QC 1675 by Orpheus

Author   astartedonPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Sorry, nothing at all to say this week except look at the explanations below. I can’t stand this awful weather where every keystroke is a miniature expenditure of energy too far so I’m bailing out as quickly as possible.

The usual statistics: FOI 1A, a straight read and write clue. LOI I can’t honestly remember but think it might have been 19A. I could see the answer but had to wade through the geographcical cryptic (never my strong point) before writing it in so I think that pushed it back in the queue. As usual for the COD there is no clue that stands out for difficulty so I normally just pick the one whose surface reads most naturally and this week the award goes to 9A. Thanks Orpheus for an entertaining puzzle that was probably about the same medium level of difficulty as the last one I blogged two weeks ago (and just a bit more difficult than the run of very easy fare that I had encountered in the previous few weeks).

Definitions are underlined and everything else is explained just as I see it in the simplest language I can manage.

Across
1 Appreciative, having this much coal? (8)
GRATEFUL – having a GRATEFUL of coal. (The question mark indicates that you wouldn’t normally talk about a ‘GRATEFUL’ of something, but the possibility can be derived by comparison with established phrases such as a POCKETFUL of mumbles or a SACKFUL of woe).
5 About to demand a strong wooden barrel (4)
CASK – C (circa, about) + ASK (demand).
7 Bag for Falstaff’s wine! (4)
SACK – double definition. Shakespeare’s degenerate knight Sir John Falstaff was renowned for his love of SACK, a dry white wine popular at the time.
8 One who conveys news about alcoholic drink (8)
REPORTER – RE (about) PORTER (alcoholic drink).
9 Wobbly: lacking capacity to cross street (8)
UNSTABLE – UNABLE (lacking capacity) ‘to cross’ ST (street).
11 Reportedly outstanding lyric poem (3)
ODE – Sounds like (‘reportedly’) OWED (outstanding).
13 Mistakes made by English kings at start of actions (6)
ERRATA – E (English) + RR (kings) + AT + A (start of Action).
16 Groans frightfully, finding skirtlike garment (6)
SARONG – straight anagram (‘frightfully’) of GROANS.
18 Scottish port involved in Hogmanay revels (3)
AYR – hidden word: ‘involved in’ hogmanAY Revels.
19 The commercial centre of Banbridge, for example? (8)
DOWNTOWN – Banbridge is a town in County Down, NI, and is therefore a ‘DOWN TOWN’.
20 Put off carrying container, a stoppered glass (8)
DECANTER – DETER (put off) ‘carrying’ CAN (a container).
22 Unemployed superstar given a hearing (4)
IDLE – sounds like (‘given a hearing’) IDOL (superstar).
23 Boss demanding endless academic application (4)
STUD – academic application = STUDy – remove the end (‘endless’) and there you have it.
24 Former exam relating to rural life (8)
PASTORAL – PAST (former) + ORAL (exam).
Down
1 Signal from visitor dropping union leader on river (7)
GESTURE – GUEST (visitor) ‘dropping’ U (Union leader) ‘on’ (in this down clue) URE (river).
2 A northern church’s attempt to establish origin (8)
ANCESTRY – A + N (northern) + CE’S (church’s) + TRY (attempt).
3 Troublemaker sacked for pinching grain husks (9)
FIREBRAND – FIRED (sacked) ‘pinching’ BRAN (grain husks).
4 Cut Liszt’s first work (3)
LOP – L (Liszt’s first) + OP (opus, work).
5 Abrupt old Republican ringing a museum boss (7)
CURATOR – CURT (abrupt) + O (old) + R (republican) ‘ringing’ A.
6 Pacify son, very small, just into double figures (7)
SWEETEN – S (son) + WEE (very small) + TEN (just into double figures).
10 Unhappy as steward, going in this direction? (9)
EASTWARDS – straight anagram (‘unhappy’) of AS STEWARD.
12 Well-meaning type taking pet initially over European river (2-6)
DO-GOODER – DOG (pet) + O (‘initially’ Over) + ODER (European river).
14 First-class male in torn clothing (7)
RAIMENT – AI (first-class) + M (male) ‘in’ RENT (torn).
15 A Royal Marines orchestra’s form of identification (7)
ARMBAND – A + RM (Royal Marines) + BAND (orchestra).
17 Refined chap set up shelter (7)
GENTEEL – GENT (chap) + EEL (LEE (shelter) reversed, i.e. ‘set up’ in this down cue).
21 Most superior upper garment (3)
TOP – double definition.

