Times Quick Cryptic 1671 by Joker

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Excellent QC fare from Joker. Quick (9 minutes) with some great surfaces to enjoy along the way. There seemed to be a lot of anagrams but I now count only 5. I’ve had to push for two CODs which I enjoyed a lot.

Have fun!

ACROSS

1. Upset, as one is after haircut? (10)
DISTRESSED – a nice language play here. On the lines of dismember – to have hair – or tresses – cut then one becomes dis-tressed.
7. Puppy initially wants assistance (5)
WHELP – (W)ants, assistance – HELP.
8. Very many dogs could be missing lead (6)
OODLES – dogs without the first letter – pOODLES.
10. Japanese wrestling is endless problem (3)
SUM – Japanese wrestling without the last letter – SUMo.
12. Prove a sun exploding could make this (9)
SUPERNOVA – anagram (exploding) of PROVE A SUN. COD for this wonderful description.
13. First coat of plaster to present for inspection (6)
RENDER – double definition.
14. Get away from Francesca Peroni (6)
ESCAPE- from FrancESCA PEroni.
17. Agreement on including one instrument (9)
ACCORDION – agreement – ACCORD and on – ON including one – I.
19. What tattooist includes excessively (3)
TOO – included in tatTOOist.
20. Hedging shrub I check thoroughly after pruner has cut middle (6)
PRIVET – I check thoroughly – I VET after a middle-less PruneR.
21. Breakfast item for health? (5)
TOAST – double definition – the second of which is Cheers!
23. Foiled awful fraudster – about time (10).
FRUSTRATED – anagram (awful) of FRAUDSTER about time – T.

DOWN

1. Most wander about, going with the flow (10)
DOWNSTREAM – anagram (about) of MOST WANDER.
2. Endlessly search for spy (3)
SEE – endlessly search – SEEk.
3. Fiendish Tories holding power in quick return (7)
RIPOSTE – anagram (fiendish) of TORIES holding power – P.
4. Over-inquisitive dog drawn into boxes (6)
SNOOPY – double definition – the second being Snoopy the cartoon (hence ‘drawn into boxes’) and great pal of Woodstock. I have to issue a second COD today for another great description.
5. Duck, European red one, turning up (5)
EIDER – European – E then, both turning upwards, red one – RED I.
6. Full-bodied tirade about beak rising (8)
RESONANT – tirade – RANT about beak – NOSE rising upwards.
9. A referee enters wearing football shoes – or not? (10)
BAREFOOTED – a referee – A REF inside wearing football shoes (which are boots) – BOOTED.
11. Chap I make better, giving treatment for nails (8)
MANICURE – chap – MAN, I make better – I CURE.
15. US politician‘s upsetting treason (7)
SENATOR – anagram (upsetting) of TREASON,
16. Pause in the middle in this late rush (6)
HIATUS – in the middle of tHIs lATe rUSh.
18. Car user losing key in Thames, perhaps (5)
RIVER – car user losing the key of d – dRIVER.
22 Fit a small part (3)
APT – a – A, small part – PT.

39 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1671 by Joker”

  1. No real problem, although I didn’t know the plaster meaning of RENDER, so I wasted time trying to make something of the first part of the clue; finally decided the hell with it and settled for the 2d. Didn’t care much for SNOOPY (are frames called boxes in the UK?). Is ‘football’ necessary in 9d? Which, by the way, Chris, you’ve skipped the explication of. Also, it’s ‘fiendish Tories’. 5:45.
  3. 15 minutes, held up by see, distressed, and snoopy, which I guessed from the start, but couldn’t see what it had to do with boxes.

    COD Barefooted.

  4. Managed to enter OOODLE for OODLES which made RESONANT even harder because it made the tirade seem most likely to be ‘blast’ ahead of my first choice of ‘rant’, it took a long time to abandon my search for three letter beak. Like Kevin I had trouble with RENDER, didn’t spot it was a double definition and given how much of it I’ve mixed / put up during university holidays I’m disappointed I couldn’t spot it more easily with all the checkers in – although in that case I was applying it as the finish on the outside of a walled garden’s wall, so not the first coat at all -and it was cement and plaster! No typos today, this morning’s mistake was to click through from puzzles and not from the club page – briefly mystified when ‘congratulations’ flashed across the screen after 17m.

