Times Quick Cryptic No 1709 by Alfie

Author   JohninterredPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Today’s quick crossword is from Alfie, a setter who always (under that pseudonym) provides a crossword with an alphabetical twist. And indeed this one has too, as hinted at by 1A and 11A. I’ll not spoil it for you here if you haven’t looked for what’s hidden in the grid, but I’ve summarised what I found at the end of the blog.
As for the clues, one or two are a bit tricky (15D puzzled me the most) and the crossword took me rather over my average time, finishing in 6:40. Some fun clues though. My COD goes to 8A, but the cleverly worked theme is most entertaining. Thank-you Alfie! How did everyone else get on?

Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is my turn to provide the weekend entertainment. You can find my amateur quick crossword here. Enjoy!

Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, deletions and [] other indicators.

Across
1 All the letters of Plath Bea devoured (8)
ALPHABET – (Plath Bea)* [devoured].
5 A long time back for example visiting S Africa (4)
AGES – E.G (for example) inside [visiting] S.A. (South Africa) all reversed [back] -> AGES.
8 Biblical book, or endless ditty performed by a single monk? (4,2,7)
SONG OF SOLOMON – SONG (ditty) OF SOLO MONk (performed by single monk) [endless].
10 After gym, sip fizzy soft drink (5)
PEPSI – P.E. (physical education; gym) (sip)* [fizzy].
11 Pine, silver, originally orange in the distant past (4-3)
LONG-AGO – LONG (pine) AG (chemical symbol for silver) and the first letter of Orange [originally].
12 Reaper, gutless: sarcastic, yet handsome (6)
SCYTHE – Outside letters of [gutless] SarcastiC YeT HandsomE.
13 Name of female in Grammar School? (6)
GLADYS – LADY (female) [in] G.S. (Grammar School).
16 Wooden strip containing medal found in London borough (7)
LAMBETH – LATH (wooden strip) [containing] MBE (medal).
18 Dog seen in Soho, undernourished (5)
HOUND – Hidden [seen in] soHO UNDernourished.
20 Hunters battle, frantically, to go from disadvantage to advantage? (4,3,6)
TURN THE TABLES – (Hunters battle)* [frantically].
21 Minor mistake to knock back this beer? (4)
PILS – SLIP (minor mistake) reversed [knock back] -> PILS.
22 Nearly one hundred years to capture a small race of “horsemen” (8)
CENTAURS – CENTURy (one hundred years) without the last letter [nearly]  outside [to capture] A, S (small).
Down
1 Old storyteller regularly made use of PA (5)
AESOP – Alternate letters [regularly] of mAdE uSe Of PA.
2 Impressive display of work left in Pennsylvania and New York (7)
PANOPLY – OP (opus;work) L (left) in PA (Pennsylvania) NY (New York)
3 Doctor hasn’t mobile, leading to cancellation (11)
ABOLISHMENT – [doctor] (hasn’t mobile)*. Nice surface.
4 Undoubtedly like one to visit cathedral city (6)
EASILY – AS (like) I (one) in [to visit] ELY (cathedral city).
6 Third grade glossy turned over by graduate (5)
GAMMA – MAG (glossy) [turned over] -> GAM, MA (graduate).
7 Devious US uni, so in need of reform (7)
SINUOUS – (US uni so)* [in need of reform).
9 Card held by bridge player in need of a partner? (6,5)
LONELY HEART – Double definition, the first a cryptic hint. I’m not sure where the “lonely” comes from without having e.g. “Single” at the start of the clue.
12 Separate ends of shop illuminated (5,2)
SPLIT UP – [ends of] ShoP LIT UP (illuminated).
14 Blue duo cavorting in capital of Wisconsin (6-1)
DOUBLE-U – (Blue duo)* [cavorting]. Capital as in the first letter of.
15 I’m said to make you smile: the stuff of dreams? (6)
CHEESE – Definition and cryptic hint. I think it is referring to connection between eating cheese and bad dreams. “Serotonin can cause extremely vivid dreams at higher levels. Tryptophan is found in such foods as cheddar cheese, chicken, salmon, lamb, egg, flour, white rice, and milk. Cheddar cheese has the most amount of tryptophan.”
17 Picture held up by popular umpire (5)
MURAL – Reverse hidden [held up in] in popuLAR UMpire -> MURAL.
19 Sleep after swallowing tablet and lots of medicine? (5)
DOSES – DOSS (sleep)  outside [swallowing] E (Ecstasy; tablet).

