Quick Cryptic 3021 by Bjorn

79 comments on “Quick Cryptic 3021 by Bjorn”

1. I found this pretty straightforward and had no real problems save for my LOI BOUNCY CASTLE, just couldn’t see it until the penny clanged. Thought SAFARI PARK was good but didn’t twig to the 4×4 reference. Learnt ‘rime’ from previous crosswords so RHYME was a write-in. ANTEATER was very clever, I thought with the misdirection of the toast soldiers causing me to think that ‘egg’ should be in the answer somewhere. ARGYLE remembered from long ago and seems to be a popular design on socks these days. Liked CATS where instead of the usual anagram the setter used a device to promote the ‘C’. Fun crossword. Tried to make something out of the big ‘H’ in the middle but no joy. COD to TRAFFIC.
   Thanks G and setter..

2. 23 mins…

   As I was going through this, I could tell it wasn’t the usual QC. However, the NW corner went in fairly quickly once I got into a rhythm. Main hold up was the NE corner and sorting out 5dn “Recovery” and 6dn “Bouncy Castle”, which needed all the checkers before the penny eventually dropped.

   I don’t mind something different every now and then, and this had some amusing surfaces. Although, I concede, if you don’t like cryptic style clues this might be a nightmare.

   FOI – 1ac “Safari Park”
   LOI – 6dn “Bouncy Castle”
   COD – 5dn “Recovery”

   Thanks as usual!

3. Pretty straightforward, but I overlooked a typo (SAFARU). I recognized Silenus, but couldn’t remember who he was; not that it mattered. 8:02 WOE.

4. 15:55 for the solve with 5+mins spent on ANTEATER (LOI). Hmmm … there was some good stuff in here … JAWS, BOUNCY-CASTLE, the ISTANBUL hidden. But by the end of it I began to see why some people hate puns/dad jokes.

   Not sure about parksolve today – two of my locals are shut so there’ll be a logjam at the others nearby – debating a 35min trip to somewhere different.

   Thanks to Galspray and Bjorn

5. DNF

   Struggled to get a foothold and about halfway through started to use aids.

   On the plus side I did solve three of the cryptic clues using aids to get SAFARI PARK. Enjoyed the macho Irish singers.

   1. As a QC beginner, I rely on aids. Sadly today, even with aids, I had to accept defeat. Now I see the explanations, I’m not sure what all the fuss was about. Ay-di-me.

6. 13 minutes. I didn’t like the clue to METRIC as it’s not defined by ‘what became of the British Imperial system’.

   1. System of weights and measures became metric? Although we still have miles etc, so maybe that explains the “?”?

   2. I was totally baffled by that clue and was hoping for an explanation in the blog! I’m now hoping for one in the comments …

   3. I didn’t understand METRIC and thought there might be a “it met its doom / ric” type pun.

      On rereading “what became of” … I wonder if became is a version of what came after, just as in The Bible there are all the “And Jacob begat Joseph” type wordings to indicate subsequence. Just a tentative thought.

   4. Folks, it’s simple … What happened? ‘It met ric’

      Maybe you have to have been brought up on stupid Dublin jokes ….
      Why was Harold’s Cross? Because Terry knew her (Terenure)!
      Why did Dollymount? To see a Fairview!

      No doubt there are equally silly jokes from other locations which make Dad jokes seem sophisticated.

      So to answer other queries below, clearly the mythical Ric is a mate of the mythical Terry, Harold and Dolly.

7. Slow-going but doable. SCC for me.

   “Half man, half goat and usually half-cut” 😂

   Pi ❤️

   1. That was my reaction too 😂

8. Yes, very different. I don’t usually enjoy straight cryptic clues but there was real humour here and I ended up smiling much more than grimacing in a 15:06 solve.