51 comments on “QC 1675 by Orpheus”

  1. Slowed myself down by a bit of biffing: THANKFUL, UNSTEADY, and by somehow seeing RYE instead of AYR. NHO Banbridge, but having biffed DOWNTOWN inferred where it is.
    7:00.
  2. Almost cracked the 5-minute mark, except for some pausing over SWEETEN, which I assumed I had wrong and had something to do with TWEEN or PRETWEEN, etc.
  3. 11 mins solved on paper for a change so no typos.

    Held up by last 4: downtown because I couldn’t parse it, decanter, eastward, and LOI raiment.

    COD firebrand.

    1. I suspect that Orpheus’s interest would be in the first line only and not the complete song. (kpc)
  4. 9 minutes. Another who didn’t know Banbridge but the answer was clear from the other definition anyway.
    1. I was surprised that none of the QC speed merchants are familiar with John McCormack’s famous rendition of “The Star Of The County Down”. They can enjoy it on YouTube.
      (kpc)

      Near Banbridge town, in the County Down
      One morning in July
      Down a boreen green came a sweet colleen
      And she smiled as she passed me by.
      She looked so sweet from her two white feet
      To the sheen of her nut-brown hair
      Such a coaxing elf, I’d to shake myself
      To make sure I was standing there.
      From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay
      And from Galway to Dublin town
      No maid I’ve seen like the sweet colleen
      That I met in the County Down.

  5. Well I didn’t know Banbridge is in County Down or Oder is in Poland but that didn’t stop me biffing the answers from the available checkers and I have acquired some geographical GK in the process. Quite a quick solve at 1.1K with LOI SWEETEN.
  6. I married a girl from County Down. You will find a quick guide to Irish geography in this lovely song.
  7. I’m another BANBRIDGE biffer. This didn’t start promisingly with only five acrosses going in on the first pass but then picked up with the downs and that left enough checkers to cross the line, all green, in 12m. LOI was RAIMENT confident in the wordplay but not quite sure of the definition but the longest hold up was the CASK / SWEETEN corner where I made things hard by wanting to put TEEN as the last four letters. Panicked at CASK thinking some obscure vocab was going to be required. This didn’t feel easy, so very pleased to get my fastest time for a couple of weeks at least.
  9. This looked like it would be more difficult that it actually was, with some unusual words (RAIMENT, SARONG, ERRATA). Finished in 15:47, LOI was SWEETEN which took a couple of minutes to get.
  10. Quite straightforward, although I wrote in SACK and DOWNTOWN and had to come here for enlightenment. Thanks!
  11. I don’t know if this was a wavelength thing but I raced through this in a more or less linear fashion, starting with the neat 1 across, GRATEFUL, and finishing with the sweet and simple 21 down, TOP. Consequently, this was all done, fully parsed in 12 minutes…. My days, I think this might be a PB. I’m going to celebrate with a second cup of a fully caffeinated beverage.
    Some lovely surfaces here…. I agree with Don that 9 across is particularly smooth. But they all seem to read well this morning. So clever. Thanks, Don, for the blog and thanks, too, to Orpheus for providing a super Monday Morning Feeling.
  12. A nice QC to start the week – generally straightforward but with the occasional trip wire. I was on for a quick time until, unusually for me, I was seduced into biffing a couple – I was then unable to finish until I went back and unravelled my careless errors. That is a reminder to parse ’em all properly before writing them in. I was just within my target 15 mins. I should have been quicker. Thanks to both – I hope you manage to lift your spirits, Don, despite the oppressive weather. John M.

    Edited at 2020-08-10 08:35 am (UTC)

    1. Thanks John. My spirits are fine (as pretty much always), I just can’t summon the energy to do very much. Sorry if I sounded grumpy. I really don’t like even moderate heat, would far rather have wind, rain, snow, hail, whatever the weather gods used to throw at us but can’t seem to be bothered to any more! Don
      1. Thanks for your reply. Glad to know all is well. The heat is getting to me, too….
  13. A gentle offering that I finished in 8.56 with LOI SWEETEN and a biffed DOWNTOWN. Like Kevin I also initially biffed UNSTEADY and THANKFUL which slowed me down a little at the start. An enjoyable solve but the grid gets a GR.
    Thanks to astartedon
  14. … and all done and parsed in 8 minutes, which is within touching distance of some of the real experts who post here, so a Very Heartening Day. I have been to Banbridge – it has Ulster’s last Irish Linen mill (Thomas Ferguson’s) and extremely fine linen they make too. Enough to make 19A my COD.

