Times Quick Cryptic 1536 by Oink (blog by Chris)

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

I’m just acting as postman on this one blogged by Chris:

An eminently ‘do-able’ QC which should have been quicker but I got held up with the many anagrams.

9 minutes still means on the quick side for me. The same (but different) devices being used in adjacent clues 5/9ac and 17/18dn seemed unusual – let me know if this isn’t.

 

ACROSS

1. Government department having little right to visit filthy home (8)
MINISTRY – little (MINI), right (R) visiting (inside) filthy home (STY). Thanks to Oink for the trademark.

5. Revolutionary goes beyond mark (4)
SPOT – goes beyond (tops – SPOT – as it’s revolved).

9. Old Nick survived in recession (5)
DEVIL – survived (lived – DEVIL – as it’s in recession).

10. Minister shown round a nuclear facility (7)
REACTOR – minister (RECTOR) round a (A).

11. Girl that’s fond of climbing walls? (3)
IVY – seems to be a double/cryptic definition.

12. Pasty-faced saint in eastern land (9)
PALESTINE – pasty-faced (PALE), Saint (ST), in (IN), eastern (E).

13. A stream round university, reddish brown (6)
AUBURN – a and stream (A BURN) around university (U).

15. Accommodate head of state in Ritz perhaps — or somewhere cheaper? (6)
HOSTEL – (S)tate accommodated inside Ritz perhaps (HOTEL).

17. Furious at airline, among other things (5,4)
INTER ALIA – anagram (furious) of AT AIRLINE.

19. I must leave a hairy creature still (3)
YET – I (I) leaving hairy creature (YET)i.

20. Anticipate knocking back cider in exercise class (7)
PREDICT – cider backwards (REDIC) in exercise class (PT).

21. Article penned by Her Majesty? It might send you to sleep (5)
ETHER – article (THE) penned by Her Majesty (ER).

22. Beast of burden carrying north American (4)
YANK – beast of burden (YAK) carrying north (N).

23. Plump for suet pudding (4-4)
ROLY-POLY – double definition.

DOWN

1. Island, one featuring in a dream, fantastically (7)
MADEIRA – one (I) featuring inside an anagram (fantastically) of A DREAM.

2. Labourer’s van heading north, visibly empty (5)
NAVVY – van heading north (upwards – NAV), (V)isibl(Y).

3. Picture only you could have painted? (4-8)
SELF-PORTRAIT – cryptic definition.

4. Group occasionally runs by a lake in the country (5)
RURAL – g(R)o(U)p, runs (R) by a and lake (A L).

6. Fan of country found in shop at Rio terminal (7)
PATRIOT – found in sho(P AT RIO T)erminal.

7. Succinct poem needs new beginning (5)
TERSE – poem – verse – with the v replaced by t (TERSE).

8. Is OAP Stanley bursting with enthusiasm? (12)
PASSIONATELY – anagram (bursting) of IS OAP STANLEY.

14. Very cold November for a marsh bird (7)
BITTERN – very cold (BITTER), November (N).

16. GI truly sorry in ceremony (7)
LITURGY – anagram (sorry) of GI TRULY.

17. Suggest in straightforward manner son must leave (5)
IMPLY – in straightforward manner s(IMPLY) son (S) leaving.

18. Very drunk bishop knocked out — it’s all down to chance (5)
LOTTO – very drunk b(LOTTO) with bishop (B) leaving.

19. Brute’s cry of excitement (5)
YAHOO – double definition. The first is a crude, brutish person – with the terms origin from C18: from the name of a race of brutish creatures resembling men in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1726). The second is what you may exclaim on completing this QC.

 

 

27 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1536 by Oink (blog by Chris)”

  1. Just over 8 minutes for me. My loi was SPOT since I failed to notice all the words in the clue and I couldn’t see why TOPS was “goes”, so I never put it in the first time I read the clue.
  2. Straightforward. I didn’t notice the clue pairs, but then I wouldn’t. I suppose it doesn’t happen often. 5:07.
  3. Under 10 mins, quick for me.

    Very enjoyable though, and lots of great surfaces.

    Liked inter alia and devil , COD to ministry.

