Times Quick Cryptic No 1773 by Pedro

Author   TheRotterPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
An approachable QC from Pedro that took me 15 minutes exactly to complete and parse, but which contains nothing to frighten the reindeer!  My FOI was COPY, LOI was PIOUS, with WOD QUERULOUS and COD goes to MESS for its unusual device.  There are several nebulous links to Pantomimes, but nothing strong enough to be classed as a theme, I don’t think.  Where they exist, I have highlighted them in the blog below.  I may have missed some – I am no afficionado of this art form.

Next time I am scheduled to blog, we will be one week into 2021, which we all hope will be a significant improvement on what 2020 had to offer us.  Can I take this opportunity to wish you all the very best for Christmas and the New Year, and to thank you for all of your excellent comments and support through 2020.

Across

1  Son, upper-class type, and bishop needing no work to become snooty (8)
SNOBBISH – S{on} followed by NOB (upper-class type) and then BISH{op} (needing no work – delete the OP).
6  Imitate policeman going to Yard (4)
COPY – COP (policeman) and Y{ard}.
8  Some editor-in-chief is calling regarding the Treasury (6)
FISCAL– hidden answer (some) in {editor-in-chie}F IS CAL{ling}.
9 Discover truth about complaint – not good (6)
RUMBLE – {g}RUMBLE (complaint, drop the g, not G{ood}).  My Chambers gives one definition of RUMBLE as to grasp, see through, or discover the truth about.
10  Get a sense of payment left (4)
FEEL – FEE (payment) and L{eft}.
11 Item for discussion is not quite lacking it, somehow (8)
QUESTION – Anagram (somehow) of [IS NOT QU{it}E] after removing IT (lacking it).
12  Criminal attempt recalled in regret (5)
ROGUE – GO (attempt) reversed (recalled) to give OG inside RUE (regret).  Most pantomimes in most Christmas seasons, have a resident ROGUE. I should point out, as a Rotter, that not all ROGUEs are criminals, but some certainly could be, and not all rotters are rogues..
13  One of Snow White’s dwarfs very quietly brought in grass (5)
HAPPY – PP (pianissimo in musical notation – very quietly) inside (brought in) HAY (grass).  Another nod to panto season, which is otherwise a bit curtailed this year!
15  A quiet intermission around end of recital – then this erupts? (8)
APPLAUSE – A (a) P (quiet) then PAUSE (intermission) around {recita}L (end of = last letter).  Here the whole clue acts as the definition and includes the wordplay.  Once again, there is usually plenty of APPLAUSE in pantoland.
17  Space programme’s latest?  Look amazed (4)
GAPE – GAP (space) and {programm}E’s latest (last letter).
19  One of the birds or bats (6)
CUCKOO – Double definition.
20  Follow poster used in display (6)
SHADOW – AD (advertisement, poster) in SHOW (display).
21  Meaningless, largely empty confusion (4)
MESS – ME{aningle}SS or M{eaningl}ESS, take your pick – ‘largely empty’ is an instruction to remove an unspecified number of letters (but more than half) from the middle of ‘meaningless’.
22  It helps one observe end of alluring girl linked to 007? (8)
SPYGLASS – G (end of {alluring}G) and LASS (girl) following (linked to) SPY (007 or James Bond).

