Quick Cryptic 3113 by Jalna

Author   BletchleyRejectPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

I thought this was a medium level difficulty puzzle from Jalna today.

I took a while to get going but then the answers went in steadily. A few queries as shown in the blog which hopefully will be clarified in the comments – thanks in advance. Cryptic defs, rather than hiddens, are usually my Achilles heel, but 22a could have elements of both. All finished in 11:48

Thanks to Jalna

Definitions underlined in bold , deletions and letters in wordplay not appearing in answer indicated by strikethrough.

Across
1 Package somehow goes around seemingly forever (4)
AGES – Hidden (‘goes around'(?)) in ‘PackAGE Somehow’

As in “It took ages / seemingly forever to finish this puzzle.”

The usual 1 across hoodoo, just like yesterday’s; took me, well, not quite AGES to get this as the hidden indicator seems to be hidden as well. It must be ‘goes around’ but I don’t recall having seen this before; someone will probably give several recent examples.
4 Boy, it’s, er, crazy being off the booze (8)
SOBRIETY – Anagram (‘crazy’) of BOY ITS ER

Amusing surface. My COD

Edit: Thanks to Too often Lost and Paul below. I think it works better, to match the part of speech, with ‘being off the booze’ as the def.
8 Good-looking workers love me! (8)
HANDSOME – HANDS (‘workers’) O (‘love’) ME (‘me’)
9 Article primarily mentioning those people (4)
THEM – THE (‘Article’) Mentioning (‘primarily mentioning’)
10 Arranges group drink (4,2)
SETS UP– SET (‘group’) SUP (‘drink’)
11 Awful Conservative beginning to take lead (6)
DIRECT – DIRE (‘Awful’) C (‘Conservative’) Take (‘beginning to take’)
12 Arrogant and shallow, needed to change (7-6)
SWOLLEN-HEADED – Anagram (‘to change’) of SHALLOW NEEDED
16 Sparkling wine’s found around the middle of Neive, currently (2,2,2)
AS IT IS – ASTI (‘Sparkling wine’) S (”s’) containing (‘around’) NeIve (‘the middle of Neive’)

I admit I’d never heard of it, but Neive is a well-known Italian village in the Piedmont region, famous for its architecture and as a centre of wine production, including Moscato d’Asti, so making sense of the surface.
17 A gun for each person (6)
APIECE – A (‘A’) PIECE (‘gun’)

PIECE for ‘gun’ seems to be something you hear more often in American police shows and Oxford Dictionaries Online confirms this, noting it as “INFORMAL mainly North American English“
19 Government levy attached to one hire vehicle (4)
TAXI – TAX (‘Government levy’) then (‘attached to’) I (‘one’)
20 Threaten complete fury (8)
 ENDANGER– END (‘complete’) ANGER (‘fury’)
21 Stood by, we’re told, carrying loads? (8)
WEIGHTED – Aural wordplay (‘we’re told’) of WAITED (‘Stood by’)
22 In part, you’re talking about holding everyone up, maybe? (4)
 LATE – Reverse hidden (‘in part…about’) in (‘you’rE TALking’)

I couldn’t convince myself of the parsing of this one. I initially called it a cryptic def, with the surface reading suggesting everyone being delayed or LATE, but the ‘In part’ bit doesn’t really work for this. In the end, I decided on having just ‘holding everyone up, maybe?’ as the def. Maybe (I’m missing something!).
Down
2 Goodwill shown by good people (5)
 GRACE – G (‘Good’) RACE (‘people’)
3 Players leaving? That’s hilarious (4-9)
 SIDE-SPLITTING – SIDE ‘(‘Players’) SPLITTING (‘leaving?’)

My FOI, probably because SPLITTING appeared in a similar sense in a 15×15 appearing very recently.
4 Amount of ice cream possibly in small shop (5)
SCOOP –S (‘Small’) COOP (‘shop’)

COOP for “co-op”, either an informal term for an often local shop or business, or in the UK, “Co-op” as a supermarket chain with branches or ‘shop(s)’.
5 Money reduced the range (7)
BREADTH – BREAD (‘Money’) THe (‘reduced the’)