And here’s what I found in the grid…
[Thematic answers (click to open)]Apart from the English “DOUBLE-U”, we have, embedded in the answers, (at least) the following Greek letters (have I missed any?)
Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Epsilon, Eta, Theta, Mu, Nu, Pi, Psi and Tau
We also have the Hebrew Beth and He
Have I missed anything else?

51 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1709 by Alfie”

  1. Slow again, although I see John was slower than his usual too. I biffed SONG OF S and AESOP. Thus I didn’t notice how misleadlingly placed ‘endless’ was. “Devoured” struck me as a bit of a stretch for an anagrind, especially in a QC. DNK GS as an abbreviation for grammar school, although it’s hardly surprising. Also didn’t understand the cheese/dream thing. I didn’t see any problem with LONELY HEART, taking it as a whole as a cryptic definition. Certainly ‘in need of a partner’ in itself only defines LONELY. 7:04.

    Edited at 2020-09-25 02:34 am (UTC)

  2. All green in 16 so just about in the normal range. Seven went in on the first pass of acrosses which is pretty good for me and progress was good until the last few clues where I ran into a lack of general knowledge yet again having never heard of SONG OF SOLOMON which caused me problems because I’d been focused on the ‘bridge player’ bit of LONELY HEART and so had convinced myself ‘single heart’ might be a thing in bridge – I’ve never played – which fitted all the checkers by the crucial one in SOLOMON. SOLOMON also let me get EASILY, which was simpler than I’d been making it, and GAMMA where I don’t understand the definition, is it an American school year? I’m good on local government so didn’t take long picking one of 32 London Boroughs, although I didn’t know ‘lath’ was a wooden strip and it took a while to spot the reverse hidden to justify MURAL. If I found that hard to find it’s no wonder I didn’t spot the alphabet theme – I’m amazed anyone did – thanks John, enjoyed reviewing the grid with that extra knowledge
    1. Equivalent to a “C”.
      I struggled to parse MURAL too!
      Extraordinarily clever theme. I never had a chance; too focused on completing the puzzle to worry about missing something so subtle. If it’s not a pangram I stop looking!

      Edited at 2020-09-25 06:22 am (UTC)

      1. I can’t speak for our blogger, but I only spotted it because I was looking for it having seen the name of the setter. Alfie / Noel has given us only 10 puzzles over the past 6 years and every one them has had something special going on.

        Edited at 2020-09-25 07:09 am (UTC)

    2. …is “a third-class mark given for an essay or other piece of work.” and British usage, according to the online Oxford Languages dictionary
  3. 10 minutes. Always good to hear from Alfie (or Noel, in his other guise) and I was ready for something special as soon as I saw his name on the print-out. I spotted all the Greek stuff but not the Hebrew letters.

    Like Kevin, I wondered about GS = Grammar School. It’s valid, but of the usual sources only Chambers has it, which is a bit unusual for a weekday puzzle, and certainly for a Quickie.

    I still wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out there’s more going on here than has already been noted.

  4. … and very much enjoyed. All finished and green in 9 minutes, but not really all parsed – I did not know the connection between cheese and (bad) dreams, and I too wondered if there was an indicator for Lonely in 9D that I was just not seeing.

