Times Quick Cryptic 3016 by Pipsqueak

66 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 3016 by Pipsqueak”

1. Straightforward, but it took me some time to arrange the anagrist in LOI CONSTRAINT. 6:06.

2. Didn’t enjoy this at all and had trouble seeing a lot of the answers. Missed the ‘so’ definition in 22a SIC and didn’t rally like the sick/fed up pairing. Took me a while to see CONSTRAINT and had to wait for checkers. INSENSATE was a NHO or forgotten so again had to wait for checkers. Everything else was pretty straightforward.
   Thanks Jack and setter.

3. Not straightforward for me. Only solved a few across clues at first look, but down clues went in much quicker, which gave an average (for me) finishing time of 21:45.

4. 17:05, also struggled with 1a, CONSTRAINT. And also my LOI CONFRONT.

   CONSCIENCE gave three downs all ending in C.

   COD BEACON

5. Tired this morning after a busy weekend and this felt tough going so was surprised to find we finished in 19.09, probably around our target these days.

   Glad I wrote the letters our for constraint as once we had the c I thought it was constrain so glad to realise the t was needed at the end!

   COD to beacon.

   Thanks P and J

6. 13:30. Four cons in there. Bifd sell and geisha. Nice surface and misdirection using dictator for aural wordplay indicator (is that someone miss Moneypenny would listen to?) Missed the lurking geisha half parsing as an anagram/change of is and a bit of hard and who cares where the eg comes from.
   Thanks for the explanations Jack and for the puzzle Pip

7. 7.31, which surprised me a bit seeing I got nowhere with the first four or five acrosses and was held up for some time at the other end when CONSCIENCE, SIC and SELL took their own sweet time to appear. Otherwise all good, thanks Pipsqueak and Jack.

8. Glad to hear I’m not the only one who struggled to unravel LOI CONSTRAINT, even when I resorted to pen and paper it took a while to see. I reckon that and SELL added a full minute to my time.
   Finished in 6.18 with my favourites being BEACON and KEROSENE.
   Thanks to Jackkt and Pipsqueak

9. 14:18 for the solve. Another puzzle which got easier when I had more checkers. Thought CONSCIENCE was a great clue.

   Thanks to Jackkt and Pipsqueak.

   1. 🙂You will soon have to rename yourself again. How about Racing Driver.

      1. Ha ha … no more name changes or it’ll create work for Galspray on the Quitch

10. Six on the first pass on the the way to an all green sub-10 finish. My clean living ways meant STONED was LOI having previously had to work hard to get INSENSATE, CONFRONT, CONSCIENCE and KEROSENE. Good one!

11. Despite being 4 clues in before starting, I eventually finished pretty quickly, and without a typo (last week’s efforts were, alas, riddled with them). Only my LOI was left of the Down clues after the first pass, and that made the second pass relatively easy.

    FOI STUN
    LOI STONED
    COD BEACON
    TIME 3:43

12. I thought this was going to be a hard one, getting only three across clues on first pass, then it all fell together, with my LOI SETTLE going in at 9:12.
    I needed pen and paper to untangle KEROSENE and CONSTRAINT. I should have been quicker on the latter, as I used to give lectures on the difference between objectives and constraints in optimisation algorithms.

    Thanks Jack and Pipsqueak

13. Mostly enjoyable! Ended up returning to a more or less empty NW, having steadily solved the rest. Finally managed CONSTRAINT, which helped. LOsI OVERT and STUN.
    Liked SIC, AT ODDS (COD), the OBSCUREly hidden GEISHA and BEACON.
    Many thanks, Jack.

14. An enjoyable solve in 9:52, though I have a feeling it could have, should have been a bit faster if I had got CONSTRAINT a bit faster – for some reason it just wouldn’t come. That and INSENSATE were my only two real holdups; otherwise pleasingly on wavelength.

