting N(ew)
16 Source of charge? Electric current working (3)
ION – I (SI unit for electric current) ON (working)
17 Environmentalist’s new arrangement of igloos etc (9)
ECOLOGIST – anagram (new arrangement) of IGLOOS ETC. I would draw a significant distinction between environmentalism and ecology, but Collins says an ecologist can also be a “person who believes that the environment and natural resources should be preserved, etc.”
20 Permanent support for shoemaker in capital of Greece (7)
LASTING – LAST (support for shoemaker), IN, G (“capital” of Greece)
22 Control importing sulphur and other material for plastics (5)
RESIN – REIN (control) importing S(ulphur)
23 Running in all directions, playing tennis with peer (10)
SERPENTINE – anagram (playing) of TENNIS with PEER – nice word and nice clue
Down
1 Sources of High Art In Kyoto University? (5)
HAIKU – &lit: the “sources” of the subsequent five words provide the wordplay; and a literal definition.
2 Most of long review panned superhero in film (9)
WOLVERINE – anagram (panned) of LON (“most” of LONg) and REVIEW
3 Thanks Republican turning up to make a point (5)
TAPER – TA (thanks) REP(ublican) “turning up” = reversing
4 Unspecified number admitted to fashionable bar (3)
INN – N (unspecified number) admitted to IN (hip, fashionable)
5 Leader against housing large alien species (7)
KLINGON – KING (leader) ON (against) housing L(arge). As in leaning something on/against the wall.
6 Conservative claim: more changes regarding business (10)
COMMERCIAL – anagram (changes) of C(onservative) CLAIM MORE
9 Memorial — most sombre example? (10)
GRAVESTONE – the GRAVEST ONE could be the most sombre example
11 Post Office ruined our trip — a mixture of things (9)
POTPOURRI – PO (Post Office) and an anagram (ruined) of OUR TRIP
14 Penalties seem reduced by 50 per cent? This shows subtlety and tact (7)
FINESSE – FINES (penalties) SEem “reduced by 50%”
18 Newspaper possibly involved in reorganisation (5)
ORGAN – “involved” in reORGANisation
19 No opening for paper in topical matter (5)
ISSUE – no “opening” for tISSUE (paper)
21 Leading politician I upheld as a rascal (3)
IMP – PM (leading politician) I “upheld” = reversed

95 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 2929 by Pedro”

  1. 16:33 HOWS TRICKS and WOLVERINE both took a lot of time. I had Rattan first for RAFFIA (I only have a vague idea what either is).

  2. 5:52 with the same hold-ups as others on WOLVERINE and HOWS TRICKS. Also needed all the checkers to get GRAVESTONE, which turns out to be an excellent (semi-&lit?) clue.

    Would like to have seen, the Japanese poetry, clued as a haiku.

    Thanks Pedro and Roly.

    3. I had the same thought as you about clueing HAIKU. Held me up a little looking for it.

  3. 11 minutes. I am only vaguely aware of such things as KLINGON and WOLVERINE so they probably lost me a minute between them, but RAFFIA went straight in as we did raffia-work at my nursery school back in the early 1950s.

    I thought 10ac was a delightful clue conjuring up amusing images of a cartoon cat with special powers, so I rather wish I had not read the comment in the blog!

    1. I had the same thought about raffia. It was all the rage in Miss Glass’s Kindergarten in the early 1950s.

  4. I thought this was a well-judged puzzle and I too give COD to my next-to-last in MOUSETRAP. An enjoyable solve though I still have no idea what was going on with my LOI HOW’S TRICKS, presumably it’s some culture reference that has passed me by. Thanks to roly and Pedro.

    1. Yeah I assumed HOWS TRICKS involved some British cultural reference, possibly a character called Trixie in a spin-off from The Magic Roundabout?

      Then I thought it was just a bit of whimsy referencing how a gathering of magicians might greet each other.

      On further research it seems that there is a Magic Circle organisation in Britain “dedicated to promoting and advancing the art of magic”.

      This is a very convoluted way of saying I just used the checkers.

        1. Oh yeah I’m familiar with the expression. Was just bewildered by the cryptic.

      2. Me too, but I am now intrigued. Is that organisation “dedicated to promoting and advancing the art of magic” so prominent as to warrant inclusion here? I always thought ‘magic’ and ‘trick’ were different things, but perhaps not.