My LOI. According to the OED, BREAD as an informal term for ‘money’ originated in the US, with the first quotation from 1935.
6 Match between countries is not a triennial, strangely (13)
INTERNATIONAL – Anagram (‘strangely’) of NOT A TRIENNIAL
7 Golden syrup topping for tasty new cereal (7)
TREACLE – Tasty (‘topping for tasty’) then anagram (‘new’) of CEREAL
10 Member of family is upset with son (3)
SIS – Reversal (‘upset’) of IS then S (‘son’)
13 Loss of assets regularly hidden by regular payment (7)
WASTAGE –AsSeTs (‘loss of assets regularly’) contained in (‘hidden by’) WAGE (‘regular payment’)
14 Each short afternoon nap is most convenient (7)
EASIEST – EA (‘Each’) SIESTa (‘short afternoon nap’)
15 Stain interior of shed yearly (3)
DYE -Hidden in (‘interior of’) sheD YEearly

This and 13d above are more like the hiddens we’ve come to know and love.
17 Extra publicity ultimately pleased the board (5)
ADDED – AD (‘publicity’) pleaseD thE boarD (‘ultimately pleased the board’

There’s no such thing as bad publicity? I don’t know about that.
18 Top clubs, ahead of all others (5)
CREST – C (‘clubs’) in front of (‘ahead of’) REST (‘all others’)

65 comments on “Quick Cryptic 3113 by Jalna”

    1. I think it is ‘ you’re talking’ i.e. relate then part of that is late ‘holding everyone up????

  2. 5:04. Also found it medium. Didn’t think of Co-op; was vaguely wondering about chicken coops. Also NHO Neive – in fact it was only yesterday that I learned that ‘old world’ wines typically have the region, rather than the grape variety, on the label. That was something I sort of knew subconsciously but had never thought about.

    Thanks Bletchley and Jalna.

  3. At 9:22 this was definitely at the easier end of the scale for me. Doing this when I was supposed to be asleep I appreciated not having to think too much!

  4. 7.00 on the dot, a few Hail Marys in the SE to finish off (ADDED, CREST, APIECE) but all good, except I’m not fully on board with LATE. Thanks BR and Jalna.

  5. 10 minutes. I had been going to query ‘treacle / GOLDEN SYRUP’ because if you ordered the one and were served the other you might be very annoyed, but the dictionaries assure me that GS is actually a lighter version of traditional treacle. I don’t know about elsewhere in the world, but in the UK we make a very firm distinction between the two. Out of the strong came forth sweetness.

    1. I completely agree. Treacle is the black stuff. Golden syrup is what it says. I used to think it was a North/South thing but it always annoys me when the two are confused.

  6. All the first four went straight in before a very long wait for TAXI. Good progress from then with a few tussles (SWOLLEN HEADED, DIRECT) before finishing very slowly with APIECE, CREST and finally ADDED). All green in 13.35.

  7. Slow to start and not many of the acrosses on the first pass, but the two long down clues went straight in and opened up the grid very nicely for a 11:29 solve. Both AGES and LATE caused hold-ups, even after I had the checkers – my L2I, and not IMO the most elegant of clues, either of them, but both eventually fell into place.

    Many thanks BR for the blog.

  8. My only issue today was taking AGES to parse my LOI.
    Finished in an under par 6.50.
    Thanks to BR and Jalna

  10. 11:34. LOI AGES. I liked HANDSOME. And what did I learn today? Golden Syrup is treacle. I need to go for a lie down. Thank you Jalna and BletchleyReject

  11. 27:40 (average: 35, target: 32)

    Most of the grid went in at a fairly even pace taking two passes. The SE corner took much more time with the LOI being CREST. I think the main reason for that was that I didn’t end up with many checkers there rather than because those clues were intrinsically difficult.

    Thanks BletchleyReject and Jalna.

  13. 4:35. I’m with jackkt is having a MER at golden syrup being equated with treacle. I liked the neat HANDSOME most. Thanks Jalna and BR.

  14. Just about managed that (agree, SE corner was last) though puzzled by LOI LATE – thank you BR for showing the reverse hidden. So “in part” surely refers merely to LATE being “part” of “you’re talking”. Thanks also for parsing of WASTAGE which escaped me.

  15. Add me to the “golden syrup isn’t treacle!” ultras.

    Failed on 1a, got all the rest of the acrosses bar APIECE and ENDANGER, mopped up.

    Students of the history of the modern shotgun will know that for centuries the term “fowling piece” was used for any firearm used to fire pellets at birds, so “piece” should have come to me more readily than it did.

