Times Quick Cryptic No 1698 by Felix

Author   rolytolyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A top-notch QC, pitched towards the easier end of medium difficulty. I came in two minutes under target, about half the time it took for Tuesday’s done just beforehand. But that was without noticing the nina until it came to writing up the parsings for the blog: like all good ninas, the theme was unobtrusive to the solve, and if you haven’t read the book (like me), you could easily miss it and still perfectly enjoy the puzzle. I see it’s described as the author’s masterpiece; alas I’m using the Wikipedia entry for any explanations below, so I look forward to seeing any subtleties/glaring gaps I’ve missed in the comments. Many thanks to Felix!

Across
1 In British Library’s not above making awful errors (8)
BLUNDERS – Inside BL’S (British Library’s) goes UNDER (not above)
5 Sound quality coming from south west? (4)
TONE – if you’re coming from SW, you’re going “TO NE”. We’ve had similar things before, but I always like this type of clue.  A small part of the full title of today’s book is: David Copperfield the Younger, of Blunderstone Rookery. We have Blunderstone in row 1 and Rookery at 10ac. (We also have a “buttock face” in column 1, but that’s probably a coincidence.)
9 Criminal one captured by the force (5)
THIEF – I (one) captured by THE F(orce).
10 Stony garden has circle for a hundred nesting birds (7)
ROOKERY – ROCKERY (stony garden) has O (circle) for C (a hundred)
11 Excited exclamation Dorothy regularly let out (3)
OOH – d O r O t H y “regularly” let out. No Dorothy in the book as far as I can see; there are possibly some excited exclamations.
12 Make racket, with lorry briefly stuck in street (9)
CONSTRUCT – a CON = a racket, TRUCk (lorry, “briefly”) stuck in ST(reet)
13 Shower of affection coming out of Barkis — seriously! (6)
KISSER – “coming out of” barKIS SERiously. I liked the “shower of affection”, and had I read David Copperfield, the clue would have been even better: I see Mr Barkis is an aloof and miserly character.
15 Father and I with close companion (6)
FRIEND – FR (Father in the priest sense) and I with END (close). I was trying to make “paisan” work somehow.
17 Girl from W European country’s chartered accountant (9)
FRANCESCA – a random girl’s name ending in CA (chartered accountant) with a west European country at the start – not too many options in fairness.
19 Desperate or fancy fellow, expert in karate? (3)
DAN – double/triple definition: Desperate Dan or fancy dan could be the fellow, the latter being a flashy person.
20 Reddish-brown ape hugging retreating salesman (7)
COPPERY – COPY (ape) hugging PER (rep = salesman, “retreating”). And of course our Copper(field)y theme.
21 Lift, tho’, is out of order (5)
HOIST – anagram (out of order) of THO IS
22 Left-winger to make brisk progress (4)
TROT – double definition. Trotwood, or Trot for short, is a nickname of David’s.
23 Wager Ed, stocking fish, is sold out (8)
BETRAYED – BET (wager) ED stocking RAY (fish). The word “betray” crops up a couple of times in the Wikipedia article, and I won’t presume to comment in any greater depth than that.

Down
1 Bottom half of barrel old cook emptied (7)
BUTTOCK – BUTT (barrel) O(ld) CK (CooK “emptied”). Great clue. I was almost surprised to see there wasn’t a drunk old chef called something like Feelgood Buttock.
2 ’umble villain from superior sixties musical recalled (5)
URIAH – U (superior) HAIR (sixties musical) “recalled”/taken back. The self-styled “umble” Uriah Heep is one of the main villains of the piece. Likely based on a fraudster and 9ac who “ingratiated himself into the Dickens household.”
3 Nice edifices, sadly displaying shortcomings (12)
DEFICIENCIES – anagram (sadly) of NICE EDIFICES
4 Series of Wayfarer — unnecessary to televise again? (5)
RERUN – “Series of” letters in wayfaRER UNnecessary
6 In the past, American English being employed too much (7)
OVERUSE – OVER ( in the past) US (American) E(nglish)
7 Country, for example, base for army training (5)
EGYPT – EG (for example), base/bottom for armY, PT (Physical Training)
8 Female Steerforth corrupted embracing a new dad? (6,6)
FOSTER FATHER – F(emale) and an anagram (corrupted) of STEERFORTH, embracing A. The book appears to have both a Steerforth or two and a foster father.
14 Fake, largely inferior, hair preparation (7)
SHAMPOO -SHAM (fake) POOr (“largely” inferior)
16 Gave dad note for translation (7)
DONATED – anagram (for translation) of DAD NOTE
17 Aspect ultimately tiresome, in truth (5)
FACET – E (“ultimately” tiresomE) in  FACT (truth)
18 Approach steps in wall, perhaps, speaking (5)
STYLE – when “speaking”, sounds the same as STILE (steps in wall, perhaps)
19 Flower one’s seen in the light (5)
DAISY – I’S (one’s) seen in the DAY (light). Another of the many nicknames for our titular hero.