  4. 13 minutes here. As soon as I saw the Setter’s name I was on the lookout for a porcine trademark reference, and up it popped in the first clue I looked at – what service! INTER ALIA and YAHOO held me up momentarily, but no other problems. Thanks Oink and Chris (via Jack).
  5. Perhaps a slightly easier Oink today but still delightfully tricky. My last two were PATRIOT following a well worn path where I fail to see the hidden and SPOT- LOI (like Paul) as there are so many potential meanings of Mark.
    COD to Roly Poly; haven’t seen that in a puzzle before. 13:37.
    David

  6. A personal best for me today, feeling very happy to have completed a QC for the first time with relative ease.

    DNK 17ac INTER ALIA, but easy enough to fit in with the checkers.

    Enjoyed 15ac HOSTEL

    FOI DEVIL
    LOI MINISTRY

      1. Thank you Phil.

        Despite my screen name, I actually fly planes for a living, however I’ve spend the last few years restoring an old Fairway taxi… the rust is endless!

  7. Hurray for the filthy home in 1ac! Well done Oink. Lovely puzzle, very elegant. All done and dusted in 1.4K for a Very Good Day.

    FOI MADEIRA, LOI YAHOO, COD PALESTINE.

    Many thanks Oink, and Chris by his agent Jack.

    Templar

  8. Nice puzzle with chuckles and some porky (head) scratchings. LOI was the long anagram 8d. The bottom (and especially the bottom right corner) was harder for me than the write-in top half and raised my time to ca. 3K. INTER ALIA and YAHOO took some thought. MINISTRY was my COD. A nice mix – thanks to all. John M.

    Edited at 2020-01-28 09:07 am (UTC)

  9. After yesterdays gaff this was a much better day for me. A bit tricky but it all came together ok in about 10 mins. Only issue I have is that I think that people often appreciate succinctness but terseness has negative connotations. All good though – thanks !
      1. would like to pretend it was intentional but I can’t lie – clever spot 🙂

        Edited at 2020-01-28 03:49 pm (UTC)

  10. 20:23 which means it’s up at the straightforward end for me, nice mixture of easy ones and those that need more thought. Thanks Oink and Chris.

    Edited at 2020-01-28 09:43 am (UTC)

  11. Yesterday’s brain-glue seems to have disappeared this morning. Pretty much plain sailing with just a stutter over HOSTEL and PREDICT (where the ‘hidden in plain sight’ CIDER had me looking for something more complicated).

    Thank you to Oink and Chris (via Jack).
    3’20”

  12. Certainly one of Oink’s more straightforward puzzles, and a clean sweep for me.

    FOI MINISTRY
    LOI YANK
    COD MADEIRA

  13. This one took me over my target as I dithered over my LOI, SPOT. I had to write out the fodder for 8d too. 11:20. An enjoyable offering as usual from Oink, for which thanks. Thanks also to Chris and Jack.
  14. Quite a friendly puzzle from Oink, with a good mix of clues. My main hold ups were with Inter Alia, where I eventually realised the answer and then saw the anagram, 5ac Spot, and 15ac Hostel, where I needed 16d to see what was going on. I also lost a couple of minutes trying to parse Palestine misspelt as Palistine, which pushed me into the low twenties. CoD to the (well-hidden?) anagram in 17ac. Invariant
  15. Finally hit a new PB and did this in 15 mins. Not often I can go from one clue to another without too much pause, but Oink definitely served up one of his/her easier offerings.

    FOI – 1dn “Madeira”
    LOI – 22ac “Yank”
    COD – 21ac “Ether”

    Thanks as usual.

  17. I thoroughly enjoyed this offering. Not my quickest solve at 8 plus minutes but I loved the imagery of 15a HOSTEL. 8d PASSIONATELY whilst clearly an anagram required all the checkers and the brute definition of my LOI YAHOO was unknown to me. Thanks Oink, Chris and Jack.
  18. A most enjoyable puzzle today and a steady solve. Under 10 minutes which is very good for me.
    FOI devil
    LOI imply
    COD Palestine
    Thank you Oink and Chris
    Blue Stocking
  19. After a real brain-bruiser for me yesterday, albeit completed eventually, this was a nice steady solve in about 20 mins which is up with my best. Had to dig a bit to remember the yahoo to parse 19D but it was lurking in the depths.
    Plymouthian
  20. I was a bit slow to get going today with the bottom half going in more easily than the top. But as I tuned in things became less sticky. I forgot to check the setters name until coming to the blog so missed the reference in 1a. Finished in 11.13 with LOI IMPLY
    Thanks for the blog

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