Times Quick Cryptic No 1348by Tracy

Author   rolytolyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Perhaps a touch on the trickier side today, hard to say sometimes. At any rate, I did Tuesday’s just before this in a bit under 7 minutes and was correspondingly over the 10 minutes today, with no major hold-ups except a slight delay at 1d, my last-one-in. But a top-notch puzzle, I thought: some lovely clues, and almost every clue had a good, neat surface, with care taken to add interest to even the more well-trodden of clues. I learnt a couple of things along the way as well, so can’t ask for more than that – many thanks to Tracy!

Across
1 In which rail fare may be taken? (6,3)
DINING CAR – cryptic definition, with a misdirecting pun on fare/ticket and fare/food.
6 Start of much work for cleaner (3)
MOP – M (“start” of Much) OP (opus = work)
8 Drink wine in comfort (7)
SUPPORT – SUP (drink) PORT (wine)
9 Excellent joke (5)
CRACK – double definition. Excellent shot = crack shot, etc.
10 Question paper — time running out (5)
ISSUE – TISSUE (paper), remove the T (time running out)
12 Book flight (6)
EXODUS – double definition
14 Solver rapidly worked out “senior cabinet minister” (4,5,4)
LORD PRIVY SEAL – Anagram (worked out) of SOLVER RAPIDLY. From a long obsolete role of managing the monarch’s private seal, i.e. for personal documents rather than more official affairs of state. Unfortunately nothing to do with toilets and those seals they sometimes have in hotels (although I suppose this role, had it existed, would have been rather stepping on the soiled toes of the Groom of the Stool). Today, as a cabinet position, the title of Lord Privy Seal is generally combined with being Leader of the House of Commons (or Lords).
16 Disapprove of old unorthodox popes (6)
OPPOSE – O(ld); anagram (unorthodox) of POPES
17 Jelly and cream shortly after seeing that (5)
ASPIC – PICK (cream, shortly = dock last letter) after AS (seeing that)
19 Cost of staple food shown on page (5)
PRICE – RICE (staple food) shown on/after P(age)
20 One feels queen is repelled by insect (7)
ANTENNA – ENNA (Anne = queen, repelled = reversed) by/beside ANT (insect
22 Some original equipment (3)
RIG – “some” of the letters of oRIGinal
23 Hoedown in a brand new northern church (4,5)
BARN DANCE – anagram (new) of A BRAND ; N(orthern) CE (church)

Down
1 Believer in training, not at home (8)
DISCIPLE – DISCIPLinE (training), but not IN (at home)
2 Pinch small drink of spirits (3)
NIP – double definition
3 Snare wild ones crossing over at first (5)
NOOSE – anagram (wild) of ONES crossing/going over O (over at first)
4 King’s wife a prince rather upset (9,4)
CATHERINE PARR – anagram (upset) of A PRINCE RATHER.
5 Clergyman’s house in Crockford’s, perhaps DI overlooked? (7)
RECTORY – DI overlooked in DIRECTORY (Crockford’s, for example). I was unaware of Crockford’s Clerical Directory, which among other things lists biographies of the 26,000 clergy in the CoE today. The first edition, published in 1858, relied on pre-paid postal returns with the stamps alone costing a whopping £500 (roughly £60,000 today), but the sheer volume of returns meant it wasn’t compiled in alphabetical order, and lacked a proper index. I can well see how an overworked Victorian Detective Inspector might have missed the details of a suspect clergyman and his estate.
6 Step ahead, fill the bill (7,2)
MEASURE UP – MEASURE (step) UP (ahead).
7 Fish pasty containing last of haddock (4)
PIKE – PIE (pasty) containing K (“last” of haddocK)
11 Youth in cast concealing slip (9)
STRIPLING – SLING (cast) concealing TRIP (slip)
13 Report of alliance funding siege (8)
BLOCKADE – is the same as a spoken “report” of BLOC (alliance) AID (funding).
15 Saw rambler in empty pub (7)
PROVERB – ROVER (rambler) in P B (“empty” PuB). Saw/saying/maxim/proverb/etc.
17 Played the part of cadet at sea (5)
ACTED – anagram (at sea) of CADET
18 Knocks over box (4)
SPAR – RAPS (knocks) over = reversed
21 Sister in cotton uniform (3)
NUN – “in” the letters of cottoN UNiform.