36 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1698 by Felix”

  1. It occurred to me to think there was a Copperfield theme when I saw both Barkis and Steerforth in the clues, but I didn’t bother to pursue matters other than noting URIAH. Barkis is famous for his taciturnity: he in effect proposes to I forget who by giving I also forget who the message, “Barkis is willin'”. 6:34.
  2. After a couple of DNFs this week, I’m back in Victorian times, 18:55.

    I did not spot the David Copperfield Nina, only vaguely recognised Barkiss as someone from Dickens. I was held up by entering the Homeric DOH at 11a, having mis-calculated Dorothy.

    COD the triple def DAN

  3. I missed the theme as I have a very limited knowledge of David Copperfield gleaned entirely from a BBC Children’s TV serial shown in 1956. I think I found it pretty boring, and I see it went on for 13 weeks so I doubt I even got through it.

    As for the puzzle, I didn’t find it so easy and needed 14 minutes to get within one clue of completing the grid. The one that delayed me even further and took me into my red solving zone (15+ minutes) for the first time in more than a month, was 18dn. I was never going to get the answer from what turned out to be the straight definition so I needed the wordplay, and I’m afraid ‘steps in wall, perhaps’ took a long time to conjure up the image of a stile. It suggested to me stone or brick steps whereas I think of ‘stile’ as a wooden construction in a fence or hedge. Obviously there’s nothing wrong with the clue but its wording just set me off in the wrong direction.

    For those who don’t know, Felix is the Times Crossword Editor.

    Edited at 2020-09-10 06:00 am (UTC)

  4. Really enjoyed this clever puzzle which we completed in 14 minutes. Nice mix of fun clues – thanks Felix.

    FOI: blunders
    LOI: trot
    COD: Uriah

    Thanks to Rolytoly for the blog.

  5. I found this tougher than most but a fair and enjoyable puzzle. 19 mins (all parsed) so I just avoided the SCC. I liked CONSTRUCT, ROOKERY, BETRAYED, BUTTOCK, and URIAH (my COD). I didn’t see the nina (I never do) so I’ll now go back to the blog and enjoy the subtleties I missed. Thanks to Felix and Roly. John M,

    Edited at 2020-09-10 07:42 am (UTC)

  6. I found this tough. No time as I put the puzzle down for a while when the last few clues became elusive. Also missed the Nina.

    First in TONE, last in and COD BUTTOCK. Before attempting this puzzle I would have spelled the steps incorrectly as style.

    Enjoyable puzzle, thanks to Felix and Roly.

  7. I need to add Dickens to my list of cultural blind spots. Not even the slightest inkling of the nina and had no idea what was going on with our ‘Umble villan but luckily Hair came to mind immediately and the checking U from BLUNDERS gave me the confidence to stick in URIAH and hope. Only four on the first pass of acrosses but the downs were much more accessible, finishing up all green in 16, my best time of the week. Enjoyed building up the answer to BETRAYED having initially registered nothing when I first read the clue.