   Only one MER, over METRIC. The answer was clear once I had the checkers but for me it doesn’t work – who is Ric that the British Imperial System is deemed to have met? And actually, what became of the B.I.S. is that it lives on, partially in the UK where it is still used in some areas of life – we have the idiocy of (for example) buying petrol in litres but calculating consumption in miles per gallon – but rather more completely in the US. So a very odd clue, with no wordplay and not much sense to the answer.

   Many thanks Galspray for the blog and good luck with your Parkrun in the heat.

   1. Agreed – Metric confused (and still confounds) me. I asked myself the exact same question, ‘who is this mythical Ric?’.

   2. Yes! Thank you Cedric

9. Struggled with the cryptic definitions and never did work out the parsing of SAFARI PARK or PUCKER, where I thought I was looking for the name of an unknown fairy. Also had one of those days where my ability to spot anagram indicators went AWOL.

   Having said that I really enjoyed this puzzle and thought the surface for BLACK SHEEP was outstanding.
   Started with SATYR and finished with ANTEATER in 10.08.
   Thanks to galspray and Bjorn

10. I shared Jackkt’s MER about METRIC, but otherwise I very much enjoyed this. Fun straight cryptics, ANTEATER particularly. Good to see ARGYLE get a mention although not the best definition of my local team!

11. 15:43. In the wide range of experiences out here, put me down as one who enjoyed it a lot. I liked the 4×4 in the SAFARI PARK and the clever use of the Beaufort scale in CLIMB. But what did become of the British Imperial system? I wondered if it had MET RIC(K). No, but it went in anyway. LOI BOUNCY CASTLE, which I had to write down to get. Nice one. COD to FRANKENSTEIN.
    Thanks to Bjorn and galspray

12. DNF in 20

    Just couldn’t see ANTEATER and numerous alpha trawls didn’t help. Clever clue. Was slow elsewhere not helped by bunging in a completely idiotic SQUARE ROOT at 1a which matched two of the crossers but little else…

    A bit of a shambolic uncaffeinated (lack of) solve 🙂

    Thanks Bjorn and Galspray – great to meet you and Jamie last week

    1. I wondered if 4 x4 might be clueing ‘square’ in some way.

       1. So did I and then SATYR seemed to confirm it, but I got nowhere positing a U for 2d and FRANKENSTEIN then put me straight.

    2. You too Dvynys. Very enjoyable catch-up.

13. Bit of a disaster. I managed to not see ARGYLE, so went for the only other pronounceable set of letters GRAYLE. Also had a typo in HEAVENLY which made BOUNCY CASTLE impossible, as I hadn’t seen the anagram.

    Winked out the cryptic-only clues. we need a better term for this type of clue. All clues are cryptic, but these have no wordplay.

    The “hidden” indicators are getting more bizarre. Today “arrests”, which we’ve had before, but at 6a in really don’t see how “group of”, means that the answer is hidden in the next few words.

    RUFF for trump is pretty technical. You can play hearts, euchre, whist, 500, oh hell, solo and many other trump based card games and never hear it. I played bridge casually and never came across it until I got more serious and bought a book.

    Why Yeats specifically? Surely there are loads of poets who deploy rhyme? Is that what Yeats is famous for?

    COD SAFARI PARK, needed all the checkers.

    1. It just means a group of (letters in) what follows like ‘part’ or ‘piece’ or ‘bit’ as listed by Chambers as hidden indicators. I don’t know if we’ve had it before but for me it works as well as those and if it’s the first time out it suggests the setter is trying to be inventive instead of sticking to the tried and tested and having people complain about that.

14. I liked most of this one with eight on first pass and another seven after a bit of head scratching.

    I have to take issue with recovery being synonymous with improvement.

    Several where I couldn’t decode the parsing so thanks to blogger and thanks to setter for the cryptics.

15. I enjoyed this, and there were a number of COD contenders, including my LOI and SAFARI PARK, which didn’t quite earn the accolade. On the other hand I thought METRIC was poor. CHOIR was one of the best “hiddens” I’ve seen in quite some time.