    The NINA was far too clever for me – and I consider myself a bit of a linguist and philologist. I am in awe that John spotted it! There is one possible other letter you might want to add to the list: “eth” (in 16A Lambeth). Eth is the name of the letter Ð,ð which is used in Icelandic and Faroese, and which is pronounced as a soft voiced th (as in English the, not as in thin). Not I admit the most common of languages or therefore widely seen letters today, but it used to be much more so; it was a common letter in Anglo Saxon.

    Thanks to Alfie and John for the blog, and I look forward to the weekend special.

    Cedric

  5. A pretty straightforward top half apart from GLADYS (which was a real barrier for me, too) and LONELY HEART which was clever. So were CHEESE, DOUBLE-U, and many other clues that I will now go back over with the help of John’s blog. My COD was SONG OF SOLOMON, once I had parsed it! The ALPHABET ‘soup’ was a brilliant wheeze that passed me by in my concentration on finishing. Just within 20mins today but technically a dnf because of 2 fat finger typos (alppabet and gamna). How careless. Many thanks to Alfie and John. John M.

    Edited at 2020-09-25 03:37 pm (UTC)

  6. Thanks to Alfie Bet. I presume he did the 15 x 15 today as well. I think that this happens quite often.
  7. I thought this was an excellent puzzle, even before being enlightened by the nina, which I missed even after going back for a second look. My lack of biblical knowledge made 8a tricky and, like mendesest, I made it even harder by having SINGLE HEART at 9d. I particularly enjoyed AESOP and DOUBLE-U but my COD goes to the sarcastic reaper. Finished in 11.13 with LOI GLADYS.
    Thanks to John and I look forward to tackling your weekend QC
  8. A fun puzzle from Alfie today and I have so far failed to spot the theme, so more fun to come.
    FOI AGES;LOI PILS where I sensibly stopped myself entering PALE just to stop the clock; a lesson learned this week.
    Many good clues; I liked SPLIT UP but COD to GLADYS (I can see not everyone’s favourite). I had an aunt by that name and went to a GS.
    Time 13:24. David
  9. Great work by our esteemed blogger to spot the Nina, which I couldn’t find even though I was looking for it, and a rattling fast time as well. Chapeau.

    NHO SINUOUS in the sense of devious, or (amazingly) that W is written DOUBLE-U – I spent ages wondering what this obscure capital city could be! Nor did I know that brand names (PEPSI) were “allowed”. So I have been thoroughly educated today.

    FOI ALPHABET (a poor clue, if I may say so, given that “Plath Bea” just seems to be nonsense), LOI & COD CHEESE (very clever), time 1.8K for an OK Day.

    Many thanks Alfie and John; looking forward to the weekend puzzle!

    Templar

    1. The surface meaning is that Bea avidly read the (famous) letters of (Sylvia) Plath. A comma after “Plath” might have helped the surface but I think it would make the clue harder to parse.

      Edited at 2020-09-25 10:49 am (UTC)

      1. Ye Gods. So that’s what it was getting at. I was sure there was a Sylvia reference in there, but that parsing never occurred to me. Thanks, John.
    2. PILS is also a brand name , surely?
      I also thought they weren’t allowed.

      Dnf today.

      COD GLADYS

      Tks all

      Diana

      1. PILS isn’t a brand name. It’s a shortened form of “pilsener” which is a type of lager beer brewed by numerous companies.
      2. Pils comes from Pilsner, a style of continental beer originating in the Czech city of Pilsen. Its usage is universal these days and no longer restricted if ever it was (which I doubt) to a specific brand.

        Edited at 2020-09-25 01:39 pm (UTC)

  10. This one took me over my target and I failed to spot the theme, but it was very enjoyable. AESOP was my FOI and I finished with DOUBLE-U in 11:50. Thanks Alfie and John.
  11. 17:21 : Brandenburg Concertos composed

    A good time to end the week. NHO GS for Grammar School, but it appears in enough Initialisms (MGS, RGS etc) to be fair.

    Surely ‘Plath Bea’ is a pretty weak anagram of Alphabet, not a great clue to kick the whole thing off at 1 Across.

