Quick Cryptic 2975 by Oink

Author   BletchleyRejectPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

 

Few if any obscurities here in today’s puzzle from Oink but challenging enough to be enjoyable.

Several interesting definitions as alluded to in the comments below, but the accompanying wordplay meant the clues weren’t too difficult. Finished in 8:35.

Definitions underlined in bold, deletions and letters in the clue not appearing in the answer indicated by strikethrough.

Thanks to Merlin for filling in for the last few weeks and thanks to Oink

Across
1 Dance with man briefly three times (3-3-3)
CHA-CHA-CHA – CHAP CHAP CHAP (‘man briefly three times’)

I’m embarrassed to admit that this was my last in; I wasted time on it at the start, before hunting elsewhere.
6 Young producer finding love in southwest (3)
SOW – O (‘love) contained in (‘in’) SW (‘southwest’)

A sneaky definition for Oink’s trademark porcine clue, with ‘young’ misleadingly as a noun.
8 A row about boy — one whose every wish comes true? (7)
ALADDIN – A (‘A’) DIN (‘row’) containing (‘about’) LAD (‘boy’)

Cryptic definition here helped by wordplay.
9 Social worker in South America who calls on you each year? (5)
SANTA – ANT (‘Social worker’) contained in (‘in’) SA (‘South America’)

The second cryptic-ish definition in a row
10 Sat around eating old man’s food (5)
TAPAS – TAS a reversal (‘around’) of (‘Sat’) containing (‘eating’) PA (‘old man’)
12 Some foreign items catch fire (6)
IGNITE – Hidden (‘Some’) in ‘foreIGN ITEms‘
14 Drug dealer who loves life in the fast lane? (5,8)
SPEED MERCHANT – SPEED (‘Drug’) MERCHANT (‘dealer’)

Third cryptic definition with wordplay
16 Criticise an old lady’s hat (6)
PANAMA – PAN (‘Criticise’) A (‘an’) MA (‘old lady’)
17 Artificial material children’s writer initially ignored (5)
RAYON – CRAYON (‘children’s writer initially ignored’)

For some reason my first thought was “Blyton”, but the ‘children’s writer’ is something which can be used to write, not an author’s name.
19 Picture stolen, dumped in river (5)
PHOTO – HOT (‘stolen’) contained in (‘dumped in’) PO (‘river’)
20 The writer’s urge to dazzle? (7)
IMPRESS – I’M (‘The writer’s’) PRESS (‘urge’)
22 Diary regularly censored for 24 hours (3)
DAY – DiArY (‘Diary regularly censored’)
23 Nobody desperately intent on joining army in the end (9)
NONENTITY – Anagram (‘desperately’) of INTENT ON then (‘joining’) armY (‘army in the end’)
Down
1 This case sadly leading to reprimand (8)
CHASTISE – Anagram (‘sadly’) of THIS CASE
2 Husband welcomed by breakdown service, I see (3)
AHA – H (‘Husband’) contained in (‘welcomed by’) AA (‘breakdown service’)

AA for Automobile Association
3 He’s keeping Bill in hell (5)
HADES – HES (‘He’s) containing (‘keeping) AD (‘Bill’)
4 Payment that involves careful thought (13)
CONSIDERATION – Double definition
5 Harmful substance in medicine’s rarely shown up (7)
ARSENIC – Reverse hidden (‘in… shown up’) in ‘mediCINES RArely‘

What; no ‘As’? Must be a first.
6 Shelter sought from horribly scary aunt (9)
SANCTUARY – Anagram (‘horribly’) of SCARY AUNT

Amusing surface. My COD.
7 Indecisive period for the audience (4)
WEAK – Aural wordplay (‘for the audience’) of WEEK (‘period’)

WEAK for ‘indecisive’? Close enough and “indecisive” is in the Oxford Thesaurus entry for “weak”.
11 Badly portrayed, as shark is? (9)
PREDATORY – Anagram (‘Badly’) of PORTRAYED

Another for which wordplay was the main source of the answer. The surface refers to the perception of a ‘shark’ as being a ferocious man-eating beast à la Jaws, but times are changing… at least until the next shark attack is reported in all its gory details.
13 Fails to intervene: stalls extremely busy (6,2)
STANDS BY – STANDS (‘stalls’) BusY (‘extremely busy’)
15 Mythical beast eats old soldier (7)
DRAGOON – DRAGON (‘Mythical beast’) contains (‘eats’) O (‘old’)

