Times Quick Cryptic No 1569 by Marty

Author   JohninterredPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

I didn’t find this particularly easy and finished in 6:12, my slowest QC time for a while. Nothing too tricky, I think, but some clever clues that took me a bit of deciphering. I particularly liked the neatly hidden chap at 7A, the sneaky double definition at 2D and the groan-inducing pun at 13D. There are also plenty of smooth surfaces. Luckily I had vaguely heard of the poet at 1D, although I knew nothing of him. I wondered if there was anything going on with the proper names, but the poet’s first name was Richard and although Jonathan Bell is an MP I can see no reason for him to be referred to nor any other combination including Andrew. It did leave me wondering if I’d missed something, though. Does anyone know any better? Lovely job Marty. Thanks! How did you lot all get on?

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

Across
7 Chap from Dijon at hand (8)
JONATHAN – Hidden in DiJON AT HANd.This took me a while to spot, trying to think of French men’s names at first. Well disguised!
8 One ringing to hear a pretty girl? (4)
BELL – Sounds like [to hear] BELLE (pretty girl).
9 Hit book polished off (6)
BEATEN – B (book) EATEN (polished off). You weren’t looking for a synonym of best-seller, were you?
10 Shop owner’s ending with a huge amount (3,2)
RAT ON –  Last letter of owneR [‘s ending] A TON (huge amount). Another disguised definition. Not a shop owner, as Marty was maybe trying to deceive us into thinking.
11 Perrier has been sampled regularly before, once (3)
ERE – Alternate letters  [has been sampled regularly] of PErRiEr. “Once” helpfully signifies that we are looking for an archaic word for “before”.  It appears in many crosswords.
12 Automobile transporting New Year’s honour? It’s on the road (6)
CAMBER – CAR (automobile) outside [transporting] MBE (New Year’s honour). The tilting of a road surface on a bend to help you avoid going off into the hedge.
14 Criminal Kew CID busted (6)
WICKED – (Kew CID)* [busted]. Nice surface.
16 Dave’s outside with toboggan in downpour (6)
DELUGE – Outer letters [‘s outside] of DavE [with] LUGE (toboggan). Dave must be mad. Would you go sledging in heavy rain?
18 Agent keeping out of the wind, far from alert (6)
SLEEPY – SPY (agent) outside [keeping] LEE (out of the wind). Another neat surface.
19 Endless unfertile pasture (3)
LEA – LEAn (unfertile) without its last letter [endless].
20 Outdo mostly loyal politician (5)
TRUMP – No not that politician! TRUe (loyal) without its last letter [mostly] MP (politician).
21 In entering Chinese secret society getting treatment for muscles? (6)
TONING – IN inside [entering] TONG (Chinese secret society).
23 Keep Foreign Office right (4)
FORT – F.O. (Foreign Office) RT (right).
24 Geese ran madly to find shade (3-5)
SEA-GREEN – (Geese ran)* [madly].
Down
1 Eccentric Eve: local poet (8)
LOVELACE – [Eccentric] (Eve local)*.  Richard Lovelace was a 17th century Cavalier poet.
2 Admission of incompetence and insincerity (4)
CANT – Double definition, the first sneakily requiring an apostrophe. Lovely surface too.
3 Evidence of fisticuffs in The Sun? (6)
SHINER – The Sun shines, hence is a SHINER, aka a black eye.
4 Man’s article pulled (6)
ANDREW – AN (article) DREW (pulled)
5 Close tab after upsetting bar (8)
OBSTACLE – (Close tab)* [after upsetting]. Entertaining surface.
6 Immaculate but heartless tribe (4)
CLAN – CLeAN (immaculate) without its middle letter [heartless].
13 Audibly sound disapproving of girl’s flower presentations (8)
BOUQUETS – A homophone [audibly] of BOO (sound disapproving) KAY (girl). The bigger the groan, the better the clue. Big groan from me when I saw it.
15 Got larger Pyrex pan, dedicated bottles (8)
EXPANDED – Another well-concealed hidden indicated by [bottles]. PyrEX PAN DEDicated.
17 Cockney assists old round a frontier town (2,4)
EL PASO – ‘ELPS (cockney assists) O (old) [round] A. The border town in Texas on the Rio Grande. Read some fun facts about it here.
18 Assistance for driver seated on overturned vehicle (6)
SATNAV – SAT (seated on) VAN (vehicle) [overturned] -> NAV.
20 Communist’s lively pace (4)
TROT – Double definition, the first deriving from Trotskyist but now used to refer to anyone with extreme left-wing views.
22 Informer head of KGB managed to turn (4)
NARK – [head of] KGB RAN (managed) reversed [to turn] -> NARK

45 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1569 by Marty”

  1. Off to a slow start–FOI 19ac–and ended slowly, with BOUQUETS & DELUGE taking too much time. LOVELACE is best known for “To Althea, from Prison”, with its “Stone walls do not a prison make/ Nor iron bars a cage”. 6:53.
  2. 9 minutes, no problems.