Down

2  I will interrupt passage in church, being artless (5)
NAIVE – NAVE (passage in church) interrupted by I (I).
3  Support record showing work not yet completed (7)
BACKLOG – BACK (support) and LOG (record).  ‘showing’ could either be a link word, or part of the definition.
4  Unwell still, though losing stone (3)
ILL – They don’t come much easier than this.  STILL losing ST{one}.
5  Last pair of gardeners in gardens attack the weeds?  That’s a lucky thing(9)
HORSESHOE – Last pair of (letters) in {gardene}RS gives us RS.  Insert this inside HOES (gardens) to give HORSES, and then add HOE (attack the weeds) to the end for HORSESHOE.  I am not sure why a horseshoe shape is considered lucky, but one belief set is that they were made of iron (considered to ward off evil), and they were held in place with seven nails, seven being considered the luckiest number, but then the question arises ‘why is seven considered lucky?’
6  Company gathered together to find astronomical object (5)
COMET – CO{mpany} and MET (gathered together – something we are all being discouraged from doing this festive season).
7 Ridicule medicine, or remedy, finally (7)
PILLORY – PILL (medicine) OR (or) and {remed}Y (finally).
11  Peevish Queen reformed rule over America (9)
QUERULOUS – QU (queen – Chambers confirms that QU is an acceptable abbreviation for QUEEN), followed by an anagram (reformed) of [RULE], in turn followed by O{ver} and finally US (American).  Despite the convoluted parsing, I’m going to make this my WOD (word of the day).
12  Criticise return of routine: source of eventual happiness (7)
RAPTURE – RAP (criticise), RUT (routine) reversed (return of) and then source of (first letter) of E{ventual}.  I think we had RAPTURE in the grid a week or two ago.
14  Variety of plait seen around one girl’s head? (7)
PIGTAIL – Anagram (variety) of [PLAIT] surrounding I (one) and G{irl}’s head (first letter).  The clue is another &lit (as was 15a), with the whole clue providing the definition as well as the word play. One very minor quibble, although usually worn by girls, pigtails can also be worn by boys or men, especially sailors.  Also Aladdin traditionally wears one, at least in Pantos.  Hang on though – Aladdin is usually a boy played by a cross-dressing girl!
16  Stories about King making responses on social media (5)
LIKES – LIES (stories) containing K{ing} (chess notation).  Apparently, things posted on social media (such as this blog for example) can be LIKEd by readers, with the number of such LIKES being a measure of the audience’s appreciation.  Of course, I would never dream of soliciting such responses.
18  Religious in abundance, but dismissing heads of Catholic order (5)
PIOUS – The word we are looking for is COPIOUS (in abundance), but we then drop the heads (first letters) of C{atholic} and O{rder} to give the answer – PIOUS.
20  Speak, for example (3)
SAY – Double definition.

56 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1773 by Pedro”

  1. For a moment I thought I was doing the 15×15! Time 19 minutes.

    FOI 6ac COPY

    LOI 9ac RUMBLE

    COD 11dn QRERULOUS

    WOD 19ac CUCKOO

    Now for the 15×15!

  2. Great puzzle with a lot of great clues, sadly DNF due to RUMBLE, just couldn’t get a clue because I kept thinking I needed a word meaning truth around a word meaning complaint but without g and I have never heard of the odd definition as intended.

    Also had a hard time with the spelling of QUERULOUS, had QUELUROUS in the final grid.

  3. A second day over 20 so I’m another that found this hard. Just one on the first pass of across for what must be my worst start ever. That was followed by only five downs. The SE fell first and then I hopped around the grid as each hard won checker gave a further hint as to what was needed finally finishing, via an alphabet trawl, with RUMBLE, which would have been a great QC clue if the checked letters had been R_M_L instead of _U_B_E! Finally seeing SNOBBISH and APPLAUSE helped greatly. Enjoyed seeing PIOUS as an answer after all then recent mentions of ‘pi’. Quite a lot going on in quite a lot of the clues which disguised the definitions but all fair in retrospect. Thanks for the blog Rotter, a merry Christmas to you too! If you found ‘nothing to frighten the reindeer’ in there you’re clearly through your rough patch!

    Edited at 2020-12-24 08:02 am (UTC)

  4. 12 minutes. I lost time over PIOUS having thought immediately of PI being standard crossword fare for ‘religious’, but then I was distracted by ‘heads of Catholic’ which made me think of Popes, 12 of whom have been called Pius. I needed an extra moment or two to process these thoughts before coming up with the correct answer and wordplay.

    Working through the somewhat tortuous wordplay at 5dn also took up time, and since we’re dealing with nebulous links to the Christmas season if wondered if it was entirely coincidental that it involved ‘HOES’ and ‘HOE’ (Ho-ho-ho, geddit?). Okay, I’ll get my coat.

    To go with my Christmas avatar we have COMET at 6dn, one of Santa’s reindeer.