    FOI TRAFFIC
    LOI BOUNCY CASTLE
    COD ANTEATER
    TIME 5:12

16. I enjoyed this and filled in the LHS very quickly, even the NHO RUFF. I slowed dramatically when it came to the RHS, though. It began to flow once I saw BLACK SHEEP and BOUNCY CASTLE (luckily RHYME and CHOIR were write-ins and helped with the latter). I needed the crossers for METRIC (MER).
    My LOI was CATS and my COD, ANTEATER.
    Some great clues, once I began to get used to the change of style (which tipped me into the SCC – just!). .
    Thanks to Bjorn for a very good puzzle and to Galspray for a useful blog confirming all my parsing.

17. 40 mins but did use the check button a couple of times.
    Fortunately I play bridge, so RUFF caused no problems. Otherwise with zero knowledge of rugby I would have been lost – it is quite a technical term.
    Crosswordland seems to like technical terms from cricket, rugby, football (all male dominated, even now) and bridge (very middle class).
    Schools are always Eton ( occasionally Harrow) – never Roedean. As the setters, I believe, are mostly male that is understandable but results in crosswords that are biased in my view: they are less accessible to those who are not middle-class men.
    I found this hard but extremely enjoyable. I particularly liked the cryptics ( possible exception of metric) even if they did take me ages . (Strangely, I normally loathe and totally detest jokes based on puns.)

    ANTEATER had me stuck as I was determined to fit ants into the answer to match the plural soldiers. The pdm was delicious and so it is my COD.

    Thanks Bjourn and galspray.

    1. I don’t think you need to know much about rugby to solve RU, but I imagine RUFF might be difficult for non-bridge -players.
       Fortunately I have three sons, and watched my father and husband play cricket. As far as I remember, I avoided playing it at school myself though.
       We have already discussed (ad nauseam?) why the letters formed by ETON are useful for setters.
       I agree this is kind of a masculine world, but I kind of like it🙂

    2. For the record ROEDEAN appeared as an answer 4 times between 2013 and 2020 and last year in September it was mentioned in a clue contributing a letter to wordplay.

       I’d suggest among the main reasons it doesn’t appear as frequently as Eton and Harrow is firstly because it doesn’t lend itself to wordplay as they do (with Eton being the more useful of the two in this regard), and secondly because it’s really not as world-wide famous as they are. Several of the comments when it appeared as an answer were along the lines ‘never heard of it’.

       1. The reason Roedean is not as famous is because it is a girl’s school. Girls’ education was generally neglected until relatively recently.
          4/5 mentions of Roedean in the past 20 years is nothing compared to the weekly ( a conservative guess) appearance of Eton. Roedean would indeed be world famous if it appeared as frequently as Eton does.

          I do take your point about Eton being a useful word for compiling cryptics though. But my opinion still stands – that the crossword has a male bias.

18. Great puzzle today with several PDMs giving me a smile. COD ANTEATER. Thanks Galspray and Bjorn.

19. 26 minutes. Well into SCC territory for this one which I found difficult, not helped by those cryptic defs; I still don’t really get METRIC, like several others it seems. I thought the ‘walk in four by four?’ for 1a was a reference to the ‘two by two’ of Noah’s Ark but my first idea of another biblical reference was obviously way off the mark.

    Incidentally, it’s fifty years and one day since the general cinematic release of JAWS in the US on June 20th 1975; thanks to Fifteensquared for that tidbit.

    Thanks to galspray and Bjorn

20. I took 21:45, LOI the Anteater. I found this quite challenging for a QC but enjoyable.
    Edited to add: I just finished today’s main puzzle in less time than it took me to finish the “quick” cryptic!

21. DNF ANTEATER, and needed CCD hint for RECOVERY.
    Difficult, I thought. Took ages, but liked many inc SAFARI PARK, RUFF, BLACK SHEEP, BOUNCY CASTLE.
    I biffed METRIC somewhat doubtfully.
    I’d put SPRUCE for 13d (DD look good and clean frantically) but that made 13a impossible. Hint for GENUS and PDM GLANCE helped in the end.
    Thanks vm, Galspray.

