QC 1715 by Wurm

Author   astartedonPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

This was an extremely easy puzzle from Wurm (whom I think I have only met once or twice before). In fact I do think it is the easiest puzzle I have ever blogged and many thanks therefore for providing a puzzle that even the newest anonoymous beginners should be able to get their teeth into.

As we often say this is one of the main purposes of the Quickie,  to get people to have a go at cryptics and realise that they are not as far out of their reach as they might have thought. I remember when I started I used to stare at a blank 15×15 grid and wonder how I would ever be able to penetrate the surface. Then after a couple of days I was managing to get a few of the clues and before long I was finishing the puzzle regularly. Nowadays the Quickie helps you through those early head-scratching stages so you should be able to be filling in at least some of the grid from the very beginning.

Pretty much sequential solving today, with FOI being 6A and LOI 19D. I think my COD was, for reasons of neatness rather than difficulty, 8D.

Definitions are underlined and everything else is explained just as I see it as simply as I can.

Across
6 Swimmer in location without current (6)
PLAICE – PLACE (location) ‘without’ (i.e. ‘outside’) I (physical symbol for electric current).
7 Bet here as coin thrown about (6)
CASINO – straight anagram (‘thrown about’) of AS COIN.
9 Drink around north is bargain (4)
SNIP – SIP (drink) ‘around’ N (north).
10 7 game allowed to get in way (8)
ROULETTE – LET (allowed) in ROUTE (way). ‘7 game’ is referring to 7A CASINO.
11 Use machete repeatedly with expedition! (4-4)
CHOP-CHOP – You use a machete to CHOP, and if you do it repeatedly you get this colloquial expression for ‘hurry up’.
13 Good base for light (4)
GLOW – G (good) + LOW (base).
15 Black rodent irritating child (4)
BRAT – B (black) + RAT (rodent).
16 Become sunnier in resort, we hear (8)
BRIGHTEN – sounds like (‘we hear’) BRIGHTON (south coast resort).
18 Precious stones found in suit (8)
DIAMONDS – double definition.
20 Prepare some korma kebabs (4)
MAKE – hidden word: ‘some’ korMA KEbabs.
21 Relative brings us into money (6)
COUSIN – US ‘brought in’ to COIN (money).
22 Get to the point? (6)
NEEDLE – double definition.
Down
1 One to embrace decisive argument (8)
CLINCHER – double definition.
2 Creature this puma moved across river twice (12)
HIPPOPOTAMUS – anagram (‘moved’) of THIS PUMA ‘across’ PO PO (the longest river in Italy ‘twice’).
3 Beginning to deal with world shortage (6)
DEARTH – D (beginning to Deal) + EARTH (world).
4 Rugby-playing group quietly steal apples (6)
SCRUMP – SCRUM (Rugby-playing group) + P (piano, quietly).
5 Join outfit that protects knight (4)
KNIT – KIT (outfit) ‘protecting’ N (symbol for the knight in Chess).
8 Tool has blade: hard to smuggle into jail (12)
SLEDGEHAMMER – EDGE (blade) + H (hard) ‘smuggled into’ SLAMMER (jail).
12 Rower in Tromso arriving (3)
OAR – hidden word: ‘in’ TromsO ARriving.
14 Large liver OK cooked, but too much (8)
OVERKILL – anagram (‘cooked’) of L (large) + LIVER OK.
16 Graduate meets fool in plant (6)
BANANA – BA (graduate) + NANA (fool).
17 Stupid and senseless to incarcerate son (6)
INSANE – INANE (senseless) ‘incarcerating’ S (son).
19 Hero at home entertaining company (4)
ICON – IN (at home) ‘entertaining’ CO (company).