    There’s a ‘CAMBER WICK(ed) Green’ theme (12ac + 14ac), Farmer JONATHAN BELL being one of the characters. He also appears in TRUMP TON{ing) (20ac + 21ac). (Pippin) FORT (23ac) is some sort of army camp in CG. There’s a Miss LOVELACE in Trumpton. Brian CANT (2dn) narrated both series.

    I suspect there’s more, including an explanation of the mysterious ANDREW (surely not Andrew Brownfoot, one of the set designers for both?) but it’s not really my era and it would need more research than I have time for at this moment.

    Edited at 2020-03-13 05:53 am (UTC)

    1. Oh wow! Well done Jack. I never watched either so had no idea beyond there may be a theme here.
      1. I never watched them either, but I spotted CAMBERWICK(ed) and found other stuff from looking up the programme. I gather there were many more prominent characters than the ones referred.
    2. The GREEN in 24ac, is the only reference I can find that you didn’t mention. And I think Andrew could well be a reference to the set designer as we have the narrator at 2dn.
      1. Ah yes, I missed GREEN! Should have spotted that one, and at a stretch I suppose SEA GREEN sounds like C Green.

        I don’t know enough about the show as to whether anyone would know the name of the co-set-designer, but the narrator, Brian Cant was very well-known for many things apart from these series, Play School for one.

        Edited at 2020-03-13 08:28 pm (UTC)

  3. I thought this was going to be easy when JONATHAN was FOI but I was slowed down by the need to pause to parse.This was particularly true of my LOI CANT; the word had occurred to me on first read but I spent a full minute at the end trying to justify it,which I finally did -so COD to that.
    I was quite quick on the rest and had no idea about the Nina, having never really watched the programme. Well spotted to Jack.
    12:29 on the clock. David
  4. I just didn’t get this puzzle, I had a massive DNF with LOVELACE, CANT, CAMBER and BOUQUETS. I’ve never liked this type of grid, I don’t like ‘cockney’ clues, and the random girl’s name in the anagram was just silly.
    ‘Clever’ themes in crosswords may have a place, but perhaps not in a QC.

    Brian

  5. … but I finished this one – yaaay!
    I have to admit biffing some of them, so thanks to John for the blog.
    Diana.
  6. Top sleuthing, Jack, well done! When I finally got LOVELACE I’m afraid I was looking for something far less innocent as the connecting factor. I like Ninas and themes in the QC, long may they continue.

    I had a similar experience to David, finishing in 1.75K for a Good Day. FOI JONATHAN, LOI CANT, COD BOUQUETS.

    Excellent blog and puzzle, thanks John and Marty respectively.

    Templar

  7. ..is not in Trumpton, or is she?

    A big NINA how did you get that Jack!?

    More advertising sponsorship as in the 15×15 from Perrier and EL PASO (Tortillas etc) as well.

    Horrible time 14 mins.

    FOI 7ac JONATHAN

    LOI 18dn SATNAV

    COD 13dn BOUQUETS (Hyacinths?)

    WOD 17dn EL PASO (Enchiladas?)

    And thanks to ‘Baileigh Industrial’ for your sponsorship.

    Edited at 2020-03-13 09:42 am (UTC)

  8. I rocketed off at the start but soon slowed, needing reassurance for some answers from careful parsing. In the end, I was disappointed to be on the cusp of the SCC at ca. 3K. I liked NARK, EL PASO, and CANT. BOUQUETS was a real groaner and my LOI was RAT ON which caused another groan when the penny finally dropped. Good puzzle which had me off-balance at times. Thanks to MARTY and John. John M.
  9. Great spot Jack! I managed this one without incident, inside my target time(just). Yet again I started this around 1:30am after driving home from a folk session in Thirsk, but managed to stay awake. ANDREW was my FOI. Vinyl1 was indeed well hidden, but I spotted him:) CANT was my LOI. Knew of the poet. 9:26. Thanks Marty and John.
  10. 15 minutes for me including a short phone call, but I never felt confident with this and struggled to get on to Marty’s wavelength.

    I’d like to think that if I had been blogging, the preponderance of proper names would have triggered a targeted search for a NINA or theme, but today, as an ordinary solver, it completely passed me by. Excellent spot for the possibility by our blogger, and nicely picked up by Jackkt. Well done all.

  11. I missed the hidden at 7ac on the first pass, so I thought the top of the grid was going to be really tricky. However I had more luck lower down and spotted Jonathan on the way back up when I had a few crossers in place. LOI, after 23mins, was a fingers crossed Cant (insincerity?) for 2d. The surface read of 22d Nark made it my CoD for a long time, but 10ac Rat On pipped it at the post. Nice puzzle, complete with (unspotted as usual) Nina. Invariant
  13. Not since my earliest days of starting the QC have I abandoned with only 60% of the clues completed. Just wasn’t on it today.

    As above, thought it was going to be easy after the hidden clue in 7ac, but it went downhill from there. Thought “The Sun” was an anagrist so spent ages looking for some obscure word for fighting. No good on poetry so 1dn wasn’t obvious either.