22. RAKE was FOI, which showed me which bit of 1a was hidden. FRANKENSTEIN, RUFF (from wordplay and checkers only) and TRAFFIC (love it!) were next. Really had to put the cerebellum in gear to work my way though this one. An excellent challenge. Bit of a MER at METRIC though. Who is this Ric? BOUNCY CASTLE was LOI and I had to write out the anagrist. Thanks Bjorn and Galspray. A pleasure to finally meet you last week, and put a face to the personality! Good luck with the Park Run. At least you’ll be used to the heat.

    1. Great to finally meet you John. And there’s no getting used to running in the heat at my age!

23. 22.01 for us after a full seven minutes on last two in: five or so on BOUNCY CASTLE having totally missed the ‘modelled’ directive…sigh. Still in land of anagrams, have not come across ‘condemned’ as an anagram flag before? JAWS added another minute or two.
    Hesitated about ARGYLL v ARGYLE. Resorted to checker.
    Echo comments of others re METRIC.
    Very much enjoyed this – SAFARI PARK brought a smile though COD has to go to TRAFFIC.
    Thank you Bjorn and Galspray.

24. 24:21

    Most of the LHS went in quickly but got stuck on the right. Failed to understand METRIC. Loved the cryptic definitions, but spent 5 mins on LOI ANTEATER.

25. Brilliant, really enjoyed this, tricky (12′) but fair, and amusing in parts. Clever clueing, though I share the MER about METRIC – I’m still wondering who Ric was. COD for BLACK SHEEP.
    Great stuff, thanks Bjorn, and Galspray for the excellent blog.

26. Delighted to discover that no one else understands METRIC either. I almost submitted off leaderboard because after a lot of head scratching I was still baffled.

    Otherwise tough, clever, inventive and a lot of fun. Pushed me miles into the red zone at 13:05 but at least 2 of those were spent agonising over whether METRIC was right. COD to ANTEATER, brilliant.

    Many thanks Gallers and Bjorn.

    1. I presume you’re meant to initially interpret the surface as referring to the fate of the once-expanding British Empire, or perhaps the Imperial Honours system.

       The problem is that most solvers will immediately read it as referring to the system of weights and measures, which renders the clue as barely cryptic.

       I didn’t mind it though.

       1. The Imperial Honours system lives on, with many members of the Order of the British Empire and new ones created in every honours list. It was created in 1917, so for well over half its existence it has referred to something that has long since ceased to exist.

          As for the UK going metric, I recall we did try, half-heartedly, to metricise the country at about the same time Australia did, in the 1960s. I still recall learning two little ditties at school “Two and a quarter pounds of jam, that’s about a kilogramme” and “A litre of water’s a pint and three quarters”. But about the only piece of metrication that has really stuck was decimalising our currency and getting rid of shillings and pence. And now, 60 years after I learnt those little ditties, my daughter still refers not only to her height in feet and inches, but also my grandson’s.

          1. Yes, poor wording by me, I didn’t mean to suggest that Imperial Honours had disappeared.

             As for the clash of measurement systems, the Americans have a very amusing take on it…
             https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYqfVE-fykk

             1. 😂 brilliant, thank you!

27. 5:05. Some great clues, but I’m another who thought the clue for METRIC didn’t work and I didn’t much care for SAFARI PARK either. But I did like CHOIR, RAKE, TRAFFIC, REACTOR and BLACK SHEEP. Thanks Bjorn and Galspray.

28. 10:32 today with the same quibbles as my illustrious co-solvers about METRIC. COD TRAFFIC which I was pleased to work out on first reading and LOI was BOUNCY CASTLE which took far too long to spot as an anagram. I suspect I’m not alone in wanting to have a go on a bouncy castle even though I’m way past the age where that sort of activity is acceptable.
    Many thanks to Bjorn and to Galspray for a very informative blog.