59 comments on “QC 1715 by Wurm”

  1. I was thinking RR for ‘rivers twice’, only saw the POPO when I biffed. Wasn’t sure about NANA, although I suppose I’ve seen it. 4:56.
  2. A little miffed to see two pink squares. I had ALLICE at 6 across, since it is a fish, if it was ALL ICE there would be no current, and it appeared on last week’s Mephisto so it was in the front of my mind. Oh well, better luck tomorrow.
  3. I hadn’t previously seen “without” to mean “outside of” so wasn’t sure of the parsing of 6A.
    1. “There is a Green Hill far away,
      Without a City Wall”

      And the City church “St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate”

  4. 10 minutes, with 5 on needle, diamonds, banana, hippo and LOI glow.

    COD SNIP, £1 a pint at uni in manchester.

  5. 10 minutes. I raced through most of this but suffered a mental block re INSANE and NEEDLE which only just cleared in time to achieve my target time.
  6. It’s very rare for me to go under 10m, so to sneak under 9 is remarkable. Six acrosses went in at the first pass, all but one on the left hand side so there was plenty of work still to do. Held up by SLEDGEHAMMER where it took until GLOW fell to finally admit that it wasn’t going to have anything to do with screws before KNIT was last one in.
  7. Another fast one – very fast for me at 5:49. Having a happy run at the moment. Last two were hippo and then plaice.
    I’d like to add to our blogger’s correct comments about the QC – whilst it is a learning tool, it also provides a good cryptic fix for those (like me) who normally spend a long time on the 15×15 and maybe don’t have that time available.
  8. As mentioned in the blog this was a very easy puzzle, certainly feeling the easiest QC I’ve ever done, and it showed in the time – a PB of 6.05 for me. Not much to say about the clues but enjoyed needle because I always miss the non-straight forward definition of this in crosswords
  9. Very enjoyable – thanks Wurm and astartedon. Good warm up for the week . The only one I didn’t like was Banana. Nana has apparently become a word in its own right now. I always thought it was a slang abbreviation of banana?
  10. I agree that this was very much on the easy side, I think even novice QC-ers would not have too much trouble with clues like “Black rodent irritating child (4)”. But fair enough, need some easier days after what was (for me) a tough series of puzzles last week.

    HIPPOPOTAMUS took a bit of time to fall, as for ‘two rivers’ I figured it was an ‘R’ with one of the many three letter rivers I’ve learned via this crossword.

    NANA=fool, if we had Bully Bunter vocab last week, where does this appear, PG Wodehouse, Famous Five, Beano?

    CHOPCHOP was pleasing and is my COD.

    1. I think even novice QC-ers would not have too much trouble with clues like “Black rodent irritating child (4)”.

      Possibly, but you (we) have been doing cryptics for some time so it does take a little time to realise that BLACK = B in crossword land. And S = son (or society), D = daughter etc. I mean, does anbody write “my S is at uni now, but my D is still at school”? All has to be learnt!

      NANA=fool, if we had Bully Bunter vocab last week, where does this appear, PG Wodehouse, Famous Five, Beano?

      I can’t remember it in any of those fine epistles, but I’ve been using it, on and off, for six decades! So it must have been the Dandy then 🙂

      H

      1. “nana” known to me only from that highbrow aria “My Old Man’s A Dustman”

        “He looks a proper nana
        In his great big hobnail boots
        He’s got such a job to pull them up
        That he calls ’em daisy roots”

        1. Well remembered, that could well be where I got it from. I can remember singing the song – must have driven my parents mad!
  11. This was most welcome after last week’s challenges and I finished just outside my PB at 10:41 with everything parsed.
    I enjoyed HIPPOPOTAMUS, SLEDGEHAMMER and BRIGHTEN and my COD goes to ROULETTE – not often we get a reference to another clue.
    Thanks to Wurm for easing us into the week and also to Don for his encouraging words.
  12. A nice, straightforward but fun start go the week. 9 Mins for me (all parsed) and it seemed quicker. I liked ROULETTE and CHOP CHOP and thought the two long ones (2d and 8d) were good – they dropped out as soon as a few crossers emerged. Many thanks to Wurm and Don. John M.
  13. … but it still took me to just a whisker under 10 minutes. A good QC and very fair to less experienced solvers like me. And surely this is the genius of our QC setters: they provide something which is both a training and entry point to the 15×15 for those that want that, and an entirely adequate puzzle in its own right for those of us who know our level.

