Times Quick Cryptic No 1452 by Pedro

Author   plusjeremyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Introduction

This one took me 15 minutes, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. I was done after only eight minutes, except for three clues in the upper-right corner: 9 Across, 11 Across, and 5 Down.

Last week I was laid low by a stomach bug, and am still feeling the effects of it at times. So, staring at those three clues, all I could feel was a terrible pressure in my forehead and didn’t realize that I’d totally misparsed 9 Across. A full seven minutes later, with my head cleared, I realized my error, and finished the puzzle in a matter of seconds.

I confess that most of the answers went in barely having looked at the clues, so I’ll be figuring out most of the wordplay as I write the blog.

Solutions

Across

1 Showing impertinence precludes fist flying (13)
DISRESPECTFUL – precludes fist (precludes fist) anagrammed (flying)
8 Aggressive performer good in a row (5)
TIGER – G (good) in (in) TIER (a row)
9 Method behind story-teller spinning a line (7)
RAILWAY – WAY (method) after (behind) LIAR (story-teller) reversed (spinning)
10 Begin to have a meal, consuming flan (5,2)
START UP – SUP (to have a meal) around (consuming) TART (flan)
11 Location of non-union members? (5)
SHELF – cheeky definition: “on the shelf” can mean ‘single’ or ‘unmarried’
Though I’ve never heard of this expression in the US.
13 Free to continue / without observations? (9)
UNCHECKED – double definition: the first use of ‘check’ as in “keep in check”; the second as in “check on the potatoes, please”
17 Incline to adopt right fashion (5)
TREND – TEND (incline) around (to adopt) R (right)
19 A routine in local area network recalled [as] normal (7)
NATURAL – A (a) + RUT (routine) in (in) LAN (local area network) reversed (recalled)
20 Shy sub, half demented (7)
BASHFUL – SUB HALF (sub half) anagrammed (demented)
22 Part of door fitted into arch, in general (5)
HINGE – letters hidden in (fitted into) ARCH IN GENERAL (arch in general)
23 Consider fellows to have little time [for] diversion (13)
ENTERTAINMENT – ENTERTAIN (consider) + MEN (fellows) + (to have) T (little time)

Down

1 Be unable to stand, half-dead before trial (6)
DETEST – first half of (half) DEAD (dead) + (before) TEST (trial)
2 US soldiers upheld Constitution — [that’s] distinctive (9)
SIGNATURE – GIS (US soldiers) reversed (upheld) + NATURE (constitution)
As in, for example, ‘a signature dish’.
3 Unreliable scoundrel penetrating heart of American (7)
ERRATIC – RAT (scoundrel) in (penetrating) four middle letters of (heart of) AMERICAN (American)
4 Gear [of] airborne trooper gaining height in flying airplane (13)
PARAPHERNALIA – PARA (airborne trooper) + (gaining) H (height) in (in) anagram of (flying) AIRPLANE (airplane)
5 Fries joints after starter of consommé (5)
CHIPS – HIPS (joints) after (after) first letter of (starter of) CONSOMME (consomme)
6 Not many hurried to see Liberal ousted (3)
FEW – FLEW (hurried) with (to see) L (Liberal) removed (ousted)
7 Make redundant, [or] leave alone (3,3)
LAY OFF – double definition
12 Struggling near-dunce [shows] staying-power (9)
ENDURANCE – anagram of (struggling) NEAR-DUNCE (near-dunce)
14 Equipment beginning to cook chicken here? (7)
KITCHEN – KIT (equipment) + first letter of (beginning to) COOK (cook) + HEN (chicken)
This kind of clue is sometimes called a “semi & lit.”, though I might call it something like “self-referential definition”.
15 Billion invested in dull equestrian centre (6)
STABLE – B (billion) in (invested in) STALE (dull)
16 Pipe, not without content [that’s] free-flowing (6)
FLUENT – FLUE (pipe) + NOT (not) without (without) middle letter (content)
18 Put off fellow initially probing targets of hunt (5)
DEFER – FELLOW (fellow) reduced to first letter (initially) in (probing) DEER (targets of hunt)
21 Starts to stagnate in this place (3)
SIT – first letters of (starts to) STAGNATE IN THIS (stagnate in this)