As has been discussed before, a dragoon was originally a mounted infantryman but also means more generally a cavalryman. I didn’t know this, but the original dragoons were named after the firearm they carried which in turn was so-called because when it was fired it resembled a fire-breathing dragon (OED).
17 Mature Republican beginning to investigate US prison (5)
RIPEN – R (‘Republican’) Investigate (‘beginning to investigate’) PEN (‘US prison’)

PEN as an abbreviation for “penitentiary”, a term mainly (? now exclusively) used in the US for ‘prison’.
18 Small sweet potato (4)
SPUD – S (‘Small’) PUD (‘sweet’)

“Sweet” as a definitely non-U term for “pudding”/PUD.
21 Old priest’s daughter leaving food shop (3)
ELI – DELI (‘daughter leaving food shop’)

Time for a moratorium on the use of poor old ELI? He’s been worked very hard for a long time in crossword land.

110 comments on “Quick Cryptic 2975 by Oink”

  1. Whipped through this in 4.56, my first ever under-5 so a new PB. Everything fell magically into place although I was fooled by the crayon trick at 17ac and wondered briefly if there was a synthetic material known as lyton (sounds feasible). Thanks Oink and BR.

  2. I took over a minute off my PB coming in at 4:33—about 25% of my average time!
    I didn’t parse NONENTITY but the rest went straight in. Lots of nice clues here and although easy I still found it enjoyable, as Oink’s puzzles invariably are. This would be a great puzzle to introduce someone to cryptics I think, a nice range of clue types but nothing too obscure or “crosswordy” (maybe PO and PEN would be the trickiest references?).

  3. 7 minutes, but as always (unless otherwise stated) that includes parsing. I certainly lost a bit of time working out NONENTITY.

    1. May I ask when you say includes parsing and time workout out nonentity. How detailed is your working out?

      Having put in NON-ENTITY from the checkers and seen that Y=back of army, I was happy once I’d glanced at “desperately intent on” and thought it looked about right for an anagram for the rest. Or would you tick back the anagrist in more detail?

  4. The CHA CHA came up in yesterday’s Telegraph puzzle so the extra CHA was easily added and then for once I build the downs from there rather than doing all the acrosses and soon found the top half mostly done. The bottom half was trickier, NONENTITY needed carefully juggling of the letters, SPEED MERCHANT held out and I needed the D to get DRAGOON before I had to concentrate on LOI PREDATORY. Not quite pb territory but not far off at 6.50.

  5. Dancing right off the bat with CHA CHA CHA then thought it must be Christmas with ALADDIN and SANTA popping in. Despite several looks behind me, I didn’t spot anything else to indicate a Panto themed Nina. A steady solve to finish in a speedily rare sub 15 minute, 14 min 35.
    COD PREDATORY. Full of wonder how setter thought of that anagram.
    LOI DRAGOON.
    Thanks to Oink and Bletch.

  6. Been playing catch up for weeks and finally able to attempt the QC on the day it is published. And a good day to do that on. A new PB by some margin at 22.04 and all parsed in the process. SPEEDMERCHANT my very apt COD. Thanks Oink and BletchlyReject

  7. Joining others in posting a near-PB on this very approachable puzzle – 6:28, all parsed, no hold-ups. Many thanks BR for the blog

  8. Another PB here too at 10.21. Could have been sub 10 but we solve together and spend time enjoying the setter’s art.

    Oink never fails to please, fun to see old man and old woman for pa and ma in the same puzzle. COD to panama, love a dad joke kind of clue😀

    Thanks Oink and BR, welcome back.

  9. I don’t remember being sub 10 before, but I don’t aim for speed or keep records. This was however unprecedented in that I worked across and down through the grid without having to go back to any clue. This must be a slow motion experience of what it is like to be one of those clever solvers…
    COD to PREDATORY and ARSENIC. Thanks to Oink for the unique and enjoyable experience, and a wave to BR for a – for me, almost never before – wholly superfluous blog, although the dragoon info was interesting!

