QC 1695 by Tracy

63 comments on “QC 1695 by Tracy”

1. Slowed down by not thinking of CASTLE as a chess piece–no doubt someone will write in to insist that the piece is a rook–and for some reason (obtuseness comes to mind) not immediately seeing the anagrist for TEARDROP. 4:51.
2. I’m a bit puzzled by GO=PASS. What’s going on there?
   1. In cribbage if a player can’t play a card that keeps the total value of cards within 31, the player says ‘Go’ i.e. ‘pass’. I thought that might give rise to a query as I’m a keen crib player but I didn’t think of it immediately. I don’t know whether there other circumstances, perhaps in another game or sport.

      Edited at 2020-09-07 05:45 am (UTC)

      1. Great to see Cribbage terminology in the puzzle.
   2. My first “pass” at the across clues led to a lot of answers?
3. I was heading for a very fast time but went slow for some head-scratchers. I didn’t know BANG = fringe or RING = bell, and while I suspected the answer, I was afraid to commit. TRILBY I have probably seen before although I didn’t know it, so spent awhile there. Also lost time because I didn’t realize at first that TEARDROP, HASTE, and DETOUR employed anagrams!!

   Now I suspect horryd is going to tell me that around these parts, it’s ‘realise’.

   1. Bang as in hair (bangs); Trilby as in Svengali.
      1. Svengali? I just know that word in a mind-control context. Clearly I have some DuckDuckGoing to do.

         What about ring = bell?

         1. To ring (telephone) someone is to bell them.

            H

            1. Thank you. I definitely didn’t know that.
   2. Really surprised by your comment re BANG. I always have thought of it as the American word for FRINGE!! MM
      1. I know BANG, but not FRINGE!
         1. I realise that Jeremy is ‘Beyond the Fringe’!
            1. That reference, I know!
4. I didn’t find this all that gentle, all green in 17 but with the bottom yielding much more easily than the top and being left with two clues I couldn’t totally parse. Turns out I’ve never heard of “one of the most famous opera singers ever” but ARIA comes up often enough for it to go in and I’ve never heard of George du Maurier and certainly not his novel (Amazon reviewers don’t seem that impressed) but checkers confirmed one of the few hat types I do know (bowler, top, bobble) so in it went. I loved this one though, I was a but off wavelength and then suddenly it clicked. I thought I was in big trouble, so much so that I’d started putting in letters before the clue was solved and that let me see FRINGE would fit and then the penny dropped, also finally saw TEARDROP was an anagram having also missed that DETOUR was similar. I was slow to get SPRAIN – I was in scar or scab territory – but no excuse for not thinking of Spain very early and stumbling over the answer – and also THOROUGH where I was on the wrong utter and groaned when the checkers made me see how comprehensively I’d fallen in Tracey’s trap. Must get round to reading some Ambler.
5. 9 minutes. I didn’t find this quite as easy as Don but then I was held up on my LOI at 13dn as I had written CASLLE at 12ac which gave me the wrong first letter checker. Once corrected the answer went in easily enough.

   For those with ambitions at graduating to the main puzzle, today’s is worth a try. There are a few tricky ones but enough easy answers to get you started and build confidence. And where the answers are less well-known the wordplay is helpful.

   Edited at 2020-09-07 06:02 am (UTC)

6. A nice gentle start to the week, as Don says. I enjoyed it but took a few seconds over 10 mins, all parsed. I moved unusually smoothly from top to bottom with THOROUGH as my LOI. Some neat clues but I agree that ROUTE was probably my COD. Thanks to Tracy and Don. John M.
7. Haven’t posted for a while but thought I’d pipe up with this easy puzzle as it’s a PB for me today at 8:09 – obviously nowhere near as quick as the fastest solvers but good to get within 2K!
   1. Well done!
8. … as I finish with all green in just 11 minutes, but with no less than 5 put in despite not fully understanding the references in the clue. I’m another who didn’t immediately see that pass = go in 11A, and while I have heard of trilby as a hat for 12A I’ve not heard of the novel. And on the down side, bang = fringe and Ambler the writer both new to me, while between = through in 13D did not come to mind – not the most obvious of synonyms.

   But that is what the blog is for, and all now explained, understood and stored away in the List of Things to Remember.