    Sorry, I still don’t see the Nina.

    LOI and COD CHEESE — I think the dreams thing is Apocryphal, although I had heard of it. Nice clue.

      1. Times Columnist Caitlin Moran in the paper today talks about how Wallace’s phrase “crack open the cheese, Grommit” sounds like an out take from Trainspotting.
  12. Top half went in without too much difficulty, but then I wrote down the wrong letters for the anagram at 14d and ended up with Double O, which seemed a really odd nick-name for a city, even for the USA, but I foolishly pushed on regardless. I eventually saw 22ac was Centaurs, and corrected my mistake, but by then I was running out of steam and stopped with 16ac and 17d/21ac still to do. When I came back Lambeth enabled me to spot the hidden Mural, and I resisted Pale (ale) long enough to think of Pils, but overall this was a very slow solve. Needless to say, the Nina also passed me by. Invariant
  13. 13 minutes and slowed slightly by looking for a theme that I failed to spot! Excellent puzzle and blog, so thanks both.
  14. Got in a bind today. Knew it must be SoS but already had SINGLE HEART (probably thinking of a singleton in bridge) so it can’t be SH but it must be so it can’t be SoS but it must be etc etc. Finally resolved things after a minute or more delay. A good reminder to me why I should never enter a crossword competition!

    Didn’t spot the nina even though gamma was one of my early ones in, but I guess I was rushing and not enjoying. Thanks to blogger for pointing it out. I went looking then and most of them jumped out at me! Easy when you know the answer.

    H

  15. I guess, if we’re ever to spot the Nina, we need to remember to look for one! Great puzzle from Alfie (thank you) which we really enjoyed solving in 14 minutes.

    FOI: alphabet
    LOI: cheese
    COD: cheese but we really liked “lonely hearts” too

    Thanks to John for the blog and for setting another WEQC – already looking forward to it

  16. A brilliant puzzle so thanks to Alfie for 15 minutes of enjoyment.
    I couldn’t parse SONG OF SOLOMON and I was also surprised that PEPSI would be allowed. As for the other drink, I almost put in ‘slip’ before carefully re-reading the definition.
    Amongst my favourites were AESOP, EASILY and SPLIT UP, with my COD going to DOUBLE-U.
    Thanks to John for the blog and explanation of the nina – and thanks in advance for the weekend QC.

  17. An enjoyable puzzle from Alife all completed in 25 mins, but didn’t spot the Nina (so nothing new there).

    The main hold up was 13ac “Gladys” – primarily as I thought it was some school in the UK that doubled up as a female name.

    NHO of 6dn “Gamma” for Third Grade and nearly got my letters muddled up for 2dn “Panoply”. Similarly, invented a new word for picture: “Ferni” for 17dn, until I realised I was writing complete rubbish.

    Enjoyed 11ac “Long Ago” and 14dn “Double-U” (I also nearly put Double-O). Must remember “Lath” = Wooden Strip and that “Doss” doesn’t necessarily mean to muck about.

    FOI – 1ac “Alphabet”
    LOI – 13ac “Gladys”
    COD – 15dn “Cheese” – The Liz Truss special.

    Thanks as usual.

  18. taking every moment of 9:37.

    LOI was EASILY, as I had written in ??SELY in a hurry, taking into account the cathedral city.

    ALPHABET put me right on that.

    Never spot NINAs, but next time I see Alfie or Noel, I will try.

  19. Good puzzle 9 mins for all but 12 ac. 6 or 7 mins later i realised that you don’t spell 9 d LONLEY, and the penny dropped.
    I thought 9 d was fair and got it quickly without crossers, it does say card (singular)
  20. The explanation of the answer cheese I did not think of. I got this by thinking of people who say cheese to make you smile when taking a picture. Good double definition

    Tim

  21. FOI Alphabet which gave me Aesop which helped with Song of Solomon.

    Scythe held me up. Tricky parsing of Centaurs too. As usual, I biffed a few I couldn’t parse properly. No problem with Gamma and luckily Gladys sprang to mind from the crossers.