    Got there in 07:10 for a Very Good Day. COD to WEIGHTED. Thought of Phil at TAXI!

    Many thanks Bletchers and Jalna.

  16. A good QC from Jalna. I proceeded steadily and thought I would finish in the low teens but aPIECE didn’t click right away and I was slowed by LATE, TREACLE (see jackkt’s post above) and a stupid typo (WESTAGE). 17 mins in the end, all parsed.
    I quite liked WEIGHTED and AS IT IS, I was interested in the info on Nieve. Thanks to BR and Jalna.

  17. Took AGES, or seemed to. Not really on the wavelength. Stuck in SE, so looked up gun, then finished OK.
    Liked the long ones, AS IT IS, ADDED, EASIEST, ENDANGER, CREST.
    CNP SCOOP, LATE.
    Agree about Golden Syrup – shocked.
    Thanks vm, BR.

  18. Very straightforward for Jalna, I thought, until my last two, GRACE and ENDANGER, which took me as long as the rest of the puzzle. However, they are perfectly fair and I can’t account for why I had such difficulty with them. I agree with Martinu that ‘In part’ simply refers to a section of the containment ‘you’re talking’. I see no problem with it whatsoever.

  19. Format on Android back to normal. Was this just me? Ten today. CoD side splitting. FoI 4ac easy enough as I haven’t had much alcohol since 2023. Feeling happier.

    1. My Android phone display was also back to what it should be.
      Thank you to whoever fixed it! Do they read this stuff??

      1. Mine too👍
        Many of us (me included) let the Times agents know about the problem. I got an email to let me know it was fixed and think the app development team were quick to resolve the issue it being over a weekend.

        1. Let’s hope they solve the crossword club log in issue.
          I might try and find the report issue with app link and start emailing them daily.
          It has been several weeks now.

  20. Add me to those who took a while to seee AGES. I wasn’t really on wavelength today and spent a considerable amount of time sorting through the anagram fodder for SWOLLEN HEADED and needed a PDM for my LOI WEIGHTED. 8:08 Thanks BR

  21. 5:22

    I found this on the gentler side, though I thought twice about both AGES and LATE. Golden Syrup is also known as light TREACLE so I guess that’s OK.

    Thanks BR and Jalna

  22. Solved it slow and steady, finishing in 30 minutes. COD goes to SIDE-SPLITTING. Thanks for the blog 😁

  23. From GRACE to ENDANGER in 9:00. Had to concentrate for this one! Thanks Jalna and BR.

  24. Mainly straightforward, but held up by AGES, LATE, WASTAGE and ADDED, so 23:21 to finish.

  25. Very enjoyable, raced through except 1a and 21a, goodness knows why they took so long, they are both fairly easy in retrospect. Only other hold up was 16a where I spent some time looking for a wine that was 2,2,2. Thanks to Jalna and BR.

  26. I was on Jalna’s wavelength today finishing in 6.48. I might have been even quicker if I’d started on the down clues which were all solved at first read. I did hesitate at LATE which was my LOI as I had trouble parsing it, eventually found the reverse hidden and all was well.

  27. 20 minutes on the dot today so I came here and then realised I had not solved 7dn. I like to think I would have got it instantly given all the crossers. I think I missed because I was hung up for a while at the end with the first and last across clues – in fact I never did parse 22ac. Not doing too well so far this week.

    FOI – 9ac THEM
    LOI – DNF
    COD – dn SIDE SPLITTING

    Thanks to Jalna and BR

  28. 12:59, which I’m happy enough with, though I needed help to parse ADDED and LATE.

    Thank you for the blog!

  29. Comfortably out of SCC.. which is current baseline for us (though aiming to be regularly out of teens…). Like many, spent ages on AGES.
    Are we the only ones who couldn’t, in terms of tense/word substitution, match SOBRIETY with ‘off the booze’?
    And, asking from position of ignorance, is such matching always necessary?
    Enjoyed this – thank you Jalna and BR.

    1. No, I thought that too once I realized it was not ABSTAINED. That is too long anyway, apart from not being the right letters (I just thought word for off the booze with B, T, and S in it, must be ABSTAINED). When I realized it was SOBRIETY it didn’t quite work. it should just be SOBER as an adjective.