    Edited at 2020-09-10 08:40 am (UTC)

  8. I made a complete horlicks of this one and thought I’d finally finished it in 17.59, only to have a pink square come back for a careless KISSES. I struggled all over the place but BUTTOCK (still not convinced by the definition), THIEF, FOSTER FATHER and CONSTRUCT proved particularly stubborn. I’ve never read or seen David Copperfield so the nina passed me by but my enjoyment of the puzzle has grown since reading the blog.
    Thanks to roly and well played Felix
  9. About 17 mins. Last few were uriah, facet, coppery, and style.

    I have the book because I read it was Dickens’s favourite, but haven’t started reading it yet.

    COD coppery.

  10. That’s a brilliant Nina, round of applause for Felix. Working in “Blunderstone Rookery” is quite a feat. I twigged the Copperfield theme from URIAH, Steerforth (the cad!) and Barkis but didn’t see how deeply it went until reading the blog. What fun.

    FOI BUTTOCK, LOI CONSTRUCT, COD TONE (very clever), time 1.8K for a Decent Day.

    Many thanks Felix and roly.

    Templar

  11. I also noted URIAH, Barkiss(is willin’) and Steerforth, without noticing the rest of the nina. Clever stuff. I didn’t find the puzzle particularly easy, going over my target yet again. I did enjoy it though 11:29. Thanks Felix and Roly.
  12. …for Kisses in 13A – I read Shower as in “shower of rain, therefore lots of” rather than “one who shows”. Should have spotted it even so as Kisses does not parse!

    Otherwise all done in 12minutes and a really nice puzzle, just my level of complexity and GK. Thanks to Felix and Roly for the blog.

    Cedric

  13. ….but paid it no mind – Dickens and I always were uneasy allies.

    Surprised to find myself as high as 5th on the leader board – still well behind the leader, Verlaine, who was so quick that he’s left at least one neutrino drowning rather than waving ! I wonder if there were a few cases of “rockery” this morning ? There shouldn’t have been, since this clue was totally unambiguous, unlike the episode earlier this week !

    FOI BLUNDERS
    LOI TROT
    COD ROOKERY
    TIME 3:58

  14. On the tricky side in places, even without the presumed (Jack) Dash for 22ac, so I was happy enough with a 23min solve. Dickens, I’m afraid, is very much a blind spot/chasm, so the Nina passed by me with hardly a nod or a wink. Some really nice clues, with 5ac Tone my favourite today, once I saw what was going on, just ahead of 12ac Construct. Invariant
  15. A slow but steady solve for 29 minutes to get to needing just 5a, but I couldn’t think of a word meaning sound quality, nor see what was going on with the south-west bit of the clue, and I knew there would be about a million possibilities for _O_E (okay, that’s a slight exaggeration as there can only be 26×26 combinations and I doubt that xoqe is a word for one, but you get my drift). My first thought was BOSE as I used to always see adverts for their ridiculously expensive sound systems that promised wonderful sound quality, but that didn’t seem likely. I then wondered about JOVE (as in “by jove”, which I thought might be some old Cornish expression of quality) and that led me to COVE as I figured it might be the equivalent of sound in a geographical sense. I thought a sound meant deeper water though, so I ummed and ahhed some more and after 33 minutes came up with NOTE. That’s a sound, I thought, and if something is “of note” then it’s good quality. But still the south west part didn’t work. I would probably have gone with it eventually, but thankfully after 38:14 the penny dropped. It’s funny how when you get the right answer you usually know straight away. Anyway, having never read any of Dickens except A Christmas Carol, I missed the Nina, but I am always amazed at Ninas and this seems a particularly impressive one. COD to 23a Thanks Roly and Felix.
  16. If a martial arts proponent achieves a black belt they move into grades of such, being first Dan, second Dan etc. Richard
  17. I seem to have had a good day compared with most others and finished in the NE corner in just under 10 minutes. My last two in were EGYPT and TONE which I parsed post solve. I knew of the character URIAH Heep but couldn’t recall the novel in which he appears so unfortunately the Nina was completely lost on me. My lack of knowledge probably helped solve 13a (hidden) and 8d (anagram) as I immediately focussed on the unusual names. COD is a toss up between TONE and ROOKERY. Thanks Felix and Roly.