    Edited at 2020-08-04 05:22 am (UTC)

  5. 9 minutes. Like Kevin, I wondered about ‘drawn into boxes’ but assumed it refers to the ‘squares’ in which the images of a cartoon strip appear, whether or not it’s a technical name for them.
  6. Nice, reasonably easy one here, lots of enjoyable clues. Only managed to get 17:05 as I spent absolutely ages trying to get RENDER going through the alphabet for all of the many combinations that fit R-N-E-, but got there in the end.
  7. A nice puzzle. Time flew and it seemed a quicker solve than my 13.08. Many biffable answers after some crossers emerged but I just about parsed them all – thanks to Chris for his crisp confirmatory blog. I liked DISTRESSED, RIPOSTE and COD SNOOPY. LOI was APT. Nice one, Joker. John M.
  8. After yesterdays’ struggle my poor start to the week continued with a DNF due to DESTRESSED at 1a – very careless. But a very enjoyable puzzle nonetheless. SNOOPY seems to be a bit of a Marmite clue from the comments so far but I thought it was excellent and only pipped to COD by HIATUS, which sent me down a couple of wrong paths before the penny dropped.
    I initially wondered if there was going to be some sort of dog related nina due to all the canine references in the top of the grid but nothing jumped out at me.
    Thanks to Chris
  9. Some very clever stuff here – loved distressed and snoopy clues. Thanks setter and blogger. (minor typo in 14a btw)
    Incidentally the 15 x 15 was very friendly for me today – managed that in 30 and this in 10 so feeling good after some slow days.
  10. Thoroughly enjoyed this one today, particularly distressed, snoopy and render.
    Hiatus was very clever.

    Thank you Joker and Chris

    Diana

    Edited at 2020-08-04 09:06 am (UTC)

  11. I enjoyed this one too. DISTRESSED was my FOI, which raised a smile. I liked SNOOPY too. Then good progress until my LOI, RENDER, which took a minute’s thought and an alphabet trawl. 7:25. Thanks Joker and Chris.

  12. … as all done and, for a change, all fully parsed in 9 minutes. That doesn’t happen so often!

    I thought this was a really nice crossword, with so many clues which would walk away with the COD on most days. 1A Distressed was clever, as was 16D Hiatus once I had worked out how it was constructed (not a construction method I recall seeing very often before). But my vote goes to 9D Barefooted, because of the very nice surface, combining refs, football, boots and all but coming up with something never seen on a soccer field!

    Thanks to Chris for the blog
    Cedric

  13. An enjoyable 13-14 minute solve for me today. Nothing too tricky and some lovely clueing, so thank you Joker. Failed to parse HIATUS so had to rely on Chris’s explanation for that.

    FOI – 7ac WHELP
    LOI – 6dn RESONANT
    COD – quite a few to choose from but I think 1ac DISTRESSED takes the prize – brilliant.

  14. Liked Hiatus, knew Render,
    Also liked Snoopy, Oodles, Distressed and Supernova.
    For once I solved Resonant from the cluing rather than biffing a word and parsing it after.

    FOI Sum
    LOI Apt

  15. I thought this was a good QC from Joker and if I had just managed to start with either 1d or 1ac, I suspect it could have been a quick time. Unfortunately they became my last two, after 25mins and change, by which time they were both obvious. Some really nice clues around the grid, with several CoD candidates, but 4d Snoopy wins… by a long nose. It seems highly appropriate that Chris is today’s blogger! Invariant
  16. Slightly better today at 16 minutes, but still over target range. I very nearly misspelt ACCORDION, but spotted it just before my last one in SEE went in. DOWNSTREAM was FOI.
  17. Well, I seem to be getting worse. I took ages over my last few, ending up with 62:06 and it still turned out to be a DNF as I had one wrong. Here is yet another sorry tale. After maybe half an hour I was left with 1d and 13a (which I had as _ _ N_T_ as I had “REPOSIT” in for 3d). I can’t remember whether I saw 3d was actually RIPOSTE or if I finally realised that 1d was simply an anagram first, but eventually I was left with 13a, which I guessed was some unknown name for a first coat of plaster. I tried all manner of combinations (“ranger”, “rinsed” “ranced”) before RENDER came up and rang a faint plastering bell, as well as seeming to fit the inspection bit. Gratefully I stopped the clock, before coming on here to find out that 6d was not “redolant” (which I now see is actually spelt redolent). This required beak to equal LODE and although I could have expected some weird unknown mining term to come up in a 15×15, I should have known Joker would be unlikely to put in something obscure. So, another disappointing day, but I did like my COD SNOOPY. Thanks Chris and Joker.
  18. After yesterday’s shambles a return to form completing a very enjoyable puzzle in 24 mins.

    Lots to enjoy here with some great surfaces and answers. I also think I may have got a better time if I’d seen 1ac and 1dn a bit earlier. Enjoyed “Snoopy”, “Downstream”, “Accordion”, “Distressed” and “Barefooted”.

    Only query was 22dn “Apt”, as I thought of this as “fitting” rather than “fit”. Any clarification welcome.

    FOI – 5dn “Eider”
    LOI – 9dn “Barefooted”
    COD – 12ac “Supernova” – super clue and answer

    Thanks to Chris and Joker.