    Edited at 2020-12-24 06:10 am (UTC)

  5. The nave is the main body of a church, not a passage. Also, what purpose does editor-in- serve?
    1. ‘Editor-in-chief’ is a recognised job title and counts as one word so the ‘editor-in’ bit is perfectly valid. Also the surface of the clue wouldn’t make much sense if it just had ‘chief’.
      1. Thanks Jackkt! Also the nave is defined in Chambers as ‘the main part of a church, generally west of the crossing, including or excluding its aisles’. I admit there is a little bit of Setter’s license used, but I think it is acceptable.
      2. I’ll grant you valid, but perfectly is pushing it. I always feel hyphenated words being treated as one is a bit of a liberty.

        –AntsInPants

  6. A steady solve, so almost disappointed that it took as long as 15:57. LIKES for CUCKOO and QUERULOUS (with a MER for QU=Queen). Is 007 a spy? Surely he’s an agent? COD RUMBLE. kap
  7. We took an absolute age to solve the SE corner but once we cracked 17A (I know, it wasn’t that hard) all fell in to place. We finished in 27 minutes – thanks Pedro.

    FOI: snobbish
    LOI: shadow
    COD: pious

    A big thank you to Rotter and all of the bloggers for their sterling efforts throughout the year – we really appreciate it. And a special mention to John and Phil for compiling the weekend QC – also greatly appreciated.

    Wishing all of our QC’ers a Happy Christmas and a really great 2021!

  8. I started off well with most of the NW going straight in and solved this one steadily until hitting a brick wall with RUMBLE and LOI CUCKOO (major attack of glue brain with that one). It was nice to the full version of PIOUS for once and for that reason it gets my COD and I agree with Rotter that QUERULOUS was the WOD. Finished in 13.22.
    Thanks to Rotter and happy Christmas to all.
  9. Quick start but Pedro included some traps. I finished with RUMBLE in 14.12, all parsed, and enjoyed many of the clues. My COD was QUERULOUS but I liked PIGTAIL, too. I’ll now read rotter’s blog more carefully. Strange, I haven’t checked carefully but my recollection is that I have been within a minute or two of rotter’s times for many days now. Thanks to Pedro and rotter. John M.

    Edited at 2020-12-24 09:25 am (UTC)

    1. I have also noted the similarities in our times OB, and a handful of others that are in our ‘division’. Whilst we aren’t quite Premier League solvers, I am generally happy with our consistency and competitiveness in one of the subordinate leagues.
      1. Nicely put, rotter. If I may say so, you are certainly a Premier League blogger.
        A happy Christmas to you and to all.

        Edited at 2020-12-24 10:54 am (UTC)

      2. I may be one of your “handful of others”, Rotter, and if so I would consider it a compliment. Certainly your time is one i always look for to see if I am “up to scratch” today. Today you have me by a short head as I came home in 16 minutes.

        Cedric

  10. Well I’m a very slow solver( (under 30 minutes is good for me) and this just about doubled my target- I found it really difficult though in retrospect nothing was really obscure or unfair.
    Thanks for all the help in 2020 and all the best for a better 2021.
    Fiona
    ( do I have to ‘create blog’ on live journal to remove my anonymity?)
    1. I think you need to ‘join’ the community to avoid being anon, or log in if you have already joined. That way, we will be able to attribute your welcome comments and observations.
    2. Yes, Rotter’s right, you click on the Join button on a Live Journal page and it will bring up a screen ‘Create a New Journal’ for you to add a Username and password and to register your email address. After that you will have improved access rights to post at TfTT, most useful of which (at least for people like me) is to be able to correct the errors one notices immediately after posting a comment! Plus you’ll no longer be anonymous of course.

      Edited at 2020-12-24 11:57 am (UTC)

  11. Great to see QUERULOUS, which behaviour I’ve occasionally and sadly encountered in vexatious litigants
  12. Slow work, but threw in the towel at 30 mins with RUMBLE still absent. I thought that about=RE in the clue, then a four letter word was needed. Lots of potential RE- – – – words to check.

    Who has ever seen QU=queen? And what is the point of the U, it provides exactly zero information, except if the reader was thinking it might be Qabalist Victoria that was being referred to.

    But I did complete the 15×15 in less than 60, so that makes it A Good Day.

    COD PIGTAIL : very pleasing &lit clue.

    Merry Christmas to our excellent Qabal of bloggers, and all struggling solvers. Rooting for Wyvern, that he gets his first solve before the turn of the year.