   I spent a short time wanting 9A to be Bruise, which is indeed a sign of an injury, whereas a sprain is more to my mind the injury itself. But Buise doesn’t seem a very likely country, so I conceded it wasn’t correct, and when the P arrived as a checker the answer was clear.

   Many thanks to Don for the blog (much needed today) and to Tracy for a very fair start to the week.

   Cedric

   1. I also wondered about through/between. But a ball can go through your legs (more cricket!)
9. I struggled to get going today and in the top half of the across clues only MAID went in on the first run through. The bottom proved much more accessible so I solved this one from the bottom up. Once I returned to the top the grey matter had clicked into gear and the answers became clear. I’d not heard of the novel or the thriller writer but both were kindly clued.
   Finished in a surprising 6.52, with LOI GOO which caused an MER, but couldn’t really be much else. COD to TEARDROP.
   Thanks to astartedon
   1. Both novel and writer are for the older solvers, neither being fashionable in the modern world, nor even the hat, I feel.
10. Contents

    Front foot difference

    Cover drive shots

    On drive

    Pull shots

    Sweep shots

    Back foot punch shots

    Back foot difference

    How to play big shots in

    If you want to read all these contents then click on link below

    /various-shots-in-cricket-many-shots-to-give-your-quality-batting/

    1. I can’t see that this is of any relevance to the puzzle or anything that’s been said but if it’s spam it seems innocuous enough.
       1. Next time a back foot punch comes up in the crossword I’ll know what to do
11. I have a first edition of “Trilby”,
    written and beautifully illustrated by George du Maurier in 1894. Trilby is an artist’s model who falls under the hypnotic spell of Svengali, and is turned into a famous singer. When he dies she loses her voice.
    The book unfortunately has anti-Semitic undertones.

    Apparently the wearing of a particular hat in a stage adaptation of the book gave rise to the popularity of the Trilby.

    Thanks for an enjoyable start to the week.

    Diana.

12. A straightforward start to the week, but I wrote in RAMBLE and TRILBY without knowing why. Thanks for the explanation. Now for the 15×15….still usually quite a challenge for me.
13. quickly at first, but LOI Teardrop as I was slow on the anagram.
    Admittedly I had to look up hat and then knew of course it was Trilby. (A girl at school was called Trilby , after the novel!)

    We’ve had stoats and Lacrosse lately and Sentry seems to be a favourite.

    Thanks as ever.

14. Held up by goo (kept thinking of gel or gum), detour, trilby (dnk book), upshot and LOI thorough.

    COD teardrop.

    Edited at 2020-09-07 09:32 am (UTC)

15. Having NHO Eric Ambler and thus entering RAMBLE with a prayer, I have now looked up his Wiki entry and ordered one of his novels as a result! One of the joys of having one’s horizons expanded by crosswords. TRILBY, however, I knew.

    This was a quick-slow-quick for me, getting stuck in the middle of the acrosses but then all coming good. A very enjoyable puzzle.

    FOI TEARDROP, LOI THOROUGH, COD BARONESS (did anyone else try to make BARMAIDS work?), time 1.8K for a Good Day.

    Thanks Don and Tracy.

    Templar

    1. Good on you, Templar! I see that a number of solvers didn’t know of Eric Ambler, the founder of the thriller genre; I hope they all go out and order a couple of his. You’ll notice at first, I suspect, how slim the books are; none of the turgid overwriting and padding one finds in [feh] Ludlum and his ilk.
       1. One reason old paperback are very thin is that the print is tiny!
          1. The default font size on this forum is pretty small too! I’m going to need one of those hideously expensive reading lights soon.

             H

16. Didn’t know bang as FRINGE, TRILBY as a novel, or Ambler as a writer, but managed to finish in 8:22. Thaks Tracy and Don.
17. Well I comprehensively failed to achieve my target this morning, taking 18 minutes due mostly to very well disguised anagrams that held me up. Never heard of the novel, knew bang for fringe, but it didn’t occur to me until very late, there is little visible evidence of a SPRAIN, so MER at that, although it didn’t hold me up unduly. What was wrong with ‘injury from run in country’? Other than that quibble though, well played Tracy, and thanks Astarte for the blog.
    1. I’m with you on Sprain – one of the more invisible injuries! And your cluing is I would suggest rather better too!