  19. Some lovely clues today and I finished a whisker within my target of 15 minutes so many thanks, Joker.
    I too was puzzled by SNOOPY’s boxes and I also biffed RESONANT as I didn’t think of ‘nose’ for ‘beak’ so thanks to Chris for the explanation.
    So many contenders for COD – DISTRESSED, FRUSTRATED and DOWNSTREAM – but I’ve opted for HIATUS for its brilliance.
  20. Not a bad day today, with everything bar the last one going in in 10 minutes – another two spent on 13a! So on par today. I was sure that the clue must start with PR (coat of plaster) but had the R in DOWNSTREAM, so wondered what on earth was going! Good misdirection by Joker there. Got there in the end via a bit of an alphabet trawl and a moment’s inspiration.

    So many good clues today, although I’m going against the grain to say that I didn’t much like 4d, and couldn’t see what the boxes were for. However, DOWNSTREAM, BAREFOOTED and HIATUS all got ticks, but only one got a smile!

    FOI Riposte
    LOI Render
    COD Supernova – super clue
    Time 12 minutes

    Thanks again Joker and Chris

    I’ll join gcook52 and say the biggie is quite friendly today.

  21. ….DISTRESSED nor FRUSTRATED by this cracker from Joker. I’d like to think that if I keep working on my own puzzles (hopefully one on Friday week) I might produce something of this standard on a regular basis.

    I’m going back to publishing my time as of today.

    FOI WHELP
    LOI HIATUS (parsed immediately afterwards)
    COD SNOOPY (really clever and originalclue)
    TIME 3:37

    1. 3:37??? Sheesh! I don’t think I could type all the answers in (on an IPad) in that time even if somebody read them out to me! I can take ten seconds to type five characters correctly 🙂

      Time today 9:47, but two minutes of that was banging my head against LOI of RESONANT. I think I was fixating on ROW for tirade and even when I twigged that it must be RANT it was another ten seconds before NOSE occured to me. I’ll not bother entering any competitions then …

  22. enjoyable QC from Joker thanks
    My favourite was barefooted, very clever. Glad to spell riposte correctly (spelling is not a strong point of mine)
    likewise accordion (which without the wordplay I’d have happily entered as accordian!)
    resonant was my LOI
    7.37 on the timer today.
  23. Have done all the QCs since inception – my day would be incomplete without it.

    Might I put in a plea to the programmers who give us the iPad on-line version. When you tap to enter a word, the clue disappears! It must surely be a trivial task to re-display the clue while trying to solve it . . . (I have been coding since 1979!)

    Philip

    1. My iPad-related beef is that it seems to start the clock running whenever you (accidentally) bring up the crossword, even if you immediately swipe left or right to get to whatever you really wanted (e.g. the concise or the full cryptic). Two hours later one settles down to the QC and after ten minutes triumphantly put in the last answer only to be told that you’ve taken two hours ten minutes! I wish it would stop the timer when the QC “loses focus” (to use a Windows term).
      1. I find you need to do the crossword in portrait rather than landscape mode on the iPad, and then you do still have the clue available while typing the answer.

        Completely agree on the timer being useless; I thought I was on for a rare sub-10 minute solve today, but was interrupted half way through. As there is no way to pause the timer, I now have no idea whether I achieved it or not. Also, if you go on to do the 15 x 15 or the Concise, the clock just continues ticking from when you first started the Quick, so totally unhelpful.

        Agree with others this was a fun crossword. Really liked hiatus.

        A long term lurker delurking for once.

  25. Great puzzle, 1.75K, Good Day, nothing to add to the above. I too chuckled at the APT identity of today’s blogger when I got SNOOPY.

    FOI DOWNSTREAM, LOI (by some distance) RESONANT, COD BAREFOOTED.

    Thanks Joker and Woodstock.

    Templar

    1. Agreed – that’s why I had to double up on my CODs. Very impressed by your times these days btw.
  26. A good puzzle today methinks. I’ve recognised a number of clues and answers both today and yesterday, so they all helped me along. FOI 7a Whelp. LOI 1a Distressed although I see I have Destressed as I hadn’t altered the second letter from earlier attempts. COD 11d which I read directly from the construction of the clue before seeing that it was indeed the answer. I spent some time over Resonant wondering if the ‘beak’ in question meant a magistrate or judge.
    1. I think that’s how the F1 set get such good times. All about recognising clues/parts of clues. Can’t be done without enjoying these things enough to keep going over many years and picking it up. Also requires a better memory than mine – sadly.
  28. At one stage I thought that the answer might be DYTISCIDAE. These are water beetles, and fit the clue, but literally rather than cryptically.
    Kevin S

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