  10. Very gentle but still top quality.
    A top to bottom solve that would have been a PB if I’d been brave enough to submit without a read through.
    Started with CHA CHA CHA and finished with STANDS BY in 4.01 with COD to SPEED MERCHANT

    Thanks to BR and Oink and congrats to all those who registered a PB today.

      1. It’s a tricky one but the horror of a DPS on a quick solve tends to win out for me.

        1. What is DPS? If it’s not in the glossary are you allowed to make up your own TLA?

          1. It stands for Dreaded Pink Square. If you solve the puzzle in the Crossword Club any mistakes are highlighted in pink. It’s recently started to appear more often in comments, but clearly hasn’t made it to the glossary yet.

        2. I decided it was worth it today because the prospect was too painful! Of course there were no errors so now I regret it …

  11. Joining in the PB party – 04:54 reduced mine by a whopping 37s. Also first time ever that I’ve solved each clue I looked at, without skipping any to revisit later

    Congrats to all fellow PB-ers – enjoy your moment!

  12. First sub-10 for a bit, at 9:37. Held up by entering ANONYMITY which fitted nearly all my checkers and the definition. LOI WEAK where an alphabet trawl was needed.

    Good trivia on the derivation of DRAGOON. It’s a word that I always have a double take on seeing. Like Rabbi. I got RIPEN=mature from the service in the Book of Common Prayer for Baptism “for those of riper years”.

    Good to have you back, Bletchley.

  13. 3:01 (fully parsed) which according to the Snitch is my second-best time. Still time for some nice clues though including PREDATORY and PANAMA.

    Thanks Bletch and Oink.

  14. Close to a PB 8:44 (I almost never finish quicker than the blogger and today is no exception) ‘Week’ took what seemed like years to come to mind.
    Thanks for the blog B and you can cast me those pearls anytime O

  15. Yes, beautifully doable, thank you, Oink. And almost all parsed, too, except LOI IMPRESS, couldn’t see where dazzle fitted in. Thank you, BR.

  16. A reminder of what a QC used to be. Lots of fun and some clever clues with the Oink trademark clue showing up early. I relaxed and enjoyed it but still found my time was within 11 mins, all parsed, when I had finished.
    Let us have more like this and leave those who prefer a greater mental challenge early in the day move on to the 15×15.
    Many thanks to Oink and BR. A good start to the day.

  17. 3:25. I would have been quicker if I hadn’t wasted time trying to make PASTA work for 10A. Very gentle, but fun. Thanks Oink and BR.

  18. A rare sub-6 minutes time for me but my urge to get the thing finished meant 2 typos, so no PB for me. I remain in awe at the extraordinary times some solvers manage. I can’t imagine ever getting under 5 minutes.

  19. Very enjoyable – quick but still a satisfying solve. Thanks BR for the blog – interesting info about the derivation of DRAGOON.

  20. Another respondent here who found that a stroll. A slightly fat fingered attempt on phone but all green in 5.45 – probably a top 5 attempt for me. CHA CHA CHA was a very gentle start providing a solid start for the NW corner and then didn’t look back other than initially keying in DRAGONS before last two in NONENTITY and stands by.

    Thanks Oink and Bletchley for parsing RAYON where I had assumed there was an author I’d not heard of missing a letter.

  22. 7:16 for the solve. Thought I was going to be on for a PB when 6-1/2 of the first 8 clues went straight in, in under a minute. ALAD— was in my thoughts and couldn’t figure out the second half of SPEED. Turned out that PASTA ain’t TAPAS which began to be obvious when CHASTISE looked like an anagram and confirmed by HADES. Obviously slowed after that but a lovely QC from Oink (thanks) with a good range of devices and friendly wordplay.

    Thanks to BR for the blog. And well done to all those achieving a PB 💪

    1. 18 seconds behind you- I must have let up coming down the home stretch instead of speeding up!

  23. This was one of the standard I recall when I first started doing the QC during lockdown. Very enjoyable, time to appreciate the cleverness of the clues, fully parsed and all in about 14 minutes which is speedy for me. I went round it clockwise, just following the crossers and had a jolly good time if it, which is what one wants in a QC.
    Thanks to Oink and BR
    Prof

  24. Well pitched and very enjoyable – thanks Oink and Bletchley Reject. I thought indecisive for weak was a bit weak but otherwise very good!