    Many thanks Jack for the blog

15. I got into this quite quickly and enjoyed it, especially as more crossers emerged. I did not rush but the iPad timer told me I finished in under 14; not nearly as quick as last Monday but very acceptable for me.
    I completed the NW when I saw 1a (without writing down the anagrist) and then my LOI OVERT. Interesting that there were five answers containing CON.
    CONSCIENCE was my COD with INSENSATE close behind.
    Thanks to Pipsqueak and Jack.

16. Reasonably straightforward, thank you Pipsqueak – but still needed you, jackkt: NHO booze supplier = OPTIC, not sure why the kite (7) was included, and Mrs M helped with group of agents = cell (DNK) to give LOI SELL (which it had to be). So thank you, jackkt. Liked the conjunction of Nero and the flames.

    1. My AI assistant advises: The idiom “as high as a kite” means to be greatly affected by alcohol or drugs, or to feel very happy and excited.

       Its origin is generally attributed to the United States, and it’s considered a relatively new idiom, likely emerging around the mid-20th century. The use of “high” to describe a euphoric state (often associated with intoxication) began around 1953.

       The “kite” in the phrase refers to the toy that soars to great heights when flown in the wind, metaphorically representing the elevated or altered state of consciousness experienced by someone under the influence or in a state of extreme happiness.

       1. Thank you, Jack (I see from others above that I may say “Jack” – that’s good ‘cos I was always scratching my head to think which letter it is in jackkt that’s doubled!) for your admirably full explanation and answer. Humm – I think I knew all that – my point was that the clue would surely have worked as well without that extra phrase “as a kite”? But maybe my search for economy was over-zealous. Thanks.

    2. I believe spirits are dispensed in pubs via optics fixed beneath upside-down bottles, as our blogger says. If you have ever been to a pub, you must have seen them🙂

17. I remember having difficulty with Pipsqueak puzzles previously and indeed I had got down to 16ac before I was able to get started. However things improved greatly once I tackled the downs and I finished all parsed in a respectable 16 mins. I too struggled to unravel the anagrist at 1ac and 11ac also took a while to appear.

    FOI – 16ac KEROSENE
    LOI – 13dn ELEVEN
    COD – lots to like, particularly CONFRONT and the drugged up Olive.

    Thanks to Pipsqueak and Jack

18. 19:39

    5 mins at least on CONFRONT which got me good

19. Contrary to many above commenters, I found this easy, coming home in just over 4 minutes. Couldn’t work out where the second A in SONATA could be found, so thanks for that, Jack.
    Looks like you all had a fabulous time on Saturday, and what a great turn out!

20. DNF – I came unstuck by SELL, as I completely missed the dictator homophone clue. The rest went in (mostly) easily enough.

    Pi ❤️

21. A nice start to the week, just the one coffee needed. LIO CONFRONT, took a time to work that out, and COD BEACON, although AT ODDS ran it close.

22. CONSTRAINT was FOI. I keep trying to do an across sweep followed by a down sweep, but find myself switching to the downs early when I don’t see one the across clues straight away. In this case I found I’d finished the top half before going back to the across clues. CONFRONT and SONATA in particular needed the crossers before I saw what was going on. LOI was CONSCIENCE. 7:18. Thanks Pipsqueak and Jack. Thought of you as the train went through Leighton Buzzard! Really enjoyed Saturday afternoon in The George. Great to meet up with everyone. Back in Northampton at the moment and off home to Middlesbrough tomorrow.

23. A steady solve, but with a few tricky ones thrown in for good measure. Loi Sell went in just shy of the 20min mark, but I’m still not entirely happy about Sell/betray: sell out, sell down the river etc, but Sell by itself ? Like others, CoD to Beacon, though Pipsqueak’s hidden Geisha deserves a prize for ingenuity. Invariant

24. I started badly on CONSTRAINT, since I was initially sure that it must end ATION. Then I realised that that left me with no vowels … so tackled the downs, got the checkers and in it went. Nothing else held me up much, though I missed that GEISHA was a hidden for a bit.