      3. “Magic circle” also refers to the top law firms, which pointed me in a completely unhelpful direction.

  5. Another overly hard puzzle for a QC. Unlike yesterdays I thought the clueing poor and unfriendly.

  6. 11 minutes. I really enjoyed this one with HOW’S TRICKS, MOUSETRAP, HAIKU and GRAVESTONE (for which I had the same thoughts as galspray) my favourites. RAFFIA remembered from “the Mrs Joyful Prize for RAFFIA work” in Molesworth.

    Thanks to roly and Pedro

    1. Ah, raffia work! That’s what it was called at my nursery school. In my comment above I originally wrote ‘raffia weaving’ but I have amended it now.

    4. A steady amble to the SCC. Fairly evenly paced, working across and down as checkers accumulated. Liked GRAVESTONE. “Source” was the in word, used in three clues, twice to indicate first letter of, but once not.
      Thanks Pedro, and Roly for the fun blog.

  7. Got there in the end. Good progress after only getting three on the first pass of acrosses. LHS went in pretty smoothly but the whole of the right was made hard by seeing ‘how’s things’ fitted the space the checkers but unravelling that via KINGLON was really hard – only really revisted once I saw that with that starting G ‘gringos’ would fit for alien species but surely couldn’t be right. STANCE then became a lot easier. 17.35.

  8. After the past two days when it was DNF, I whizzed ( for me) through this in 28 mins. And I had parsed all the clues.

    Perhaps it was because I employed paper and pencil to help with anagrams? Anyway, I was on Pedro’ s exact wavelength today.

    I found the word play very tight and helpful. It seemed a perfect straightforward QC to me. Slight doubt about RESIN as I mostly associate that with resin from plants, but there are plenty of synthetic ones about.

    I wonder if 13a definition is “recalled as weaving material”? Many, if not most of us, may have made raffia baskets as young children. Though I do recall that mine was a very wonky mat.

    Many thanks to Pedro and rolytoly.

  9. Got through most of this without too many problems until getting breezeblocked by the first part of 1a (despite being familiar with the expression HOWS TRICKS – I may even have used it once or twice) and WOLVERINE.
    I thought MOUSETRAP was excellent.
    Finished in 8.29
    Thanks to Rolytoly

  10. 22:03. It’s funny how these things work but I was right on Pedro’s wavelength today and if it hadn’t been for LOI STANCE taking about three minutes would have avoided the SCC.
    Several clues made me smile including GRAVESTONE and FINESSE.
    Thanks Pedro and Roly for explaining ORIEL.

    1. Well done #5 – over a minute ahead of me 👍 Looks like the drinks in the SCC are on me 🍺

  11. 11:24 another enjoyable puzzle so thanks to Pedro. And thanks Roly for the blog albeit nothing for me really requiring additional explanation today.

    I swear we see ISSUE/TISSUE about once a week.

    FOI: TAPER
    COD: MOUSETRAP
    LOI:ORGAN having been slowed down by having to reach for pen and paper to unravel SERPENTINE.

    Cheers

    Jonathan

  12. FOI HAIKU which gave HOWS and magic gave TRICKS, a common greeting amongst … life/things for me. Biffed RAFFIA (I too remember the wonky mat that never sat flat) but for the life of me, I couldn’t parse it. No problem with KLINGON but WOLVERINE was only a faint recollection of sleeping through a movie en famille despite its cacophonous sound track. 35 mins, so, harder than average for me. Quick croissant in the SCC for me before dog walk.
    Thanks Pedro and Roly.

  13. For the third day running I seem to have found this tougher than the consensus – maybe the little grey cells are starting to fade. But eventually all green in 16:48, and satisfying to crack what I thought was quite a challenge. Main hold-ups were on = against in KLINGON (though I do vaguely recall seeing that one before), far = very much in RAFFIA (NHO but managed to work it out – a classic biff-then-parse), and WOLVERINE where I have never heard of the aforementioned superhero. Tough to find an anagram where one has to lose a letter from the potential anagrist but doesn’t understand the clue, so no help in deciding which letter to drop. LOI was SERPENTINE, solved as an anagram but did not know the meaning.

    Time for the week so far, 4 puzzles, already exceeds what I aim for for the whole week of 6 puzzles, so we certainly seem to be in a stiffer patch. Many thanks Roly for the blog.