33 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1348by Tracy”

  1. Didn’t have a clue as to what Crockford’s was, and biffed RECTORY. That was fine, but I had one biff too many, and it cost me: my LOI BLOCKAGE, which looked odd to me but I was at the end of the puzzle, so … Serves me right. 4:08 but.
  2. All but three answers were arrived at within my target 10 minutes but I struggled with these, taking my total solving time to 15 minutes. The stragglers were BLOCKADE and the intersecting DISCIPLE and ISSUE. More generally mine was an untidy solve spent hopping around the grid always looking for easier pickings.

    Edited at 2019-05-09 04:32 am (UTC)

  3. Still on European time so solved early a.m. Definitely chewy leading to 18.48 and the same error as Kevin. At least I now have something in common! DISCIPLE LOI and took an age. DINING CAR COD.
  4. All green but RECTORY and STRIPLING not parsed and MEASURE UP and DISCIPLE biffed. Very few on the first pass of either acrosses or downs but then built up from the bottom to cross the line in an unexpectedly fast 15m.
  5. A typically tricky offering from Tracy. FOI was NIP and I too had to hop round the grid looking for the easier pickings. After 13 minutes I had two left;DISCIPLE and ISSUE eventually went in and I had meant to revisit my uncertain BLOCKAGE but the computer told me something was not quite right.
    So 17:38 in the end but with a nudge.Blockade is clearly better once you think of it. David
  6. I biffed so many, fortunately they were all correct. FOI MOP, LOI STRIPLING but at least I did parse it. I had to work hard at the anagram at 14a solving PRIVY then LORD then SEAL. My biffs were ASPIC, DISCIPLE, CATHERINE PARR, RECTORY and MEASURE UP. Thank you Roly for the blog as I still couldn’t parse ASPIC and RECTORY even after solving. 15:25
  7. I made the same mistake as Kevin on BLOCKAGE … but took five times as long to do it. A Bad Day. I thought that was hard. My main struggle was over FILL THE BILL, which I know only as “fit the bill” (and Collins says “fit” is British usage, “fill” US, so no wonder). 1ac and 14ac both lovely clues, dead heat for COD from me.

    Thanks for the blog, Roly.

    Templar

  8. For me, this was a surprisingly accessible QC from Tracy. My time was well within my target range – a pity that I have agreed not to post my times any more because I was quite happy with this one. I didn’t get very far at first but started in the NW and moved anti-clockwise leaving gaps. The long anagrams (4d & 14a) seemed to drop out for me – I am better at seeing these than coming up with double definitions. The crossers allowed me to fill a number of gaps later including BLOCKADE, DISCIPLE, RECTORY, and LOI PROVERB. I wasn’t very keen on STRIPLING – a sling is often used without a plaster cast. Another satisfying QC with some clever clues to ponder as well as a few apparent old chestnuts (not that I have a good memory for these). Thanks to Tracy and Roly. John M.
      1. Oops! Thanks for the correction, Janet. A blind spot, obviously. I get quite a few of those. John.
    2. Although I am a member of the SCC, I never have a problem with reading the fast times of others. This site is after all called “Times for the Times” so everybody should post their times if they wish and nobody should complain!
      I am amazed by the hyper-speedy solvers and enjoy comparing my time with other members of the SCC. I usually finish either side of 20 minutes but as long as I finish (I didn’t today as I had BLOCKAGE) I am happy. Sometimes the feeling of achievement is greater after a 40 minute struggle! MM
      1. Thanks for your comment. Perhaps In response, I will consider following the compromise approach taken by templarredux and go back to posting in Kevins. No doubt, having said that, my performance tomorrow will be fairly dismal……..! Not that that should bother me – I agree with the reaction of others that it is the fun of the challenge that is important and satisfying, even though I managed a few times last week that were up to 2xSCC level. Keep at it, it will get easier. John M.
        1. I hope you do reconsider, John. When I started doing the QC regularly, I often felt (indeed still do feel) on the same wavelength as you and generally judge whether I’ve had a good day or not by your time. Times don’t matter, I agree, but add a little personal challenge and I doubt I’ll ever get near Kevin et al. Vivat SCC!
          1. Thanks. Yes, we have tended to post broadly similar times over quite a long time. Perhaps a period using the Kevinometer is worth a try. Like you, my times will always be multiples of K. I would be overjoyed to post 2K and more than happy with 3-4K. John
  9. I was making rapid progress with this one until I reached my LOI, EXODUS, which took up at least a minute and a half on its own. My first thought for 13d was BLOCKAGE, but as it didn’t parse I kept on thinking and saw BLOCKADE. 9:51. Thanks Tracy and Roly.
  10. This was a DNF for me. It wasn’t helped by me inexplicably writing “Caterrnne Parr”… Oh, dear. I usually enjoy Tracy’s puzzles but I stumbled about all over the place this morning and finally ran out of time and had to consult the blog whereupon I spluttered for several moments over “aspic”. I’m sorry but I’m feeling in very Golden Raspberry territory over this one. Seems very tortuous. But then I was already irritated by having to give up so I suspect my judgement was perhaps awry. Liked “blockade ” and “dining car”, though. Thanks so much, blogger and setter.
    1. Actually a GR for ASPIC is a fair call to my mind! I forgot to say so above but I agree.
  11. An early mistake (BUFFET CAR seemed obvious – but wrong) held me up a little but not compared with what followed. I glanced at 10a, saw ‘Question’ and ‘paper’ and biffed QUIRE and moved on. Did this cause me problems, or what. When I finally swallowed my pride and admitted a second howler the rest fell quickly into place for a sluggish (for me) 6’05”. Altogether a very fine puzzle with quality surfaces.