  13. Thu, 24 Dec 20

    FOI: 6d COMET
    LOI: 10a FEEL

    30 Minute Mark: 6
    60 Minute Mark: 22
    Time before use of aids: 30 mins

    Total Answered: 22/26

    DNF

    Another one in which I started off slowly, kind of plodded along, and then in the last few minutes I had a flurry of answers. Unfortunately, not enough to complete this QC.

    I liked 19a and 7d as they were clues that put a smile on my face. Another clue that put a more mischievous smile on my face was 5d in which I had the following letters HORSESH_ _, but I assumed it wasn’t the word that came to my mind, and it did it wasn’t.

    I presume, due to tomorrow being Christmas day, this will be the last QC of the week. If this is the case, then MERRY CHRISTMAS to you all.

    2. Dear PW:
      I am also a relative novice at this game (now with 149 QCs under my belt) and, like you, I used to strictly limit myself to 60 minutes to try to fully solve the puzzle. Often I would start quite fast, but would then experience a real barren 20-30 minutes before inspiration struck just as my hour was coming to an end. My self-imposed and arbitrary time limit led to many DNFs, which I found rather frustrating.
      So, after 100 QC attempts, I decided to remove the time constraint and my solve-rate has increased from about 25% to around 55% in the past few weeks. On several occasions recently (e.g. Monday this week – solved in 68 minutes) I have managed to finish the puzzle in just a few minutes over the hour – a much more satisfying outcome than a DNF caused simply by timing-out. May I suggest that you try the same approach, especially if you solve a “flurry” of clues at the end?
      I look forward to reading about your first fully-solved QC in due course.
      1. Excellent advice. Maybe PW could even turn the timer off, for a while and remove any pressure it imposes.
  14. FOI COPY having noted that Pedro was the setter. That seemed an easy start for him and it was. I slowed down but generally managed to keep going. My last two were PILLORY and RUMBLE (COD to that but it’s just a good clue, probably a bit tough for the QC).
    I questioned the parsing of QUERULOUS as some do not like the abbreviation QU for Queen in British puzzles.
    Time was 19:13.
    Thanks and Merry Christmas to all setters and bloggers.
    David

    Edited at 2020-12-24 11:58 am (UTC)

  15. Initially thought Pedro might be in a generous mood as I got the first two across clues but then only one more across clue on first pass.

    I found the top half easier than the bottom and finished in just under 20 minutes.

    FOI Snobbish
    LOI Rapture
    COD Applause

  16. I want to say something positive so a very happy Christmas to all setters, bloggers and fellow contribuors. I hope you manage to have plenty to enjoy and that we all have a much healthier and happier 2021. Missed having a quick crossword today. That’s all I’m going to say!
  17. I always find Pedro one of the tougher setters …
    … so I was quite pleasantly surprised today to finish in 16 minutes. Several of the clues had multiple construction parts – 11D Querulous, 22A Spyglass, 1A Snobbish and 12D Rapture all caused me to get out pen and paper to check how they worked, and while those four eventually yielded I never did parse 5D Horseshoe at all, though the answer was clear from the checkers.

    I was nearly misled into thinking 2D was Aisle (sounds like I’ll, I thought) but needless to say it didn’t fit either parsing or checkers. But I do agree that Nave is not really a passage in a church.

    COD 18D Pious, not just for a very nice surface but because the full word has for once been allowed its day in the limelight!

    Many thanks to Rotter, and indeed all your blogging colleagues, for your entertaining and enlightening blogs, and a Happy Christmas to all

    Cedric

  18. I was making reasonable progress and was set to squeak under my target 10 with only PILLORY and RUMBLE required, but finished up at 12:46. RUMBLE was the culprit. I was sure it was going to start RE(about)and then need a 5 letter complaint with G missing. Thanks Pedro and Rotter and Happy Christmas to all.
  19. Bang on target solve of 10 mins! There were no obscure words but some tricky wordplay which suits me. FOI SNOBBISH, delays parsing HORSESHOE and seeing the hidden FISCAL, was Dopey before HAPPY and LOI RUMBLE. Thanks to Rotter for the blog. Season’s Greetings to one and all. Janet