    I didn’t initially parse 8D Sledgehammer, but once I did so, it is my COD.

    Now something different, and I share what must be the shortest crossword clue ever from a puzzle i did over the weekend:
    E (4,3)

    I should explain it was a themed puzzle, the theme being London and the underground (ie mass transit) system. So apologies to non-Londoners! Answer later …

    Thanks to Don for the blog
    Cedric

        1. Absolutely right! A very succinct clue. (For non-Londoners, Mile End is the name of a station on the mass transit system).
  14. An enjoyable 6 minutes to start the week despite a not particularly helpful grid. FOI PLAICE and LOI GLOW.
  15. Didn’t time myself but everything went in very fast, with small hesitation until I remembered Scrump. And couldn’t parse Roulette – seems obvious now.

    Thanks all for an encouraging start to the week.

  16. Like Rotter, I put a careless BRIGHTON into 16a and thereby making OVERKILL impossible. Sorting out that mistake took me outside of PB territory as the rest of the clues went straight in.
    Finished in 7.10 with LOI GLOW and COD to SLEDGEHAMMER
    Thanks to astartedon
  17. I didn’t think it was *that* easy, and certainly not the easiest ever. Starting with the downs, I had to chew my pencil over (and failed to get first pass) all of HIPPOPOTAMUS, SLEDGEHAMMER, BANANA and INSANE. The acrosses were faster though, and I ended up with a pretty standard Monday time. Easy *for a Wurm*, I suppose.

    FOI & COD CLINCHER, LOI NEEDLE, time 1.9K for a Good Day.

    Thanks Wurm and Don.

    Templar

    1. The only “simple” advice I can offer is to read the clues slowly, word by word with a slight pause between words. That way you can often avoid reading FAT CAT as meaning a rich person and instead think of FAT and then CAT. It can save hours of wandering off on the wrong track. When I’m totally stuck I sometimes read the clues backwards!

      Unfortunately GK does seem to play a significant part in some of the puzzles. I’m in the “fortunate” position of being (I think) in roughly the same age group as many of the setters so their words and mine are held in common. In the unlikely event of me still being around in 40 years time I imagine I’d be at a total loss to parse the clues or understand why such-and-such mean this-and-that.

      But, keep on – practice makes perfect and it does get easier.

      H

        1. Just as appropriate for me – I now aim to get through the QC in sub-10 and do it most days, even handicapping myself by doing all the acrosses (or downs) first and then all the downs (or acrosses!). And I always complete Private Eye and The Week. But the Big Boy puzzle in The Times just seems to be beyond me, I don’t know why. Thanks for the advice!

          Edited at 2020-10-05 11:32 am (UTC)

          1. I’m similar to this but I find the main thing is the amount of time I need to set aside if I’m going to have a serious crack at it.
            If I do put enough time aside then I can often make some decent inroads (if the Snitch is under 100) but it’s rare that I complete the whole thing.
            The other thing that helps is to use the blog and go through it word by word. But I’ve reconciled myself to the fact that I’ll probably never really get to grips with it until I hit retirement – which is still a few years away yet.
            1. Same for me, I rarely finish – today’s was splendid though and I love it when it flows in relatively easily.
              COD BRAT.

              Diana

        2. Appreciate the response. I do try and do this – but a lot of it is time and GK (as noted below). As a result, I try and stick to doing the puzzles which are in the low greens on the daily snitch.
  18. Well I wasn’t particularly fast at 13 minutes, with some surprising hold-ups. I put in the wrong BRIGHTON initially, which slowed OVERKILL, didn’t see DIAMONDS for far too long (doh), and LOI was NEEDLE to stop the clock just inside 13 minutes. SLEDGEHAMMER also took a while to fall. Thanks both.
  19. 15 mins for me. Definitely on the easier side, although I initially had doubts about 22ac “Needle” and spent quite a bit of time on 8dn “Sledgehammer”. Thought 18ac “Diamonds” was the most blatant clue I’ve seen in a long time.