    Only minor holdup was 13A where I toyed with Errors at first. But it didn’t parse so I didn’t put it in, and then the two As appeared as checkers to set me right.

    Thanks to Don for the blog
    Cedric

  15. No real holdups, though after the first two went in, I hit a dry patch that lasted till SARONG. Didn’t manage to parse DOWNTOWN correctly as I just assumed Banbridge was just an example of a town which would have a commercial centre. I should have known there had to have been some reason for its selection. NHO SACK and considered ‘hock’ for a while, but once I had the S the answer was obvious. Ended up with a good time for me – 22:42 – but still bringing up the rear on here. Oh well. By the way, how come there doesn’t seem to be any blogs for the Friday 15x15s? I’ve managed to complete a couple recently, but couldn’t parse some of the answers.

    Edited at 2020-08-10 10:00 am (UTC)

    1. Hi, there was a blog for last Friday’s 27,737 by Verlaine which I commented on and it’s still showing below.
      I’m not sure about the previous Friday’s as it will have disappeared by now and I’ve only just started tackling the ‘big one’!
      1. I’ve just realised that you can access past blogs by clicking on the ‘Previous 20’ link at the foot of each screen. Hope you find the ones you’re looking for!
        1. Or you can go to the calendar (top right on desktop version) and see all the archives. I’m currently working through Time QC book 4 and using the search feature to find the relevant blogs – so far, all from 2017.
      2. I find the blog every time by entering the crossword number into the LiveJournal search function. Goes right to it…!
        B.
    2. You’ll have to page down some way to find those blogs. They’re there because I’ve contributed to them !
    3. Also the Snitch lists all crosswords, and blogs from the last 4-5 years with the degree of difficulty.
    4. 22 mins is not to be sniffed at crispb. I’ll bring up the rear, 37 mins today. All parsed except downtown. Finishing all correct is my aim and nobody here judges you on your time. Just as well, because we’re in very good company.

      Edited at 2020-08-10 12:11 pm (UTC)

    5. You might find that the blogs for the Friday 15×15 are actually put up on Thursday – I’m not entirely sure but it could be due to where the blogger lives as to what day they actually solve the crossword on.

      Anyway, hope this is useful.

      Martin Hill

  16. just under 6 minutes, with words like sack learnt from doing these crosswords. Unfortunately i had biffed errors and didn’t spot that meant I had ormbands until i saw firebrand and sorted that mess out.
    Downtown LOI with a shrug…..
    thanks blogger and setter
  17. I was thankful to see GRATEFUL straight away and kept going at a lick. I also assumed Banbridge was in County Down. No hold ups and REPORTER was my LOI. 6:05, so my best effort for some time.Thanks Orpheus and Don. Another scorching time Jeremy!
  18. I thought this was going to be a PB but I was stuck for a while on DOWNTOWN (as I didn’t know Banbridge) and FIREBRAND (as I was trying to think of a word for ‘pinching’).
    Some pleasing, straightforward ones including UNSTABLE, PASTORAL and ANCESTRY and my COD is SWEETEN for its clever make-up.
    Not a bad day at 13 minutes.
    Thanks to Orpheus and to Astartedon – let’s hope the heatwave is over soon!
  19. Just outside my target range at 15 minutes and some small change. Like others, and inexplicably, I biffed thankful and unsteady which needed sorting, as well as actually typing in errors, only seeing that error when I couldn’t get ARMBAND. Thanks Astartedon and Orpheus.
  20. Solved every clue immediately on reading for the first time in some weeks, and had to be very nimble on my phone to translate and submit in time ! I knew BANBRIDGE, and everything else was straightforward.

    Thanks Orpheus – it’s taken me twice as long to reread and appreciate your clueing skills as it did to solve the puzzle. Thanks to Don as well, but I think your LOI was 19A not D.

    FOI GRATEFUL
    LOI SWEETEN
    COD UNSTABLE
    TIME 2:37

    1. Congratulations Phil on the PB (yes it was quite quick wasn’t it!) and thanks for pointing out the error which I have now corrected.

