Times Quick Cryptic 1331 by Oink

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A quick QC – coming in at just under 8 minutes. Our setter may be making a commentary on current politics at 8, 10 and 11ac but this doesn’t preclude a porcine reference or two. Loi 16ac.
I don’t foresee too many problems – but do ask if anything is unclear.

ACROSS

1. IN A SPOT – facing difficulty. Anagram (move) of TO SPAIN.
5. HAIRY – double definition. Hairy/dangerous moment, a wild and domesticated type of cattle, Bos grunniens, of Tibet, having long horns and long shaggy HAIR.
8. NONSENSICAL – ridiculous. Anagram (needing correction) of NONE IN CLASS.
10. HYPE – publicity. Some mout(HY PE)er.
11. CLAPTRAP – rubbish. Applaud (CLAP), role (part) reversed (TRAP).
12. ASCENT – rise. Homophone (you say) of agreement (assent). If anyone is uncertain on homophones – the indicator should be applicable to just one part of the clue. Here it’s away from rise (which is therefore the definition) and after (so therefore applying to) to agreement. If the clue had been ‘rise, you say, in agreement’ then it would have been uncertain which part of the clue was definition and which homophone. Any questions I’m sure the old (in experience only, I hasten to add) hands will further clarify.
14. NIPPER – double definition. Crab with claws and child.
16. MUG’S GAME – foolish activity. Attacks (MUGS), wild animals (GAME).
18. NILE – African banker (a river has banks). Snack (NI)bb(LE) from which the bishops (bb) are taken away.
20. PAINSTAKING – hard-working. Penny (P), anagram (unfortunately) of SKINT AGAIN.
22. UDDER – milk producer. Anagram (terribly) of RUDE about daughter (D).
23. SEVENTY – cardinal. A cardinal number is a number such as 1, 3, or 10 that tells you how many things there are in a group but not what order they are in. Still (EVEN) in filthy place (STY). Always get a bad press do pigs IMHO (filthy due to husbandry rather than nature) and I’m gently disappointed that our setter, of all people, should spread such porkies.

DOWN

2. NINNY – halfwit. Pub (INN) inside New York (NY).
3. SINCERE – real (eg apologies). Wrongdoing (SIN) by/beside church (CE), upset Her Majesty (ER – upset so becomes RE).
4. ODE – poem. h(O)o(D)i(E).
6. ASCOT – racecourse. Chap from Glasgow? (A SCOT).
7. RELEASE – (news) announcement. About (RE), tenancy agreement (LEASE).
9. SLAINTE – cheers in Irish/Gaelic – I’ve seen many a SLAINTE bar in Scotland as well. Saint (SAINT) and Bernadett(E) crossing lake (L).
11. CUTLASS – it might wound anybody deeply but ‘her’ is used to improve the clue. Ignore (CUT), girl (LASS).
13. STUMPED – bemused. As a batsman may be when facing a doosra. Anyone knowledgeable in the intricacies of cricket would be advised to skip on to the next clue whilst the non-cricketing public (if they are at all interested) are invited to a quick detour through some of the many technicalities of the game. OK, so for those still with me – a doosra is a delivery, bowled by an off-spinner (a slow bowler), that turns the opposite way from an off-break (a spin given to the ball by the bowler). Doosra means “(the) second (one)”, or “(the) other (one)” in Hindi or Urdu. The batsman may be stumped/confused about the direction of spin and may also leave the crease to attempt to hit the ball (being deceived by the spin) and so be stumped – bails removed with ball in hand while the batsman is out of the crease. This is one of many ways of being dismissed. Right, thanks for your patience, now back to the crossword.
15. PENSIVE – deep in thought. Dear ex(PENSIVE) with the old wife maybe – as it could be an old husband – (EX) departs.
17. SWINE – swine fever is a type of fever. Southern (S), port (WINE).
19. LEGIT – OK. To run away (LEG IT).
21. AXE – cleaver. All turning upwards – European (E), cross (X), a (A).