29. 9:58, which given I was up to 3am, I’m happy enough with on this puzzle.

    ARGYLE and RHYME would have been tough for me up until a month or so ago. Doing crosswords makes know more stuff, who’d have thought it.

    I would echo everyone’s MERs on METRIC. I would add that, for me, the first thing I thought of was the system of weights and measures rather than the empire, so it didn’t even work as a misdirection. Thought it might be METRED for a moment, with some reference to the role of communism in the fall of the empire.

    COD ANTEATER.

30. Anteater and metric spoilt the QC show for me. Also parsed pucker with the blog, thanks to galspray.

31. I would have evaded the SCC were it not for JAWS and BOUNCY CASTLE. I somehow managed to overlook the anagram indicator in the latter until I’d finished the puzzle, which is entirely my own fault. Didn’t understand RUFF, but then I’m not a bridge player so that clears that up.

    Not really a fan of cryptic definitions (is that what those are called?) but in the event, they all went in pretty quickly, though with a scratch of the head for METRIC.

    Anyway, 23:05, and thank you for the blog!

32. DNF Really enjoyed many of these clues( PUCKER,ARGYLE, BOUNCY CASTLE, and HEAVENLY especially) but couldn’t arrive at ANTEATER.

    1. What a busy week it’s been for the scorers – you 3-nil up by Wednesday, me clawing back to level the week!

       I was having a minor panick as I stared and stared at ANTEATER’s unhelpful checkers but the penny dropped when my alphatrawl gave me ANT- and I made the association to soldiers. Commiserations to you sir.

       1. These tight races are invigorating but stressful- must watch my blood pressure!

33. 11.15 This felt hard but it was very enjoyable and took less than half of yesterday’s time. I finished with ANTEATER and the whimsical METRIC, which I didn’t mind. Thanks galspray and Bjorn.

34. 13:52 so not quick. Anyone else think of Trump = GUFF? Spent some time trying to think of a sport that could be GU.

    1. Yes, I definitely had that thought – one reason I couldn’t get SAFARI PARK.

    2. I had goff since game is often Go. Sounded like it might be a word.

35. Felt much more on wavelength today after total brain fog yesterday. I rather liked having a different sort of QC and particularly enjoyed ANTEATER and SAFARI PARK. Took a while to parse GENUS for some reason, and never did parse METRIC (and still don’t really understand). NHO RUFF but just followed the wordplay. Many thanks for something slightly different Bjorn. Great blog galspray.

36. 16:13 here, liked this one a lot. I share the bafflement over METRIC, though, and didn’t parse RHYME, although it had to be.

    Thanks to Bjorn and Galspray.

37. My solve took a long time, 23:08, but/and I really, really enjoyed this. I must have seen the expression “four-by-four” but didn’t pull it from memory until the very end, when the penny dropped with perhaps the loudest clang in solving history. Very good! Also loved ARGYLE and the little jumpers. Completely fooled into looking for a specific villain so had to give up and biff HEAVENLY. I did think BLACK SHEEP somewhat unfortunate.

    Quite a lot of Britspeak in this one but I’m learning and usually get there with some patience.

    Thanks to Bjorn and galspray. “Soldier” for toast utterly passed me by, so many thanks for that, I’m sure it will come up again in a more baffling way.

38. Maybe it’s because my children accuse me of telling Dad jokes but I liked this one even if it did take some effort to resolve. About 50 minutes or so of effort.
    I thought FRANKENSTEIN, PUCKER and GENUS were all very good.
    Thanks Bjorn and Galspray. You made me laugh.

39. Bit of trouble today for me unable to get SAFARI PARK, and without that RECOVERY, but I did like the clues for ANTEATER and BOUNCY CASTLE, and the timeliness of JAWS. Many thanks Bjorn and Galspray!