      Don

    2. Brilliant Phil, congratulations. I’ve been trying to find a popular song that lasts exactly 2:37 -and can’t find any!
      You can have Soul Man and Be Bop A Lula at 2:36; or California Dreamin’ at 2:38.
      Your new target could Twist and Shout -2:32.
  21. 11:56 today after correcting two sloppy errors. I had THANKFUL (a variation on Tankful I thought) at 1a and plumped for WESTWARDS at 10d without carefully checking the fodder. Managed to unravel both; shows care is always needed.
    This meant 1d was very hard until I looked for errors.
    A very pleasant puzzle. David
  22. Luckily I lived in County Down as a teenager, so Banbridge not far.
    Could not parse Do-gooder but easy to guess.
    I don’t time myself but enjoyed being able to write it all in in one fell swoop, though much more slowly than the experts.
    Liked Grateful and Armband.
    Many Thanks, as ever.
    Must remember Shelter = lee
  23. Having missed out on Grateful and Cask first time round, this turned into a long haul as I wandered around the grid picking up odd answers here and there. I wasn’t helped by being convinced that the old word for clothing was Rainment, but the cryptic was unforgiving. Biffed 19ac, Downtown, and then spent an age trying to parse the answer without success. All of which pushed me out to a frustratingly slow 28mins, though I did enjoy 3d Firebrand, which gets my CoD vote. Invariant
  24. About 22 minutes for me, so outside my target range of 15-20, albeit with a couple of short interruptions. Seemed to be slightly heavy going at times although there is nothing particularly difficult or unusual. Didn’t parse CURATOR and had no idea what Banbridge (NHO) was doing in 19ac. Managed to stop myself biffing UNSTEADY and ERRORS at 9ac and 13ac respectively.

    FOI – 7ac SACK
    LOI – 17dn GENTEEL
    COD – 9ac UNSTABLE

  25. Quite a good start to the week, with a similar experience to many. I agree with PeregrineF that it felt a little clunky in places, although nothing was really difficult and I came in under my 12 minute par, so I’m not sure what the problem was! Similar experience to others – thankful instead of GRATEFUL, DOWNTOWN unparsed, and DECANTER defined as a glass rather than a bottle confused me!

    FOI Sack
    LOI Gesture
    COD Ayr for the surface, rather than challenge
    Time 10 mins

    Thanks Orpheus and Don

  26. 22 mins for me, with the only stumbling block around 14dn and 15dn which I managed to pull from memory from some other distant puzzle.

    Lots to like, including 1ac “Grateful”, 5dn “Curator” and 12dn “Do gooder”. Wasn’t keen on 10dn “Eastwards” (thought it was just a bit too obvious).

    FOI – 4dn “Lop”
    LOI – 14dn “Raiment”
    COD – 3dn “Firebrand”

    Thanks as usual.

  27. What a gentle start to the week – much appreciated in this heatwave. Thanks to Orpheus for a lovely puzzle which we solved in 12 minutes. We didn’t know that Banbridge is in Co Down but the answer seemed quite obvious.

    FOI: cask
    LOI: sweeten
    COD: unstable

    Thanks to Astartedon for the blog.

  28. Successful completion – concerned that my last two Gesture and Unstable may not succumb, but all good. NHO Falstaff’s sack (hoho) and was thinking Banbury Cross for Banbridge…
    As at least one other, Errors before Errata, but all generally ok.
    Thanks all
    John George
  29. Thanks as always for all your kind comments and sorry if I sounded a bit grumpy in my intro. I really don’t like hot weather. Give me a good rainy grey day any day of the week (or preferably every day of the week come to think of it).

    You know the sort of person who says “I woke up this morning, the sun was shining, the sky was blue, not a cloud in the sky and my heart just leapt for joy.”? Well, I feel like that when I wake up and the sky is grey and the rain is drizzling down or even better there is a heavy fog going on. I’m not negative, I’m just wired the opposite way from all those people who say “Aren’t you enjoying this lovely hot weather?”. And come to that all the weather forecasters who naturally assume that everybody likes hot weather and so lace their forecasts with value judgments (“this beautiful summer weather…”, “this lovely hot weather is set to continue till the weekend…” and “I’m sorry to say that this glorious weather is going to end tomorrow with a nasty, horrible, dirty thunderstorm…”) rather than simply announcing “It will be sunny today” or “It will rain today”.

    Sorry, rant over. As I hope the heatwave will soon be too.

    Edited at 2020-08-10 05:03 pm (UTC)

  30. Am I the only person who thought that “centre of Banbridge” meant R or BRI? Threw me off completely!

    FOI GRATEFUL, LOI DECANTER, COD ERRATA, time 1.5K, jaw-drop at Phil!!

    Thanks Orpheus and Don

    Templar

  31. Slow and steady solve, finishing just inside my 30 minute target. Never heard of Banbridge so couldn’t parse Down Town but wondered whether it had some vague connection with Downton Abbey but didn’t think it was worth thinking more about it. Thanks Astartedon for the chapter and verse.

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