    Disappointing end to the week.

  14. Cruised through this until we came to 2D and just couldn’t get it. So a sad DNF today. However, it was a most enjoyable puzzle..

    FOI: Jonathan
    COD: Bouquet

    😀

  15. A good puzzle today I thought. JONATHAN WAS LOI, to my shame, after CANT. SHINER stood out as COD.
    8:57. I always used to think of 8-9 mins as par, but I think experience has pulled this back to 6-7 mins, so this was on the tricky side for me.
  16. ….of EL PASO, (I heard the Marty Robbins classic earlier this week, so it was fresh in my mind), one might entertain thoughts of TRUMP and his wall.

    Another top 10 spot, though I should really be penalized for totally missing the theme.

    FOI BELL
    LOI LOVELACE
    COD TRUMP

    Edited at 2020-03-13 02:12 pm (UTC)

  17. Found that tough. I think my first pass, down and up, revealed about 4 answers. Never heard of LOVELACE the poet, but Linda, to whom others have referred, once said that her entire life had been defined in 20 minutes. (it was the only film she ever made).
    Enjoyed CANT and EXPANDED (that took some spotting). Overall an excellent and enjoyable challenge taking around an hour.
    PlayUpPompey
    1. What does it say about me that I immediately thought of Ada rather that Richard or Linda? Although thinking about it the world might be very different if Babbage has one of the other 2 as an assistant.
  18. A DNF for me too because of NW corner. DNK LOVELACE and defeated by CANT and BEATEN. A pleasant struggle, however.
  19. Aren’t Times puzzles not supposed to include living persons? Mind you I’ve had my doubts about Donald for a while.
    1. Not sure which clue you are referring to but LOVELACE clued as ‘poet’ died in 1657. Also TRUMP has nothing to do with the President as the definition is ‘out do’ with reference to card games such as whist and bridge, and ‘politician’ in the wordplay is cluing the letters MP.
  20. I thought this was going to be a stinker when I drew a complete blank in the NW, but things improved as I moved round the grid before ending up back in the NW. Working out the anagram of the unknown poet gave me a foothold and then the hidden revealed itself. LOI CANT required and alphabet trawl.
    I thought this was an outstanding puzzle, even before finding out about the nina (top sleuthing jack), which I finished in 12.16
    Thanks for the blog
  21. … at over 20 minutes. Not a good end to the week as the NW corner just wouldn’t come clean. Didn’t help that by then I was half looking for a Z to complete a pangram.

    Slightly surprised to see “lean” as the implied “unfertile” in 19A. Is Marty suggesting only well proportioned people can have offspring?

    LOI 2D Cant/Can’t, and COD 13D Bouquets, because I was pleased as anything to get it (and groaned mightily when I did so).

    Thank you John for the blog and a good weekend to all.

    Cedric

    1. It’s lean as in “offering little reward, substance, or nourishment; meagre.”, but your interpretation made me chuckle. Never mind being “very slow”. It was quite a teaser today. And the more comments I read, the more think it is quite a brilliant one.
    2. Think of the 7 lean years of Joseph’s interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream.
  22. No mention of the 3rd town in the Trilogy.
    Thanks for the blog John but to be a pedant the camber does send you towards the hedge by design. The alternative being a head on smash. Johnny
    1. Yes. That hasn’t been mentioned. Are there any additional characters from that who are referenced in the crossword?
    2. Really? I thought that was an “adverse camber” as depicted by this sign.. My understanding is that normally the slope runs from the outside of the curve to the inner. “An adverse road camber is where the road slopes downwards towards the outside of the road. On a corner, approaching a left-hand bend, the left-side of the road will be higher than the right outer-edge of the road.”

      Edited at 2020-03-13 11:24 pm (UTC)

      1. John. I’ve consulted t’internet and it is a bit confusing not helped by the fact that the UK and US drive on the left and right respectively. But I still think I’m right though as the QC takes me 3x what is takes you I’m not so sure!
        Chigley was always my favourite. 70% of the prog being the train and the butler walking down the hall. Cheers Johnny
      2. Acknowledgments to Roadcraft)
        The road surface is not normally level across its width but is built with a slope to assist drainage. The slope across the road will affect your steering. The normal slope falls from the crown (middle) of the road to the left edges and is called camber.

        On a left hand bend camber increases the effect on your steering because the road slopes down in the direction of the turn.
        On a right hand bend camber reduces the effect of steering because the road slopes away from the direction of turn.

        I think they add the adverse camber sign when it make things a bit less safe….

  23. Speaking as someone who has been doing these crosswords for about a year now I can confidently say that this was the hardest I have attempted. The usual totally random abbreviations, girl’s names and obscure poets were there in abundance. Rant over.
  24. Quite. I get it when people grumble about “girl” in a clue and you have to find a girl’s name. But here the girl is explicitly named as part of the anagrist. Sorry you had such a bad day with this, Brian.

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