40. What was Folkestone parkrun like Galspray? I went to Bartley Park which is near Southampton. Four laps round a rather lovely park in the middle of housing estate although no houses were visible. It had a BMX track, skateboard park – neither of which I tried but I did have a go on the rope slide!! My parksolve coming in just behind yours as I scraped under 40mins.

    1. It’s a lovely course up and down the coast on the “English Riviera”. Stunning day but just too hot for a run. Much more suited to a dip in the Channel, which I enjoyed after returning to our digs in Hythe.

       1. You’re a brave man going in the sea in mid-June. A friend who used to live at the beach in Poole and swam daily said they never went in before July when the water had warmed up.

41. 11:42

    I’d pencilled in SQUARE as the first word of 1a, before I discovered FRANKENSTEIN. I liked PUCKER and JAWS, but like others, was somewhat underwhelmed by METRIC. Yes, it was bloomin’ hot at Lancaster Parkrun this morning, plus the course was the less feted ‘C’ course – used only when courses A and B are not possible due to weddings at the Ashton Memorial (the big tower you’ll see atop a hill as you sail past Lancaster between J33 and J34 on the M6) – “extremely undulating” is what I have scribbled in my running log…

    Thanks Galspray and Bjorn

    1. “undulating” – was always a word on race fliers that tipped you off that it was a hilly course 🤣 but the organisers didn’t want to scare anyone off by actually saying it!

42. Took over half an hour of pondering, head scratching and biffing to solve this difficult puzzle. Cool drink now required.

43. Why does heavy mean screen villain? Couldn’t find anything on Google.

    1. A heavy is just the name for the big muscular (heavy set?) thug/bodyguard that accompanies the baddies to protect them. They’re not the good guys so villain seems reasonable even if they’re not the main villain.

    2. In films, violent criminals are (or were?) often referred to as heavies.

    3. It’s not a very accurate direct comparison, but often large, menacing baddies are referred to as ‘heavies’ – not the brains, but the brawn.

    4. The Times uses three source dictionaries rather than Google – Collins, Chambers and Oxford. So it’s usually worth looking in those first.

       Collins
       Heavy noun
       Word forms: plural heavies
       29.
       a. a villainous role
       b. an actor who plays such a part

       Chambers
       noun (heavies) 1 slang a large, violent and usually not very intelligent man. 2 a villain in a play, film, etc.

44. After overcoming some measure of trepidation, I found this very interesting and amusing. Was going for ARGYLL at first but eventually saw my error and then it had to be RHYME. I wasn’t bothered by METRIC – I read it as a literal: what came after the Imperial measurement system… Missed the ‘goes’ in BLACK SHEEP. I was surprised it took me so little time (for me!), but I never chase a time but enjoy the ride and view.
    FOI 1a Safari Park
    LOI 17a Jaws
    COD – too many to choose – a sign of a fun puzzle as far as I’m concerned!
    I thought the preponderance of cryptic/anagrams was a tad daunting but since they all proved solvable I will say they must have been well pitched and entirely acceptable. Happy to have more like this.

45. I’m on holiday, so this didn’t get tackled until late afternoon, but quite a tricky one, as I seem to remember previously from Bjorn. Loved the 4×4 for SAFARI PARK! Also BLACK SHEEP. LOI METRIC – a strange clue.
    Glad to see you again, Galspray – so fortunate that the cricket coincides with the get together. Lovely to reconnect with old pals and meet Jason, Dvynys, Amoeba and Pootle, amongst others.

    1. Ditto Alto. I guess this is a regular thing now, see you at The George in two years time!

46. A thumping DNF for me. 60 minutes of toil, but still 5 clues unsolved. They were RHYME, RECOVERY, JAWS, METRIC and HEAVENLY. Basically, this was far too difficult for me and not what I would class as a QC. So be it.

    Many thanks to Galspray.

47. I thought this was a lovely clever crossword. I took ages wanting the soldiers to dip into my egg but when the penny dropped decided it had to be my COD.
    Thanks Bjorn and Galspray

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