    1. Surely you can’t “biff then parse” if you’ve NHO the answer?! If you don’t know the wire you can only arrive at it through wordplay, not biffing, so really congratulations are in order 👍🏻

      1. Ah. NHO far = very much. RAFFIA well known, not least (as BR reminds us) from the Molesworth books, so in that sense I got the answer raffia fairly quickly and then spent some time working out why it was right.

  14. 23:17 for the solve. Had a decent first runthrough of the clues but most of the stuff I got was towards the SE corner so I didn’t have many starter letters. Anagrams are never my forte – so I struggled with SERPENTINE, WOLVERINE, MOUSETRAP and COMMERCIAL plus couldn’t see HOWS-TRICKS.

    Couldn’t parse ON=against in KLINGON or FAR=very much, never seen ST=Stone in a puzzle and didn’t think of Imperial measures at the time, even though I used the abbreviation only the other day. Tentatively had REVERB as a hidden word backwards for RAFFIA which made little sense but …

    It was okay but would like to have go through it quicker as the second half became a drag of trial and error to figure stuff out. There were some good clues in there but long forgotten by the time the end was reached. Once again Pedro putting me in the SCC as he did in Jan & Feb.

    Thanks to Roly for the blog and perhaps to Pedro for the puzzle.

  15. I found that tough too, though wasn’t helped by a ticket check and a load of people breaking the Sacred Law and TALKING on a commuter train. They should all lose their citizenship rights.

    Anyway, some super clues. Didn’t help myself by persisting with “how’s things” for far too long. Eventually unscrambled and ended up with 10:51 for an Undistinguished Day.

    Many thanks Pedro and roly.

    1. People having the temerity to talk on the train was my biggest pet hate back in the time of the 5 day London commute. I certainly do not miss those trains as I commute from my living room to my study on a daily basis.

    2. Ear buds bring isolation on trains and planes with music of choice, or silence. No podcasts as I prefer a book.

  16. I seemed to be on wavelength for most of this – jumping around the grid produced plenty of crossers and the edges (6, 9, and 23) dropped out quickly. However, like Templar, I wasted time with HOWS THINGS and was looking for an alien based on G_I_G_N. WOLVERINE and KLINGON emerged late (as biffs, really) when the HOWS TRICKS penny dropped; sorting that out (with fingers crossed) took me to 18.30 which ain’t bad for me for a testing Pedro puzzle.
    Thanks to Pedro and Roly. Now to go back to Roly’s blog and tighten up on my, at times, superficial parsing.

  17. My first thoughts solving FAR in 13A: ‘It’s a far far better thing ….’
    Couldn’t parse KLINGON – brain not in gear – but otherwise no problems. Enjoyable QC. Thanks Roly for the blog.

  18. I was slightly quicker than my average at 8:05. I made steady progress and was left with HOWS TRICKS and KLINGON at the end. I was stuck for a while trying to work out if it was CLINGON or KLINGON. I thought it was the latter but was stuck thinking “against” in the clue had to be CON. Eventually I parsed it properly and realised the correct spelling, at which point 1ac was obvious.

    I particularly enjoyed the anagram at 21ac and I was pleased that I finally remembered LAST is a thing that cobblers use having seen it as part of a cryptic about 500 times, or so it seems.

  19. Like Ianv above, this one just clicked for me, an excellent puzzle with tight clues. Never seen/heard of KLINGON or WOLVERINE in that context, but had to be. Thanks Roly for untangling the RAFFIA and Pedro for the puzzle.

  20. Straightforward and enjoyable puzzle – liked MOUSETRAP, and HOWS TRICKS made me smile. 8:28.

  21. Pleased to have completed this, I use the print version and can’t be bothered to time myself, just finishing is sufficient reward. Several enjoyable sur faces, particularly MOUSETRAP. LOI WOLVERINE.

  22. 18:11 (George, Prince of Wales, becomes Prince Regent)

    A vey tough crossword. I fell into the OPEN SESAME trap, and needed KLINGON to put me back on the right track.
    A lot of time wasted at the end on SERPENTINE and WOLVERINE.