       Cedric

       Edited to correct typo

       Edited at 2020-09-07 10:27 am (UTC)

18. I thought this was tricky in places, with some nicely hidden anagrams (such as Detour) and a couple of obscure bits of GK (Bang/fringe and Amble). That being said, I was still on for a sub-20, but my last pair Smug/Thorough took a couple of minutes to work out, pushing me out to just over 22mins. CoD to Tracy’s well-constructed 16ac Detour. Invariant
19. Not as quick as Friday, but still a good time for me with 21:46. I was mainly held up by the NE corner, but seeing the anagram in 10a allowed me to get UPSHOT, which then gave me TRILBY (never heard of George du Maurier or his novel, but according to Wikipedia he was not only the grandfather of Daphne du Maurier but also of the five boys who inspired J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan), which enabled me to work out OMISSION. I’ve never equated an embassy with a mission, but then I’ve never stopped to think what defines an embassy so they might well be the same thing. Other than that, like others have mentioned, there were quite a few clues I couldn’t parse. Never come across FRINGE for bang (in case anybody else was thinking like I was that it meant the verb bang, or indeed bang as in a noise, apparently the locks of hair that hang over your forehead can be known as bangs. Who knew? Well, lots of you I guess, and now I do, at least for now), or Eric Ambler and only vaguely of a ketch (in fact, I was thinking that the boat was a sketch). One thing I didn’t query was go = pass as I figured you could “go by the shops” or “pass by the shops”. Anyway, COD for teaching me something and for employing a chemical symbol (more please) 3d. Thanks Tracy.
    1. Yes, an embassy is a mission, though not all diplomatic missions are embassies, e.g. the UK Mission to the UN. And diplomatic relations between Commonwealth countries are dealt with at a High Commission not an embassy.
20. Pretty straightforward today with only FRINGE and GOO causing a little pause for thought.
21. Pleasing time, close to my PB, and doubly good as the year 1111 appears in a book I’m reading at the moment (Crusade by Stewart Binns).

    I’m a keen hat wearer, but don’t understand TRILBY=NOVEL. I was spectacularly terrible at the anagram at 7a, the anagrist I spotted immediately, but was still LOI and required me to go get a pen and paper. Fringe for Bangs is usually American Usage only?

    Eric Ambler was certainly pretty obscure, and even Maria Callas is not exactly mainstream.

    COD LACROSSE

    Edited at 2020-09-07 10:48 am (UTC)

    1. Didn’t find today that easy for a Monday. LOI was TEARDROP, just couldn’t see it, needed all the checkers.

       DNK TRILBY as a novel, nor indeed that the novel gave us the name of the hat! So biffed that … otherwise everything was familiar.

       H

22. I was quite quick on this apart from the four or five clues which held me up; so overall not that easy.
    Was another who only knew TRILBY as a hat. I did think it might be wrong. LOI was GOO with a shared MER; go =pass did not really work for me, but I know nothing of cribbage.
    COD to TEARDROP where I was floundering looking for that nasty predator. UPSHOT another delay. And BANG =FRINGE from the recesses.
    14:41 on the clock. I enjoyed it mostly.
    David
23. ….by The Carpenters lasts 2 minutes and 34 seconds. So did this puzzle, thus shaving 3 seconds off my previous PB. And for all we know I may never better that effort.

    FOI MAID
    LOI GOO (I almost missed it !)
    COD PREDATOR (totally agree with our blogger)

    1. Amazing time Phil -congratulations. It takes me 2:34 to say calling occupants of interplanetary craft.
    2. Congratulations on the PB.
    3. Congrats phil!

       And I was pleased with my 3:40 last week!

24. Easing into the week with a fairly straightforward puzzle but enjoyable puzzle from Tracy. A few bits of more obscure knowledge – I’ve not heard of the novel and had to dredge up both Ambler and bang=fringe from the depths of my memory. I was another who was very slow to see the well-disguised anagram at 7ac but by the time I did I had most of the crossers so it didn’t hold me up. Thanks to Tracy for an enjoyable 12 mins and to Astartedon for the blog.