    All done in 05:09 for a Red Letter Day. Very good puzzle – gold stars to BEACON, STONED, LILAC and COD CONSCIENCE.

    Many thanks Jack and Pip.

25. 33:10

    Really struggled with this. DNK INSENSATE, but it was the SE corner that really held me up. Couldn’t parse SELL and took ages to think of mug for cup to get LOI SMUGLY.

26. I didn’t find this particularly straightforward, and in solving it seemed like I was the wrong side of my ten minute target. I was quite surprised therefore to find I’d stopped the clock at 9.10, especially as I had to revisit quite a few clues two or even three times. I didn’t get off to a very good start by trying to biff ASCERTAIN for 1ac, which in hindsight was pretty dim of me as it was nowhere near in terms of the anagrist and even the number of letters. As a result CONSTRAINT became my LOI, where I had to spend time writing out the letters and overwrite my earlier pathetic attempt.

27. 7:20

    Another slowish morning for me – slow to get the 1a anagram until all checkers were in, indeed I found I had to write out the letters for each of 1a, 11d and 16a. However, considering the Quitch is currently at 80, I’d say that was about par for the course.

    Thanks Jack and Pipsqueak

28. 31:33 with the last few minutes spent on CONFRONT.
    Some nice clues with BEACON, SONATA and SELL standing out.
    Thanks Pipsqueak and Jack.

29. Breezed through most of the grid, but was held up by the SE corner
    Conscience held me up, as did sic, beccause I was fixated on G for a thousand rather than K. Duh!

    Took longer than average, but a very enjoyable test. Thanks Pipsqueak and jackkt

30. The problem that quite a few people had with CONSTRAINT is the one I had with CONFRONT! That added 41 seconds to my time 😖
    It took me a little while to get started, too, but apart from that I thought this was pretty straightforward and I liked SMUGLY, STONED, OBSCURE and CONSCIENCE. On a similar theme, there’s an amusing clue in the biggie today – I wonder if the same setter did both puzzles?
    8:11 FOI Ran LOI Confront COD Beacon
    Thanks Pipsqueak and Jack

    1. Hello Mme B,
       I was fortunate that all three CONs – CONSTRAINT, CONFRONT, CONSCIENCE – yielded quite quickly for me. However, Mrs R quickly deflated any ego I might have been building by expressing surprise that I actually knew the meaning of the last of those.

31. 19 mins…

    I thought this was on the harder side, so was somewhat surprised to come in just under 20 mins. A couple of the anagrams: 1ac “Constraint” and 5dn “Insensate” took a while to unravel, whilst both 3dn “Seconds” and 7dn “Stoned” were more obvious than at first glance. Some nice clues though.

    FOI – 10ac “Stun”
    LOI – 2dn “Overt”
    COD – 22ac “Conscience”

    Thanks as usual!

32. Having stupidly put INATENESS at 5d (yes I now know it has double N and doesn’t mean unfeeling) I couldn’t work out any of the crossers. Eventually I took another look, got the tippex out and finished in about 30 minutes. Very enjoyable crossword thanks Pipsqueak and thank you Jackkt for the explanations.

33. Amazed I finished this in 31 mins as I found most of it hard going. No across clues on first pass but some down clues got me started.
    CONSTRAINED took me some time but SELL, OPTIC were guessed at as they vaguely fitted and I could not think of alternatives. Fortunately they were correct, leading me to LOI: SETTLE. COD: LILAC

    Thanks for the blog jackkt

34. 7:42 Unravelling the parsing of SONATA was hardest part for me today.

35. 9.42 CONSTRAINT was slow and I spent a while at the end on GEISHA, which is often clued as hostess so I should have spotted it sooner. Thanks Jack and Pipsqueak.

36. Betray = ‘sell out’ rather than SELL as far as I’m concerned, SIC tricky without SELL as a checker

    1. One might say “He would sell/betray his principles” , “sell/betray his values” in order to achieve something.

       1. I agree someone might ‘sell his own mother’ etc, but there I think the character judgement relates to dubious financial activities rather than betrayal. Sell/betray still seems quite a stretch.