    Thanks Roly and Pedro

  23. If I could have seen 1ac How’s Tricks straight away, I suspect this might have been a reasonably straightforward solve. Unfortunately I didn’t, and Haiku then set me off down a High something rabbit hole (Wolverine as a superhero was another nho). A sluggish 27min struggle was the outcome. The journey was still enjoyable though, with plenty of CoD options including Raffia, Gravestone and Serpentine, but Mousetrap wins out for the smile. Invariant

  24. I struggled with this. Only very vaguely aware of WOLVERINE and KLINGON, so didn’t see them until the end along with HOWS TRICKS, my LOI but a witty clue. Had to biff a couple too. Obviously I didn’t tune in to the right wavelength today.

  25. 5:40

    I seemed to have the appropriate Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Superhero knowledge for this puzzle – fortunately aware of WOLVERINE through the now-grown-up kids, and old enough to recall the KLINGONs. I too, didn’t know that interpretation of SERPENTINE, but the anagrist left little doubt. No problem with HOW’S TRICKS and enjoyed MOUSETRAP. After yesterday’s debacle, I feel somewhat back to normal.

    Thanks Roly and Pedro

  26. Easier than yesterday’s but still a challenge. I have the feeling I was in relatively good form to finish under target at 9.05. I have heard of the character WOLVERINE so once I had all the crossers it was fairly straightforward. Having said that, if I was shown a picture of him I wouldn’t have been able to name him. This was my penultimate answer, and without the help of the W, I may have struggled with my LOI HOWS TRICKS.

  27. A one cuppa solve for me. This struck me as the perfect hardness for a QC. Some really neat clues. Thank you to Pedro and Roly.

    Now off to play a couple of games of competitive croquet on a sparkling morning. Life could be worse!

  29. I was held up a bit by LOI WOLVERINE but was over the line in ten minutes.
    Much of this was straightforward and I was able to biff MOUSETRAP (very good clue) and look at the parsing later.
    KLINGON was another challenge to my GK.
    A good puzzle overall.
    David

  30. From HAIKU to SERPENTINE in 8:17. MOUSETRAP took a while and I needed the crossers for HOWS TRICKS. Thanks Pedro and Roly.

  31. Very slow but got there in the end. Stuck on HOWS TRICKS, quite amusing once the penny dropped. That gave me KLINGON (unparsed) and, eventually, LOI WOLVERINE, BHO (barely heard of, and the only clue one might object to, though I eventually realised it was an anagram.)
    Yes, solved HAIKU early on, plus COMMERCIAL. PDM MOUSETRAP made me smile. I also liked SERPENTINE, GRAVESTONE, PENDING.
    Biffed RAFFIA, RESIN. Also CNP FINESSE, ORIEL, so thanks vm Roly.

    1. At first I thought Wolverine was a little specialised, but then I thought about all the other obscure things that we get every day from the classics, poetry etc. and decided why not.

        1. I’m afraid you’ve lost me on those emojis Countrywoman. I see a wolf, but the rest?

      2. Think I watched the first X-Men film at the cinema back in 2001 – so he’s been around for the better part of 25years even if I’ve ignored most of the MCU/DC of recent years. And probably the role which really launched Hugh Jackman’s career.

  32. Much the same as others, although inevitably somewhat less speedy.

    NHO Wolverine as a superhero if indeed it is, but got it from the anagram. ION was a lovely little clue that made me smile.

    Thanks to both.

  33. DNF.
    Got “Hows Tricks” but nothing much else. Gave up after 15 minutes. Glad I did – saved me some grief.
    Re 7 Across:
    “Oxford college that is surrounded by old hands? (5)
    ORIEL – IE (id est = that is) surrounded by O(ld) and R+L (hands)”

    Hands = R+L ? How did you get that ? If one is supposed to make a leap like that , then I might as well
    stop trying to do these puzzles .

    3. Yes, probably one you’ll have to get used to Gordon. See also poles = N + S, axes = X + Y, opponents = (N or S) + (E or W), partners = (N + S) or (E + W), to name a few.

  34. Easier than yesterday but still some tricky clues. I also tentatively tried ‘How’s things’ until KLINGON got me back on track. MOUSETRAP seemed to fit but needed the blog to appreciate what a great clue this is. WOLVERINE was a write-in despite never having seen a superhero film. LOI by a good few coffee slurps was SERPENTINE (this meaning new to me). COD to GRAVESTONE, sombre but brilliant. Many thanks Pedro and RT.

  35. Frustrating alphabet trawls for “hows tricks”, “Klingon”, “raffia”. I will read a good book today as it is World Book day.