39 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1331 by Oink”

  1. No real problems, although I needed the checkers before getting MUGS GAME (which you’ve overlooked, Chris). Needless to say, I had no idea what the hell a doosra is. 5:43.
  2. +2 extra minutes spent on an alphabet trawl to find SWINE…I feel like this should have been a write-in, but the setter is not shown anywhere if you’re solving on your phone.
  3. 11 minutes down to the delay caused by not knowning ‘doosra’ so I had to wait until all the checkers were in place for that answer.

    Along with SWINE and STY, the SPOT at 1ac could be a reference to Old Spots, a breed of pig associated with Gloucestershire.

    Edited at 2019-04-16 04:34 am (UTC)

  4. Thought I had cracked the QC, but this got it’s revenge on my hubris, struggled mightily to crawl home in just under 35 minutes.
  5. Maybe I should stop doing QC when I have just woken up. Another one suffering hubris here with 19.25 and the wrong ASSENT. Also found bottom half much trickier, though not to say unenjoyable. MUGS GAME LOI. Liked PENSIVE, LEGIT, NILE and STUMPED (for yorking our non-cricketing solvers!).
  6. Am I the only one who has never encountered SLAINTE before? That and doosra in the same puzzle led to a very slow time for me.
    1. No you are not! I have never heard the word and unfortunately failed to piece it together. I usually complete the QC so I was very disappointed. MM
  9. Another sub 10 solve today. Started off with 1a incorrectly IN A SPin but quickly noticed my error with 4d ODE. I was STUMPED for a while with 13d thinking that somehow it involved the letters of ‘doosra’. 17d SWINE was a late solve which I parsed after submitting but my LOI was 5a HAIRY. Thanks Chris for the explanation of a cardinal number….I actually looked it up before coming to the blog as I recall having seen quite a few different cardinal numbers in the QCs. 8:34
  10. Couldn’t find the word doosra in any dictionary but batsman helped me to think about cricket (won’t repeat the joke). Also never heard of Slainte. Stupidly put legal instead of legit – it’s a neat clue . thanks all
  11. A Scottish, one time, colleague of mine always uses the greeting SLAINTE when we discuss single malts, so 9d was a write in. In fact I said it to the family last night as we enjoyed the Glen Ord Singleton we acquired at the Glen Ord Distillery yesterday. As Vinyl1 mentioned, the top half went in far quicker than the bottom half, as I dodged about trying to find crossing letters to help with 16a, 20a and 23a. Another fine puzzle from Oink. 8:45. Thanks Oink and Chris.
    1. A fine brew. I bought a bottle last year, it being my mother’s local distillery. Learnt SLAINTE from a ‘very merry’ first-footing postie many years ago.
      1. 🙂 I mixed the Singleton with an Auchentoshan last night. Head was a bit thick this morning, probably accounting for my slow progress and typo in the 15×15.
  12. I found this tough going in places but in hindsight I’m not entirely sure why. I was vaguely aware of an Irish version of Cheers but needed all the checkers to see that it was kindly clued and 16a also took some figuring out. Completed in 16.16 with LOI SLAINTE and a tie for CoD between MUGS GAME and LEGIT as both made chuckle when the penny dropped.
    Thanks for the blog
  13. I think this one was for more experienced solvers, even I have seen ASCOT before.
    It was a 35 minute struggle for me with HAIRY my last one in – I just couldn”t see it. I was once told ‘SLAINTE’ in Irish means ‘it’s your round next’!
    Brian

    Edited at 2019-04-16 09:09 am (UTC)

  14. ….PENSIVE or PAINSTAKING this morning, and returned my fastest finish of the month so far.

    FOI IN A SPOT
    LOI SWINE
    COD CUTLASS
    TIME 2:59

  15. A very enjoyable but, for me, tough puzzle. It wasn’t just doosra that stumped me. I liked LEGIT, SEVENTY (I agree with Chris’s comment about spreading porkies about pigs), PENSIVE, SINCERE, MUGS GAME, PAINSTAKING. The time went by quickly but added up to a VSCC 28 mins for me. I don’t see how solvers can deal with a puzzle like this in under 5 mins…. Many thanks to Oink and Chris. John M.