    Edited at 2020-09-10 11:23 am (UTC)

  18. Disaster today for me 🙁 Had it all done bar one in about 5 minutes, but then got totally stuck on TONE. Just couldn’t see it. Eventually I resorted to a letter trawl and decide TONE fitted the bill, but I still couldn’t see why! After more pondering I went with it and limped in at nearly 12 minutes. Was heading here to see why TONE worked when finally the penny dropped. Doh!

    Didn’t spot the NINA, Dickens not my thing, though I knew Uriah. With hindsight I liked the “hint” of COPPERY 🙂

    H

  19. I don’t think I have ever spotted one, or maybe there was a puzzle with lots of IX words in it, that had something to do with 9.

    Anyway, perhaps I just don’t have NINA antennae!

    Nice puzzle today I thought. TONE was my LOI and I think clue of the day for me too. 6:15 for me.

  20. Had everything after 25 mins apart from 2dn, but just couldn’t see it and wasn’t in the mood for an alphabet trawl so DNF.

    Strangely enough, I thought there might be a Nina as I noticed that 1ac and 5ac made “Blunderstone”, but it didn’t twig and the other Dickens references passed me by. However, despite everything, I really enjoyed this and thought there were some good clues. The NW corner in particular made me chuckle with its “Ooh”, “Buttock” and “Kisses” answers (childish I know).

    FOI – 11ac “Ooh”
    LOI – DNF
    COD – 8dn “Foster Father”, although I did enjoy the simplicity of 5ac “Tone”.

    Thanks as usual.

  21. Didn’t spot Nina, but then I seldom do. Barkis and Heep should have rung more bells.
    Struggled with Facet but that helped with Trot. Guessed Dan from desperate.
    FOI Thief and Buttock and Hoist
    LOI Tone
    Confused myself by putting rockery at first.

    (Betsey TROTwood was David Copperfield’s aunt or whatever)
    Thanks all round, as ever.

    Edited at 2020-09-10 01:10 pm (UTC)

  22. Made heavy weather of this one, and unfortunately am not well-read enough to have spotted the theme today. I’ve been performing better on the 15×15 puzzles and worse on the quickies. Interesting to see how developing abilities ebb and flow!

    Last one in was TONE. Almost gave up on it and put in SONE, which I believe is some unit of loudness.

  23. Thanks to Felix for this enjoyable puzzle which took me just under 15 minutes.
    Unusually, I spotted the NINA although I didn’t know all the references so thanks to Roly and other spotters.
    Amongst my favourites were ROOKERY, FRIEND and URIAH but I think that TONE is worthy of COD status for its deviousness.

  24. I didn’t see the Dickens link, but a nice, if challenging, crossword today. Just did not get TONE – thanks for explanation.
      1. Oh what a coincedence (and I should have clocked it as such), I was reading Richard Buckley’s U vs non-U revisited earlier. Thank you jackkt for making the connection that my laboured brain did not!
  26. Spotted the Dickens link early but it was no real help.
    Was very pleased to finish in STYLE after 12:22.
    Was not very pleased when, like plett 11, it turned out I had rather rushed the hidden and put KISSES.
    An excellent puzzle from Felix.
    David
  27. did anyone else have bedrock for 1D? half the letters of barrel in an anagram with an empty old and empty cook?
    just couldn’t make it work with 9A.
    enjoyed the puzzle and the blog thank you.
    Happy Potter
  28. Late to the puzzle today and it seemed like hard going. Completely missed the nina as usual, although I did note the unusual variety of uncommon names in the clueing. I don’t know David Copperfield (although I did know that Uriah Heep and that he was ‘umble appeared somewhere in Dickens. An enjoyable puzzle with a good range of clues which kept me busy for what seemed a long time.

    FOI – 9ac THIEF
    LOI – 18dn STYLE
    COD – 22ac TROT

  29. Thoroughly recommend Armando Iannuci latest adaptation of DC. Dickens can be a slog but this really brings it to life.
    Didn’t spot the Nina nor half the clues plus a dreadful round of golf today Still the weathers set fair for sitting on ones own in the garden. 🤪. Johnny

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