          1. Well famously according to the Gospel of Matthew, Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver and that surely counts as a dubious financial activity.

             I thought my examples posted earlier covered it adequately, but would also add that although thesaurus entries are not necessarily definitive, both the Collins Thesaurus and Chambers Crossword Dictionary list ‘sell / betray’ and vice versa, so I really can’t agree that the setter is stretching things too far here.

37. 9.32 – felt like a bit of a plod and struggled a bit with anagrams

38. Eight

39. Whipped through in 15 minutes even allowing pause for thought on INSENSATE (NHO) or Incentase and fortunately plumped correctly. However, to no avail as I typed ELEVEM to get a careless red square. Now to go for a brisk walk in Florida sunshine before it gets too hot.
    Thanks Jack and Pips.

40. 12 minutes. LOI GEISHA.
    Some nice clues. COD to SECONDS.
    David

41. I was pleased with my time of 26 minutes, but I might have escaped the SCC had I broken into my last five clues (INSENSATE, CONFRONT, AT ODDS, OBSCURE and my LOI, SELL) a little sooner. I had reached that point after just 15 minutes, but not believing INSENSATE was a real word, being totally flummoxed by ‘Fleet Street’ in 14a, and not cottoning on to the role of ‘dictator’ in 18a all combined to slow me right down at the end. However, this was enjoyable and definitely a QC.

    Many thanks to Jack and Pipsqueak.

42. Got there in the end. Anagrams are normally a strength for me but constraints and insensate (haven’t heard) required several checking letters before I could put them in.

43. Not quite straightforward, since there were a few NHOs, but no huge blocks, biffed and guessed my way to a solution in 12:02. My anagrammer was off (I see CONSTRAINT was generally hard, maybe four consecutive consonants made it tough) and I was dismally slow to see GEISHA.

    Could not understand OPTIC or AT ODDS (I’ve always resisted knowing about the gruesome Sweeney Todd), and couldn’t account for the second A in SONATA. We don’t STONE olives here, we pit them. MER at KEROSENE which feeds but does not fan the flames, but the Nero imagery redeemed it in my eyes.

    Favorites were STONED, SELL, and SIC.

    Thanks to Pipsqueak and to jackkt for much-needed explanations.

44. 10:22. I found this very slow going – brain clearly not firing on all cylinders. thank you both !

45. 7:03. I’m grateful for the parsing of SELL as I input the word with my fingers firmly crossed. Thanks to Pipqueak and Jack.

46. I found this tough. 22:36, well over my usual times. Anagrams are not my strength, so I normally leave them until I have the crossing letters, but today it seemed that the crossing letters were supplied by other anagrams! But maybe it’s just Monday morning.

    Thanks to Pipsqueak and Jackkt.

47. Pleasant stroll, thanks to Pipsqueak and Jackkt. Constraint easy with the checkers, Geisha and eleven last ones in, but without causing any real hold up.

48. >30:00
    I found this quite a struggle but decided to persevere coming back to it multiple times.
    As others, CONSTRAINT held me up but bizarrely, it took me way too long to get to ‘MUG’ in SMUGLY – my LOI.
    That said, some lovely clues, my favourites being:
    BEACON, CONFRONT, CONSCIENCE & STONED.

    Thanks to jackkt & Pipsqueak

49. Very enjoyable puzzle for this SCC resident. Had to check that INSENSATE was a real word (NHO). LOI CONFRONT. Good selection of clues and nicely misled by “dictator”.

50. We were also very slow to get going so were surprised to finish in 8:49. LOI was SELL because, although it seemed earlier a likely answer, we were tardy in appreciating the homophone clueing to give us the confirmation. Didn’t really understand why advanced should be abbreviated to A in 9a so thanks for the example, Jack. Thanks too to Pipsqueak.

    1. As in the old GCE exams (my era) O was ordinary and A was advanced.

Comments are closed.