    Edited at 2019-04-16 11:09 am (UTC)

  16. 20a – so true, so true! And despite being mostly painstaking, I foolishly chucked in light for 19d without going back to check the parsing. No idea what I was thinking. Overall not too bad, although mug’s game had me stumped for a bit. Thanks for the explanation of doosra, Chris – I got the answer knowing it must be cricket but otherwise …
  18. 16 mins, held up by stumped and ascent crosser.

    Didn’t parse pensive.

    Cod udder even though it looked familiar.
    Thanks

  19. Strange puzzle. About 2/3rds went in without any problem at all, but then I really started to struggle. Never heard of 9d, and couldn’t see 5, 16, and 23ac, even after a restorative cup of tea. Had to resort to technical aids to finish, which I haven’t had to do for a long time. Invariant
  20. This has been my worst for some time. Had no idea what 23a could be, even with all the checkers. NHO doosra, even though I am a regular at the local cricket ground.

    A few around the top went in fairly easily but then I got totally bogged down.

    Disappointing to find that I seem to be in a minority.

      1. Being an engineer, I should know about cardinal numbers but I guess I’ve never met on on a crossword before and it didn’t enter my head.

        Like random male and female names, there are far to many of them as well – but I use they are a better defined set…

    2. I must join you in that minority! Barely got halfway with this one. Looking at the answers (thanks again to the bloggers) there were several I would never have got.
    3. Also didn’t like ‘legit’ it’s not a real word, even if it is in the dictionary….
  21. A steady but slow solve for us. It was 20a in places! Pleased to finish but over our target today. Enjoyed LWI hairy, and nipper.
  23. An excellent summary as always, with interesting added detail. In the interest of accuracy, but at risk of further deterring non-cricketing fans both from the blog and the game itself, may I suggest that a doosra is actually bowled by a leg-spinner. The ball can also be called a googly and turns in the same direction as an off-break. The vargranices of cricket could perhaps form a crossword of their own!
    1. I’m sure you’re correct (about the doosra rather than putting people off the blog – I hope) – it seems that it is the ‘spin the other way’ which seems to define it. The definition in the blog, with a few additions, is from Collins dictionary.
  24. I was surprised that our blogger found this easy, so was relieved to find that others had struggled too. SLAINTE was completely new to me and for some reason I failed SEVENTY too. Never heard of doosra but it HAD to be a cricket clue so I managed that one.
    I attempted the 15×15 yesterday as advised by contributors to this blog (THANK YOU!!) and amazingly I completed it! That’s a first for me. It took about 90 minutes over 3 sessions but I did it. Came down to earth with a bump with this QC today. – Not feeling so clever now. MM

    FOI NONSENSICAL
    COD CLAPTRAP

  25. Most impressed by 8 minutes. Only managed half the clues after about 8 hours spread over three days. Why is STILL = EVEN? How is general knowledge meant to extend to Himalayan animals like this? Is it legit to include slang like this in a Times crossword? Apparently… I have a degree in Mathematics but didn’t know abouut cardinal numbers.
    1. Good commitment and attitude – I like it!

      Questions are always welcome – if you get a free livejournal account, an email will be sent to you informing of you of a reply (which is how I got your post).

      The cardinal rule is that if it’s in the dictionary then it’s fair game for the setter. I use this free dictionary (no need to sign up or log on):
      https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/

      Still = even in the sense of yet more:
      We look forward to strengthening STILL/EVEN further our already close co-operation.

      Yak – well I didn’t actually know it was hairy but there was every chance that it was.
      Hairy – well, it’s in the dictionary – If you describe a situation as hairy, you mean that it is exciting, worrying, and rather frightening.

      Cardinal is also there – and isn’t it great to learn something new – especially in a field you know well. The English language is rich indeed and we don’t usually use much of it.

      I hope you come to enjoy the QC – it’s surprising how a little practice produces great results. There are so many posters here (including me) who started off just as you are now. Good luck!

      Edited at 2019-04-19 12:22 pm (UTC)

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