    Edited at 2020-12-24 10:53 am (UTC)

  20. Was it just me or did anybody else suffer a deleted partially solved crossword when they came back for a second go? Happened once before last year I think. Might be my iPad or “Times” app problem. Happy Christmas to one and all.
  21. … is what’s happened to me this morning after yesterday’s triumph. I wibbled about the grid today like a climber trying to find a toe hold. Not so much Slow Coach Club as Static Caravan.
    In particular, I struggled with RUMBLE and the APPLAUSE, LIKES, CUCKOO, MESS combo for no other reason than my being dense.
    Ah, well. Is it too early for a Christmas sherry? 🤔
    Thanks so much, Rotter, for the blog and for all your blogs this year. And thanks too to all the blogger team. I really appreciate all the help you provide. And thanks, (bah, humbug ) to Pedro.
  22. About 15 mins. Held up by horseshoe, mess, and LOI grumble.
    Rotter, I think applause is a semi &lit.
    COD pigtail. Happy Christmas everyone.

    Edited at 2020-12-24 11:37 am (UTC)

  23. I found this rather chewy but nearly got there – cocked up 17a by putting GASP, so couldn’t get PIOUS. Ah well. Merry Christmas to all puzzlers!
  24. After a tough few days – three 1-hour (+) attempts, two of which ended in a DNF – I found this a challenging, but accessible puzzle. I managed to finish in 36 minutes, having spent 11 minutes wracking my brain over the final two clues (12d: RAPTURE and 9a: RUMBLE). No complaints and all parsed as I went along, although the intricacies of 5d (HORSESHOE) were only partially understood.

    This week’s performance:
    SomeRandomChap 2-2 Setters (Total time spent: 3h 55m)
    Mrs RandomChap 4-0 Setters (Total time spent: 1h 57m)
    It’s clear where the talent lies in my house!

    Christmas greetings to all!

  25. Flew out of the blocks and thought it seemed easy for a Pedro puzzle. However, slowed down rapidly with about 75% completed and had to resort to aids to get LOI RUMBLE. Eventually completed in 24 minutes for my slowest time of the week.

    FOI – 1ac SNOBBISH
    LOI – 9ac RUMBLE
    COD – 14dn PIGTAIL

    Thanks to all setters and bloggers and Merry Christmas to all.

  26. ….a HAPPY Christmas to all bloggers, setters, and visitors to this site (regular or otherwise). May the prevailing restrictions not affect your festivities too greatly.

    I enjoyed this puzzle, and met my target after yesterday’s hiccup.

    FOI SNOBBISH
    LOI PIGTAIL
    COD RUMBLE
    TIME 4:22

    I’m pleased to say that my “Weekend QC” is on schedule to appear here on New Year’s Day, and hope it brings enjoyment to those of you who look forward to it.

  27. Put DOPEY for 13 across which made HORSESHOE impossible. I was thinking of Dope = Grass (!)

    Knew 19a was a bird meaning mad so lazily looked up Bird, then difficult SW corner fell into place.

    FOI SNOBBISH. Liked SPYGLASS, QUERULOUS( CsOD). Also liked COPY, APPLAUSE.

    Many thanks, Rotter, and Happy Christmas to all QC friends. And, yes, special thanks to all the bloggers. And John and Phil, of course.

    Edited at 2020-12-24 12:56 pm (UTC)

  28. Enjoyed this but failed to rumble RUMBLE. Pleased to work out the rest though. Happy Christmas to all bloggers, solvers, and lesser mortals.
  29. I was pleasantly surprised, given Pedro’s reputation, by how quickly the NW corner fell into place. In fact, if I hadn’t shot myself in both feet, with an initial Gasp and trying to get the rest of Queen into Querulous, I might even have squeezed a sub-20. Loi Rumble confirmed that was a silly idea, and I limped home just north of 26mins. CoD to 14d, Pigtail, though I also quite liked 20ac Shadow. Many thanks and compliments of the season to Pedro, Rotter and all the other bloggers. Invariant
  30. Sorry for being picky, but I think the definition for 9a is “Discover truth about”, rather than just “Discover truth”. It certainly had me fooled for a long time and look for “re—-” words before the penny dropped and RUMBLE came to me.
  31. I was going well and heading for below my 20 minute target but ended with a DNF due to RUMBLE. The word ‘about’ is totally superfluous in the clue which is poorly developed in my view.