    Thanks all.

  22. Nice puzzle but a slowish solve. Stopped the clock at around 23 mins with all correct but by no means everything parsed, so thanks to John for enlightenment where required. I had no idea what was going on with some of the clues (12ac and 22ac spring to mind), so had to rely on checkers for those. Wasn’t keen on devious as a synonym for sinuous.

    FOI – 1ac ALPHABET
    LOI – 15dn CHEESE
    COD – 3dn ABOLISHMENT for the surface

    1. SOED defines SINUOUS in one sense as: Not straightforward or direct; dishonest, crooked, which seems close enough to devious, to me at least. It’s figurative rather than literal.

      Edited at 2020-09-25 08:15 pm (UTC)

  23. ….back in 1992 was entirely due to not solving the final conundrum, PEPSICOLA. It’s an anagram of “episcopal”, and I’ve never touched the stuff since ! I certainly didn’t expect it to pop up here.

    I was another “single heart” until I got the biblical clue.

    It’s not often I need the blogger’s assistance on the QC, but thanks for parsing DOSES John. I don’t think I’ve ever seen ABOLISHMENT rather than abolition.

    FOI AGES
    LOI DOSES (with fingers crossed)
    COD CHEESE (I love a cheese supper, and never have nightmares)
    TIME 4:26

  25. As Jack points out Pils is not quite a brand name but Pepsi is. Like the rest of our lives, advertising is always with us. Even here in Capitalist China it is to the fore, particularly Pepsi.

    I must forewarn countryperson1 that one of the answers in the ‘biggy’is a smelling salts job!

    Jordan’s Cheese Supper sounds rather good! But surely Phil you’ve heard of Wilberforce and The Abolishment of Slavery!? Unless it is still practiced in the northern states of the Danelaw.

    FOI 10ac PEPSI

    LOI 17dn MURAL

    COD 13ac GLADYS today MORAG yesterday who’s next?

    WOD 8ac SONG OF SOLOMON required reading whilst at school

    1. We were slowed down by failure to be able to parse a number of clues. Tim above gave his version for 15d, cheese, which we also decided was possible. Good puzzle, did not see the theme at all. Thanks Alfie and for the blog.
  26. The explanation of the answer cheese I did not think of. I got this by thinking of people who say cheese to make you smile when taking a picture. Good double definition

    Tim

  28. Missed the NINA completely – not having the Greek. I usually find the less frequent setters a problem – a matter of not steeping into their style, I suppose. But Alfie didn’t cause this hiccup today. Probably the giveaway 1a/1d alphabet/aesop were an immediate confidence booster. FOI 1a alphabet; LOI 5a ages; COD 2d panoply – because I seldom spell it correctly and for the construction. Count me as another surprised to see Pepsi. Pils I can accept for the reasons others have given already. Also agree with comments on ‘devious’. A thoroughly enjoyable puzzle to settle to after supper and a very insightful blog from johninterred. Will gratefully print off the Saturday bonus but try not to look at it until the weekend!
  29. I parsed this somewhat differently. I took devious as the anagrind and reform, as in to form in another way as the definition.
    1. Well sinuous is an adjective meaning wavy or bendy, and reform as you expressed it is a verb. (it can also be a noun).. but at least you got the right answer.
  30. I am copying my comment here as I am not sure that it will show up on the weekend site:
    I thought this was a brilliant puzzle even though it stretched me to 29 minutes (my target is 20 but I have been struggling to achieve that all week – so perhaps I’m just going backwards!). All the surfaces were remarkably smooth.
    I was worried that I would fail completely at first as my FOI was 23a!!! LOI URBANE. If I have to choose a COD it would have to be 19a because it made me laugh but there were so many contenders. Of course 10a (ELEVENS) was amazing, once explained, but I didn’t manage to parse it myself. Thank you, John, for a wonderful weekend distraction! MM

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