    2. Thanks – I take your point. It would work better with ‘being off the booze’ as the def: “Being off the booze / sobriety is preferable to persistent heavy alcohol intake and all its attendant health risks.”

  30. On the wavelength and all done in 15m. For a while I tried to get RIFLE into 17a (not having done CREST) but the latter then solved the former and the old fowling piece came to mind (mentioned in Shakespeare: Merry Wives of Windsor). 12a might have ended with HEADED or MINDED, but lack of an M in shallow,needed sorted that one. Neive immediately suggested Asti, and in general the clueing was fair and generous. Thanks Jalna and BletchleyR

  31. LATE was my LOI by some way. I realized that “holding everyone up, maybe” could define LATE but I didn’t realize the first part was a hidden so it didn’t make much sense. In the end I shrugged and put it in and was pleased it was all green. It is time for ENDANGER to be clued differently, It comes up regularly since it has convenient checking letters but always seems to be clued as END and ANGER,

  32. 10 mins…

    Fairly gentle I thought. Main issue was 22a “Late” – I thought at first it had something to with reversing the term “Et al” – but now I see it is a cleverly hidden word. I think most people know “Big Headed” for 12ac, but not sure I’ve come across the phrase “Swollen Headed” before – not in general conversation anyway.

    FOI – 1ac “Ages”
    LOI – 22ac “Late”
    COD – 4dn “Scoop”

    Thanks as usual!

  34. 10.11 I had to come back to many of the clues but nothing held me up excessively and I finished with LATE, which I couldn’t parse. Thanks BR and Jalna.

  35. Looks as if the general view is that this was a medium/gentle offering from Jalna, but I found it a real struggle. 36 minutes of toil with almost nothing coming easily. I was slow to think of appropriate synonyms, couldn’t spot the definitions and didn’t decipher the wordplay. My last three, LATE, CREST and APIECE came as a massive relief.

    Many thanks to BR and Jalna.

  36. Easier than yesterday I thought, although struggled to parse AGES, and didn’t ever parse LATE. Thanks for explanations BR. In the end I convinced myself that ‘package somehow’ ‘goes around’ the answer (AGES). Really liked WEIGHTED and BREADTH. Our family treacle pudding was always made with golden syrup so this clue didn’t really bother me 😆 Many thanks Jalna.

  39. 10:24. it didn’t quite click with me – not sure I have a specific complaint, it just didn’t. thanks for the blog and the puzzle.

  40. 15:52 slowed by grid size being slightly too big now😂
    Spent ages trying to read the last line if longer clues by scrolling up and down and inadvertently entering the letters r,t,y,and u into the grid.
    Ta BRAJ

    1. Perhaps check that you didn’t do what I did? i.e. I tried to fix the problem a few days ago by expanding the grid size and then forgot to minimise it again. It started off too large today but was then fine when I corrected the sizing.

  41. 9:53. SWOLLEN-HEADED was slowest to come for me as I had never heard or used that term. As a child my family consumed gallons of Lyles’s Golden Syrup. However once I tried blackstrap molasses in my teens I’ve never gone back!

  42. 11:21 for us which is slightly on the gentler side. A lot of good clues. I’d wondered whether it was one of the newer setters. Thanks, BR and Jalna.

  45. Oh, no, did you not have Golden Syrup on your porridge at school, heaven and about the only pleasure of eating those meals. And if it was Treacle how would it come off the spoon! Jalna did us well today.

    … by the way, I see in The Times today the champion porridge maker is Norwegian!

  46. Another view on 22A.
    ‘you’re talking about’ is RELATE, but it’s ‘in part’ , so LATE.

  47. I just can’t get on Jalna’s wavelength and I threw in the towel. I did like AS IT IS though.
    Missed AGES- and the indicator word just doesn’t do it for me.

    I also had a big mer at TREACLE but it is in Chambers and Collins so fair enough- but ask anyone in the UK for treacle and they won’t give you golden syrup.
    Piece isn’t in Chambers but is in Collins and without a US indicator but it is new to me. Will bookmark it.

    Thanks for the blog. I needed it so much today.

  48. DNF with Apiece the guilty one. Once I had it from the blog – Crest then fell into place. Most of the others went in easily of with some effort. Thanks all

  49. Hard (but ultimately successful) work for this resident of the SCC. But TREACLE is NEVER equated with golden syrup in this household!

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