    I struggled with FISCAL until i had all the checkers – again poorly clued in my view as the full editor-in-chief combination is not required. It could have been any title ending in ‘f’ such as chef since there is no connection between e-i-c and the Treasury anyway!

    Hey ho. COD MESS

    Sill enjoyed it despite DNF so thanks Pedro and thanks to therotter for the blog

    1. Sorry to disagree but I think ‘about’ is perfectly valid as part of the definition.

      Under rumble (vb) Collins has:
      If someone is rumbled, the truth about them or something they were trying to hide is discovered.

      and Chambers has:
      to find out the truth about or see through someone or something.

      As for there being no connection between ‘editor-in-chief’ and ‘Treasury’, who do you think is more likely to be ‘calling regarding the Treasury’, a chef (to use your example) or the editor-in-chief of a newspaper?

  32. … and indeed took me only 5 minutes longer than Pedro’s QC. It is rare indeed that the two are so similar in standard, and the biggie is well worth having a look at.

    Cedric

  33. I was going to write ‘Just because we are inexperienced in the QC arena doesn’t mean we can’t spell’ when the next comment took the wind out of my sails.
  34. …among others! Ah well. Like PW, I was very tempted by a rude word in place of 5D Horseshoe and had to look it up to work out what it should be. LOI 9A Rumble, which like others I thought had to be RE plus a word for complaint without its G. For some reason I also couldn’t see 10A Feel. Funny how sometimes the short ones pose so much difficulty. I don’t like 19A Cuckoo as a synonym for bats. Its surely batty?

    Otherwise pleased to remember for 11A that Querulous was a word, even though I couldn’t parse it at all. And it started well at least with 1A Snobbish as my FOI.

    COD to 11A Question, nice surface and I liked the cryptic element.

    Many thanks Rotter and Pedro for the blog and the QC, and Merry Christmas all.

  35. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to the brilliant contributors who have taught me so much. Thanks to Pedro for a fine QC.
  36. Didn’t know if my brain had packed up for Christmas, or this was just a bit tricky. Rotter’s blog suggested the former, others suggest the latter!

    10:21 for me, RUMBLE in last.

  37. Joined the grumble brigade, also had gasp for 17a for a time. We were making good progress until the SE corner and a few others causing trouble, so overall quite tricky. A good Christmas to all, and many thanks for the blogs and comments which always make our afternoons pleasurable, however quickly we solve, or not. And of course to the Setters.
  38. Have to disagree with Rotter – I thought this was hard and dnf. Maybe it’s Xmas Eve and everything else that’s going on, but after 45 mins I still had around 3 clues to complete, with 11dn “Querulous”, 11ac “Question” and 5dn “Horseshoe” just not happening and quite a lot of the other ones taking an age to complete.

    Nothing unfair mind, just another puzzle that makes me think I’m either getting worse or it’s getting harder.

    FOI – 4dn “Ill”
    LOI – dnf
    COD – 15ac “Applause”

    Thanks as usual – and a Happy Christmas to everyone on the blog. Reading and contributing to the comments on here every day is an enjoyable and rewarding experience. Sometimes it’s easy to forget how little things like this can be quite important to someone’s day.

  39. Happy Christmas all, and a thousand thanks to all setters and bloggers for the fun they give us. As do many of the contributors on here!

    FOI SNOBBISH, LOI RUMBLE, COD CUCKOO, time 9:56 for a Very Good Day.

    One good thing about 2020 has been my eldest son getting into cryptics via the QC, and today I gave him a digital Times subscription so he can carry on.

    Thanks Pedro and Rotter

    Templar

  40. Forgot to write about this one, but I completed it this morning. 39:32, with the last 16 of that spent trying to figure out RUMBLE. Think I should have timed the 15×15 instead. I didn’t have time to finish it, but a lot went in quite rapidly. Thanks all and Merry Christmas.
  41. to all the setters, bloggers and commenters for another great year in the QC community.
    (I don’t often post, since I don’t use the timer.)
    Best wishes to everyone!

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