26 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1452 by Pedro”

  1. What Jack said re 11ac.
    I biffed the three full-length ones, 1ac from a couple of checkers and a sense that there was anagrist there, 4d from PARA, 23ac from checkers. I almost flung in LEARN at 17ac, but thought better of it. 5:34.
  2. 7 minutes. ‘On the shelf’ has come up a few times recently either as answer or part of a clue with reference to ‘spinsterhood’. It’s a dated concept and perjorative, and if that wasn’t bad enough, I think only ever applied to women which makes it even worse.
    1. Since writing the above last night, the opening lyric of the song ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’ popped into my head. It begins:

      No one to talk with
      All by myself
      No one to walk with
      But I’m happy on the shelf
      Ain’t misbehavin’
      I’m savin’ my love for you.

      Two things from this. It was written by Andy Razaf with music by Thomas ‘Fats’ Waller who recorded it in 1929 and it rapidly became a standard in which it was specifically referring to a man rather than a woman. Secondly and with reference to Jeremy’s comment, both Andy and Fats were of course American so whatever its origins (and Collins dates it from the mid-19th century), the expression was evidently in use across the pond back in the 1920s.

      Edited at 2019-10-02 04:37 am (UTC)

  3. 25 minutes, which is about average for me, but I never seemed to be on Pedro’s wavelength. I only had two of the across clues on the first pass, but for once the checkers fell in useful places and I solved the rest steadily from the definitions without getting the wordplay, or vice versa.
    Thanks to Jeremy for sorting out the bits I didn’t see, there were more than usual today.

    Brian

    Edited at 2019-10-02 04:53 am (UTC)

  4. This felt quite chewy in places and I never did parse SHELF, my LOI. Things might have gone a bit more smoothly if I’d managed to solve 1a and 23a before most of their checkers were in place. Completed in 11.01, which was about half the time of yesterday’s puzzle, with my favourite being SIGNATURE.
    Thanks to Jeremy
  5. Pedro usually has something tricky up his sleeve and so it was today. I knew I had to be careful but that did not stop me (also) trying to justify LEARN at 17a.
    I was fairly quick for most of this and the long answers were gettable although I missed the very clever anagram at 1a.
    My LOI was FLUENT and prior to that CHIPS and COD RAILWAY.
    Like Jeremy I think you could get stuck on this for a long time.
    I was happy to finish in 15:55. David
  6. 21 mins. Tough one today.

    Took ages to spell paraphernalia even with all the letters.

    Last 2 were railway and shelf also after the penny drop moment.

    I see sup as more for drinking.

    Cod railway or detest.

    15×15 is good today, got all but 2 or 3.

    Edited at 2019-10-02 07:38 am (UTC)

  7. What a lovely puzzle, thanks Pedro. Lots of wit and sparkle on display here. Plenty of competition for COD (hon mentions to CHIPS and ERRATIC) but for me it was SHELF, very neat. And also my LOI! Came in at 2.5K for a Good Day.

    Don’t agree with Jack about “on the shelf” being outdated, pejorative or only applied to women. A male colleague of mine only yesterday was gloomily worrying whether he would be left on the shelf (he’s 35 …), and one of my god-daughters has a group of single girlfriends who meet up for cocktails once a month and call themselves “the Shelf”. It’s just a metaphor!

    Thanks for the blog, Jeremy, hope you feel better soon.

    Templar

  8. 8.11 today with the last minute trying to work out what shelf had to do with trade unions before the penny dropped… liked 14D today