    Many thanks as always to setter and blogger.

  12. I thought this was tough, or I was way off the wavelength. My LOI was STRIPLING, an answer I’d previously discounted for a reason I’ve now forgotten, but BLOCKADE, DISCIPLE and ISSUE were the real hold ups, the last two of which went in unparsed. It’s probably just me but the question/issue link is one I’m still struggling to get my head round.
    Perseverance finally paid of as I collapsed over the line in 26.37.
    Thanks for the blog
    1. You can interchange them in: The question was, which issue would he tackle first?
  13. Gosh that was hard, even by Tracy’s standards – if you are just starting out, it’s probably best to avoid setters beginning with a T. I came to a halt after 30 or so minutes with the NW (1d, 8 and 10) still to go. I should have paused for a cup of tea, but persevered and slowly dragged out the missing answers over the next 10 minutes. Some of the techniques required (eg 1d) were quite a stretch for a QC, and I also have no hesitation in giving 17ac a GR. I did however laugh at 1ac, Dining Car, which gets my CoD vote. Invariant
  14. I took the buffet car route as well. I suspect very few trains have proper dining cars these days
  15. ….and, having waited for the ticket check before starting, 1A raised a smile !

    Nice puzzle, no problems.

    FOI DINING CAR
    LOI BLOCKADE
    COD EXODUS
    TIME 4:06

  16. Yes another difficult one from tracy. About 40 mins. Same time roughly as the 15×15.

    Stuck on:
    Unknown lord privy seal.
    Exodus.
    Measure up.
    Crack = joke? Surely it means tell as in crack a joke.
    Loi unparsed aspic.

    Cod exodus.

    1. I didn’t thnk twice about crack/joke but in view of your comment I thought I’d check it’s in the usual sources. It is, but I was surprised that Collins qualifies it by saying it’s ‘slightly rude or cruel’ and ODO that it’s ‘critical or unkind’, both of which are news to me!
  17. After two weeks away this felt difficult. Glad to see others also had problems. Way over our target, jumping around the clues, glad the two long clues were not too difficult. LOI 6d. Thanks for a good workout.
  18. Successful finish but in a long time. Ironically because it was so hard I became happier to biff, and would never have parsed 17a without the blog – GR indeed. Actually saw the big anagrams almost straight away which helped, and never thought of blockage so didn’t fall for that. Biffed 1d, and struggle with discipline as training, even though I was looking for something to remove “in” from I still didn’t see that. I think Conan Doyle is responsible for me knowing Crockfords.
    Pwliv
  19. Still don’t understand 17ac, even with the blog.

    Lots of biffing and resorting to aids.

    1. Seeing that/(As) you found this hard, gives AS. PIC(K) short(cream/pick of the bunch) gives PIC and ASPIC is a savoury jelly.
      1. Thanks, it was cream I didn’t see – a bit tenuous but I suppose I’ll have to accept it!
  20. So how many of Henry VIII wives died in childbirth?
    Easy. One – Jane Seymour.
    Wrong. Two. Catherine P also died in childbirth. That of her next husband after Henry. And very soon after.
    Cheers. Johnny.

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