    FOI – 8ac MAID
    LOI – 11ac GOO
    COD – 5dn OMISSION

25. PB for me today, partly because this was an easy offering and partly because I’ve recently discovered that my new work laptop has a touchscreen, so I can move to new clues much more quickly while still having a traditional keyboard. Great news!
    1. From personal experience I’ve found that keyboard-only is the way to go to maximise speed – forget the touchscreen and/or mouse other than for clicking Submit. Whether this works for you will probably depend on how fast a typist you are currently (the slower you are, the less inefficient it will be to reach for the touchscreen/mouse). Unfortunately this is an aspect of online solving that doesn’t get discussed much – I’d be interested to know which techniques are employed by the faster solvers on the leaderboard, though of course there are many solvers seeking to maximise their enjoyment rather than their speed.
26. Bang = FRINGE? Really? New one on me, although I biffed it. Never heard of the novel TRILBY, though it couldn’t be anything else. GOO held me up, although I do remember GO = pass from cribbage.
    Enjoyable 30 minutes or so.
    PlayUpPompey
27. My target is to finish without needing aids and I managed that today. I had no problem with novels, singers or thriller writers (maybe it’s my vintage). I did struggle with the last five or six, including detour, thorough, omission, for example. Not realising that I was looking for an anagram in a couple of places – I once started making a note of anagrinds but gave up when I realised that the number is probably approaching infinity..

    I see I’ve been doing the QC for around three years now but I still struggle. The 15×15 is a whole order of magnitude harder, I rarely try it and, usually only get a handful. Anagrams don’t come easily to me (unlike my better half, who spots them straightaway, and also thinks of suitable words from the definition much moe easily than I do).

    Anyway, a satisfying day – this probably took me half an hour in a couple of sittings – but I did manage to parse everything.

    Thanks to setter and blogger.

    1. Well done, finishing without aids. And taking a “half time break” is often the key to unlocking some of the gnarlier clues. If it’s any consolation, ‘uncommon’ for an anagrind was a new one for me today as well.
28. Thanks to Tracy for this gentle start to the week.
    Like some others, I DNK TRILBY as a character nor AMBLER the novelist but they were both obvious from the checkers.
    I, too, thought that SPRAIN was the injury itself and not a sign of one but there were some enjoyable clues including SMUG, TEARDROP and BARONESS. My COD is TEMPLATE which made me smile – as did my time of 11 minutes.
    Thanks also to Don for the helpful blog.

29. We only knew trilby as a hat and hadn’t come across Eric Ambler but were aware of the American usage of bangs for fringe – so swings and roundabouts. Thanks to Tracy for an entertaining 12 minutes.

    FOI: maid
    LOI: thorough
    COD: lacrosse

    Thanks Astartedon for your blog.

30. For those that like ninas, check out today’s concise crossword. Jolly good I thought. Any link with the QC’s setter I wonder?

    H

31. Despite not knowing TRILBY or AMBLER I still managed to secure a sub 7 minutes solve for an excellent start to the week. FOI TEARDROP and LOI UPSHOT. I do not have a particularly COD as I enjoyed most of them. Thanks Don.
32. Quick 16m for us, delayed slightly by 12ac, forgetting the alternative for rook, and we were not sure thorough for utter. Thanks Tracy for a pleasant start to the week. We were in awe about Phils score, incredible.
33. on the way to 5:45 – took a while to see TEARDROP and also NHO of TRILBY the novel.
34. was a favourite of Ian Fleming, along with John Buchan and ‘Sax’ Rohmer.

    FOI 8ac MAID

    LOI 3dn FLANGE

    COD 1dn TEARDROP

    WOD 24ac LACROSSE- dear mother played

35. A late one today. I didn’t find this a straight forward write in, but I finished it in 15 mins, so maybe it was easier than I thought.

    DNK the novel “Trilby” but knew the hat, similarly also biffed 18dn “Sketch”. Luckily I knew “Bangs” is a US expression for Fringe after having such a conversation with an American colleague many years ago.

    FOI – 6dn “Fine”
    LOI – 13dn “Thorough”
    COD – 7ac “Teardrop” – seen it before, but it still made me smile.

    Thanks as usual.

36. Trilby I remember from the play rather than the novel. Vague memories of some uncle or other over-acting in parody of Svengali. Unusual to have gentlemen’s attire adopted from an item worn by a woman. Lucky it was not that made famous by Amelia Bloomer.

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