    NeilC

  9. Enjoyable so thanks all. I’m guessing though that a lot of people would have found it tough. Eg you have to realise that a story teller is a liar before you can spin it, and paraphernalia tends to be used for miscellaneous trappings etc so it was a tough anagram.
  10. My FOI was FEW which led me suspect that 1a ended with FUL, which allowed me to get LAYOFF which led to RAILWAY although I missed the reversed LIAR and biffed merrily. PARAPHERNALIA was immediately biffed from “airborne soldier” and a quick check of the probable anagrist. SIGNATURE took me a little longer to see, and it took a moment to ponder why Eric was an American. Doh! SHELF also took a moment to fathom, but raised a chuckle. An enjoyable puzzle. 7:37. Thanks Pedro and Jeremy.
  11. A fraction over 10 minutes today which I was happy with as it did seem quite hard to chew through some of the clues. All fair though so a good puzzle.
  12. A remarkable puzzle – very challenging in parts but giving me lots of pleasure. I managed a shorter time than yesterday (which was a disaster for me at the end of a long day). This one was a good mix of clever, off-beat, and straightforward clues with the challenge of the long anagrams – much groaning when they clicked. It took me just over 3 Kevins but I am content with that (and it includes a fair bit of parsing time, post-biff). I thought RAILWAY and SHELF were brilliant. Thanks to Pedro and Jeremy. John M.
  13. Glad I’m not the only one who can’t spell paraphernalia. Had a double n in there at first until I figured out which letter of airplane I hadn’t used. This felt tough, but I finished in 28:31, so it can’t have been that bad. Either that or I’m getting better. LOI was shelf, which needed a bit of an alphabet trawl before I gratefully saw the answer wasn’t some unknown term for the non-members bar in a trade union HQ. My only slight query today was the LAN for Local Area Network in 19a. I guessed it must be a commonly used abbreviation, but when I thought about it I couldn’t put my finger on what it actually was. A quick check on Wikipedia has revealed it is a computer thing – a network of connected computers within a school or office or something. Just in case there are any other luddites out there, Wikipedia lists a whole load of other Area Networks that could be used by tech-savvy setters, including MAN (Metropolitan), CAN (Campus), NAN (Near-me), HAN (Home), SAN (Storage), PAN (Personal) and BAN (Body).
  14. ….ENTERTAINMENT, and was completed within my target time. Stupidly began to biff “learn” at 17A, but realised almost immediately that it didn’t fit any of the crossers !

    I can see that less experienced solvers might have found it a little tricky, and it would be DISRESPECTFUL to Pedro to class it as an easy puzzle. However, the clueing is scrupulously fair, which makes it a fine puzzle from which to learn the art of solving.

    SHELF is a prime example of a straight cryptic clue, and would have been COD most days, but….

    FOI DISRESPECTFUL
    LOI TREND
    COD RAILWAY which would have graced the 15×15

    1. Glad you said that about RAILWAY my LOI after two alphabet trawls and the very start of a third! Downs way easier than the acrosses and some generous checkers – always like a K – as I dotted about the grid. A reasonable 17m reflecting some generous definitions – but not sure about SUP.
      Mendesest (Phone doesn’t remember password and I usually use my laptop!)
  15. Another who initially thought of LEARN for 17A. I had a MER at SUP in 10A, thinking SUP mean to drink, but then I remembered it can mean “eat supper”. COD to RAILWAY. The discussion on networks remind of the old (pre wi-fi days) story of the project manager who failed to order any network cables for the equipment. When asked why, he said, “But I thought you said we would be using Ethernet”. Thanks Pedro and Jeremy. 5:12.
    1. My award of a MER (block caps and bold) goes to SHELF for all the reasons discussed above. Personally, I didn’t parse it at all.
  16. Yes, my supplementary comment above points out a 1920s usage where it applied to a man and your example confounds my ‘outdated’ theory, but we’ll have to agree to disagree about pejorative!

  17. A very very late posting tonight. Am taking son number 3’s PARAPHERNALIA back to uni after a beginning to term which was anything but STABLE. I found this a slog, if I’m honest. I guess that lots of driving and reinforcement of empty nest syndrome didn’t help. I realised that 11 across simply had to be “shelf” but it took Jeremy’s blog to explain why. Ditto 1 and 19 across. Never very satisfying when the definition and checkers alone supply the answer. Looking forward to tomorrow! Thanks, Jeremy, for the blog. Glad you’re feeling better. And thanks, too, to Pedro for a hard but fair puzzle.
  18. A 1d then 1ac start – nearly as good as 1ac then 1d – and then steady progress allowed me to cross the line just north of 30 mins. However I then spent another 10mins trying to parse my last two answers: 9ac and 11ac. I managed to see what was going on with 9ac, but needed Jeremy’s blog for 11ac, as I was fixated with trade unions, even wondering at one point where scabs could be found… it’s been a long day. CoD to the well hidden hinge in 22ac. Invariant

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