  25. DNF today, but a very enjoyable puzzle still. Enjoyed the clues for ALADDIN and SANTA, and despite remembering “old man” could mean PA, never thought “old lady” could mean MA. NHO SPEED MERCHANT or RAYON, so some good phrases learnt today. Thank you for the blog today

  26. I never thought I’d say this, but I’m disappointed with my finishing time of 6.53. I found this as easy as everyone else seems to have done, so I think I may have underperformed, particularly as so many PBs are about this morning. I needed all the checkers in place to solve my LOI SPEED MERCHANT, but little else troubled me.
    Congratulations to all those who achieved PBs.

    1. I know what you mean. I’m not sure how my time extended out to 7mins as I felt I was flying early on and while I jumped around the grid for answers, I felt there was a steady flow to them. But I have no complaints with a seven minute time.

  27. 8:51 (battle of Sandwich. Æthelstan of Kent and and Ealdorman Ealhhere defeat aViking fleet)
    Congratulations to everyone with PB. After my run of errors, I am taking ages checking at the end, so no hope of a PB for me.

    Thanks BR and Oink

  28. Not a PB, but a rare foray into sub 5 territory. From CHA CHA CHA to NONENTITY in 4:56. Thanks Oink and BR.

  29. Much enjoyed this QC. FOI Aah which I was obliged to change to AHA to fit in LOI ALADDIN. Naturally I liked SOW, and PANAMA, CHA CHA, SANTA (COD), PHOTO, among others.
    Thanks vm, BR. Good to know about DRAGOONs!

  30. A quick 15:11 solve for me with no real problems at all. Please can we ban ELI from now on?

      1. If we’re keeping ELI plus ETON out we might as well discourage setters from ELON too.

  31. A lot of fast times today, 2nd best at 5.50 for me with distractions. It’s nice to have a crowd pleaser every so often!

  34. 4:59

    Mostly very fast but a few slower moments – STANDS BY, NONENTITY bunged in from definition – WEAK, TAPAS and PREDATORY all required a second look.

    Thanks BR and Oink

  35. 6:25, fairly straightforward.

    LOI 7d WEAK. Just didn’t associate ‘weak’ with ‘indecisive’ strongly enough, and somehow got stuck on thinking ‘period’ must be ERA or AGE.
    COD 17a RAYON

  36. A pleasant 14min stroll from Cha-cha-cha to Nonentity. Only real hold up was 11d, Predatory, where I hesitated thinking it was something more complex – the crossers soon bailed me out. CoD to the Speed Merchant at 14ac for the smile. Invariant

  37. Woohoo 14.39, and the first accurate completion for a while.

    Thanks for an enjoyable and well pitched puzzle

  38. My fastest for some time; 6 minutes with LOI DRAGOON.
    Started at 1a and kept going.
    Took a while to get COD SPEED MERCHANT.
    Excellent QC.
    David

  39. Like others here I was a bit of a 14a. From CHASTISE to STANDS BY in 4:40 which is my second fastest time since records began. Thanks BR

  40. As a relative newcomer to Times cryptic this QC was very accessible. My first sub 15 min time. Still feels like a steep learning curve though!

  41. 8 mins…

    Definitely one of the easiest Oinks in quite a while, who I felt had been making things just a little harder over the last year or so. Apart from an early inability to spell Aladdin and hesitating slightly over the Tapas, these all pretty much flew in.

    FOI – 1dn “Chastises”
    LOI – 13dn “Stands By”
    COD – 14ac “Speed Merchant”

    Thanks as usual!

  42. 9.39 – PB for us. Double the time of many, yet such a looooooooong way forward from when we first began (when 3 or 4 in 20 minutes was the norm).
    For us, fun is what it is all about though progress just adds shine and encourages us to do more.
    Every now and then we have clues where we can quickly ‘do as told’ and the answer appears as if by magic… experience and practice yielding rewards.
    Thank you Oink, Bletchley – and all on the Blog. All part of the pleasure.