  36. 18.39 for us. Another rare day out of the SCC.
    Time abducted our childhood – reminders via the blog happily embraced… though raffia for me morphed into an octopus and a doll with plaits (a round foam insert for a head).. class of early 60’s.
    As young Nigel M said.. ‘Peotry is sissy stuff that rhymes’ -Haiku is in a different league.
    Only saw GRAVEST ONE via the blog. : )
    A happy half hour spent between grid and blog. Thanks to all.

  37. Another very tough solve for me: just about 30 minutes. Took me ages to think of HOWS TRICKS and to work out WOLVERINE.

  38. It is always annoying when you can’t work out 1a easily. My FOI was HAIKU so I had the H early on. I got TRICKS before HOWS and 1a ended up my penultimate solve with WOLVERINE at the rear. KLINGON and SERPENTINE were also slow to arrive. I really liked GRAVESTONE and MOUSETRAP and can’t decided between them for COD. 9:04 and happy to have crossed the line.

  39. 6.46

    Loved the KLINGON clue even though I couldn’t tell you which series it comes from (Doctor Who? Star Trek?). Did know the WOLVERINE though.

    Thanks all

  40. Kicked back into the SCC at 21:15, but pleased to have finished it. ECOLOGIST made me grin and is therefore my COD.

    Thank you for the blog!

  41. Got how’s tricks while the crossword was still coming out of the printer (i prefer working on paper). Sadly the others were much slower. Didn’t get Stance or Serpentine, I am not sure why not as neither are all that hard in retrospect, or Wolverine, probably as I haven’t been to the cinema for a couple of decades.

  42. Same as yesterday, no where near on this one. Thank you for explaining how all the clues worked

  43. Somewhere between 30-35 minutes, which is about average for me these days.

    My FOI was PENDING, but I then had real trouble getting going from there. The Downs proved a little more approachable, but I became bogged down far too early in proceedings.

    Eventually, COMMERCIAL opened things up on the LHS and HOWS TRICKS did a similar job at the top of the grid. SERPENTINE was my LOI, possibly because I DNK its meaning.

    Many thanks to Rolytoly and Pedro.

  44. 7.33 A slow start but a few checkers gave HOWS TRICKS and everything went quickly until I was bogged down in the SW. We’ve had a six-letter weaving material beginning with R before and I always think RATTAN. At least this time I was aware that there’s another one I can never remember. “Excellent […] recalled” gave me IA, which led to RAFFIA, and FINESSE, ION and SERPENTINE went in to finish. It was very enjoyable, especially after yesterday’s performance. Thanks rolytoly and Pedro.

  45. Relative to Rolytoly our experience was very different to yesterday’s. We came in at 10:16, less than half yesterday’s time though without it ever feeling easy, which I guess is the mark of a good QC. WOLVERINE and KLINGON were both cultural references that we were moderately familiar with. HAIKU went in quickly. I didn’t pause at the time to check the whole clues syllables but I now appreciate galspray’s comment above! Thank you all.

  46. Another who persisted with how’s things for too long while wondering why the Magic Circle should use this as a greeting. Haiku, raffia and stance were unparsed when I finished on 20 minutes so thanks to Rolytoly for enlightening me.

    FOI – 7ac ORIEL
    LOI – 15ac STANCE
    COD – hard to choose. I ticked HOWS TRICKS, GRAVESTONE and POTPOURRI whilst solving but with hindsight MOUSETRAP is also excellent.

    Thanks to Pedro and Rolytoly

  47. Phew! At least I managed less than 30 minutes today, 27:04. I’m usually poor at straight cryptics so HOWS TRICKS eluded me for a long time. It was WOLVERINE that did me in though. I do try to keep up (she quavered, shaking her cane) but the very thought of superhero films makes me tired. I needed all the crossers and then put it in with little faith. I liked ORIEL and GRAVEST ONE; I had to work hard for MOUSETRAP, which was brilliant, but my COD is HAIKU, which is probably my first encounter with a pure &lit.

    Thanks to Pedro and rolytoly. My inner pedant is with you on ECOLOGIST, but I try to remember that it’s common usage that matters in this sphere.

  49. 24:43

    Another slow one. Mostly done in reasonable time but held up by HOWS TRICKS, WOLVERINE and the NHO RAFFIA. Then took ages to parse and solve LOI GRAVESTONE despite the checkers.

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