  44. At last a quick and accurate finish! QC’s seem a bit inconsistent with yesterday impenetrable, today maybe a bit simplistic

  45. Loved this one: 11 minutes and all solved but 7 d unparsed: it had to be WEAK but I couldn’t see why! So obvious now. I think we’ve had a MA being panned before but I can’t remember when. I pencilled in IMPETUS at 20a until old favourite ELI scuppered that. Great puzzle – thanks Oink and Bletchleyreject

  46. Everyone seems to have enjoyed this one, and congratulations if speed’s your thing and you’ve done well, especially if you’re fairly new to cryptics. I love this blog but I must admit to finding the focus on times a total mystery. I’d much rather have a decent stab at a tricky puzzle and learn a few things than steam through an easy one. Clearly a minority opinion, and just shows how different we all are. Anyway, many thanks for the blog BR, especially the info about DRAGOON. COD to SPEED MERCHANT which made me smile. Thanks Oink.

    1. I completely agree about the speed/times – esp as it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison. A PB on a parkrun then yes, but not a crossword. But enough bah humbug from me, it’s all a bit of fun, and I am guilty of posting my completion times. Perhaps I shall stop.
      Oh, and 4:43 from me, which is probably a PB…. 😉😁

      1. Haha, yes, very good time!
        My worry is that some people take the ‘competition’ element a little too far and actually feel a bit deflated when they don’t get a good time or, horror of horrors, fail to finish. As you rightly say, it’s just a bit of fun 😃

    2. I know what you mean Fabian. But, in defence of noting times, I like to have some sort of marker. I suppose I could just record that in private and not post it here though!
      As I’ve said before, my only competition is myself, but I enjoy seeing how other people get on, especially when you see big improvements in newcomers, and times are the best measure of that.
      I don’t keep records and have no idea what my PB is, but there have been times recently when I’ve just been happy to finish 😅
      What I don’t really understand is those who don’t post their times on the club if they think they might have something wrong, in case it affects their overall standing. Surely, a DNF or ‘could not parse’ is just as valid a result (if frustrating) as a fully correct solve?

      1. I agree with all you say, Penny. I post my times on here because years ago when I stopped doing so some contributors said that they found my solving times useful as a benchmark – perhaps as an experienced solver who has no ambitions as a speed merchant. I have never posted my times in the club, but I’ve noticed the behaviour you mention in your final paragraph which I find rather strange as it suggests to me that those who do it are manipulating the system in their own favour.

        1. I can see that maybe your times are very useful as a benchmark for some. It’s just not useful information for me personally (no disrespect intended). I do really like to hear how you all got on though!

        2. Point 1: I’d say you’re a benchmark for a lot of people John 😊
          And point 2: yes, it would seem so!

      2. I take all your points Penny, especially about seeing improvements in newcomers. I’m often happy to finish too but honestly don’t care if I don’t 😆

        1. No, it’s not the end of the world, is it 😅 I can’t get too wound up over what is meant to be just a bit of fun, which is why I’m happy to post a DNF as well as a solve. As you say, there’s always something new to learn, and we get to interact with some interesting and entertaining people too. What more could you want?

    3. In defence of people posting times, that is actually why the site was set up – the name of the site is after all Times for The Times. And maybe it is also of use to setters, and our esteemed crossword editor, to have some feedback on how accessible a given puzzle was. It powers the SNITCH statistics, among other things.

      Where I am much more in agreement with you is people worrying about other people’s times, which seems to me odd. But fortunately it also seems to be rare.

      1. Point taken Cedric. I didn’t know that’s why the site was set up (although I grant you there is a clue in the name!)- it seems so much more than that… I’ll just carry on enjoying the blog and everyone’s comments and leave you all to your times! 😆

  47. Hooray! About 16 minutes, so a rare day out from the SCC for me.

    CHA-CHA-CHA, SOW, CHASTISE and AHA went more-or-less straight in and, despite the next three Down clues interrupting my early flow, I got going again with SANCTUARY and WEAK and maintained a good pace from there right to the end.

    My favourite clue was PANAMA and the only clue I failed to parse before putting down my pencil was (my LOI) IMPRESS.

    Many thanks to BR and Oink.

  48. Found this very gentle. May have been a PB but was having lunch at the same time. Hope we’re enjoying the sunshine.

  49. I enjoyed this one as it didn’t require obscure GK to complete.

    However I think sharks get an unfair reputation. For every one human killed by a shark, there are 10 million sharks killed by humans.

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