    Unlike the blogger, I still can’t seem to make that leap from regularly completing the Quick Crossword to doing the same with the 15×15 Crossword. Maybe I just don’t have the time, patience or GK to make those initial steps that allow me to finish it.

    FOI – 2dn “Hippopotamus”
    LOI – 13ac “Glow”
    COD – 3dn “Dearth”

    Thanks as usual.

    Edited at 2020-10-05 10:45 am (UTC)

    1. Time is the issue for me, with the cruel irony that it currently takes me too long to do the 15×15 regularly, so I don’t do it, but if I were able to do it regularly, it wouldn’t take me so long because of the practice
  20. Fairly straightforward, but nowhere near ‘easiest ever’. I was another who tried ‘has blade hard’ as an anagram for 8d, until 20ac Make ended that idea. That, plus parsing, made 8d my longest hold up in an otherwise gentle 17min solve, albeit I did need an alphabet trawl for loi Glow. Nothing stood out too much, though I did enjoy 11ac Chop Chop, and 16ac Brighten. Invariant
  21. Slightly harder than normal for a Monday I felt. Or maybe I’m just a bit dumber than normal today. Got held up for some unaccountable reason for 20 seconds on INSANE. Doh! And I biffed SLEDGEHAMMER for LOI. Was initially thinking it was an anagram of HAS BLADE HARD, so I wasted a bit more time there – I never remember to abandon a parsing quickly enough if it’s not working out 🙁

    COD : NEEDLE

    H

  22. But not really, as I solved in exactly the playing time of the Hendrix classic. Other than the HAMMER going in before the SLEDGE, there were no problems. Thanks Wurm – proof that an “easy puzzle” can still be well constructed.

    FOI PLAICE
    LOI SCRUMP
    COD NEEDLE
    TIME 2:50

    1. 2:50! You annoying person, you!

      I still hope for a sub-four minuter on a Monday, but I suspect it’s not to be unless we get a total doddle. Mind you I did once (just once) do the 15×15 in under four minutes, but that was decades ago when my brain was still young and pliable …

      H

  23. A Red Letter Day for me, with a PB on paper. I’ve been practising for a while by going back over all the quickies since day 1 (I’m up to Feb 2016 now), using my tablet. I’m not sure if it’s quicker than writing and fat fingers often produce a pink square. All the same, my best time in that format was about 5:30 on an Izetti (of all setters). I mention this because I wonder if using a keyboard is even quicker than paper and pen? The downside is not being able to see the whole grid and all clues at once, which I find very important.

    Anyway, back to today: I did find this very user-friendly and was close to a clear run. I think it is an excellent example of the setter’s craft – a wide variety of tight clues with great surfaces, but hopefully one that newbies will find enjoyable. I was enjoying it so much that I forgot to parse SLEDGEHAMMER!

    FOI Plaice
    LOI Clincher
    COD Plaice
    WOD Scrump (it’s that time of year)
    Ear worm (wurm) Sledgehammer
    Time 6:35

    Many thanks Wurm for the ego boost, and thanks to Don too

  25. I was on the wavelength for this one, starting with PLAICE and finishing with BANANA, which delayed me slightly while I tried to justify NANA for fool. 6:05. Thanks Wurm and Don.
  26. ….we’re back in sync – although we still have a couple of puzzles to do (we’re still posting comments on last week’s puzzles – does anyone ever go back and relook at old QC blogs or are we wasting our time?). Any how, what a great start to the week. Thanks to Wurm for a very entertaining puzzle which we completed in 10 minutes.

    FOI: plaice
    LOI: roulette
    COD: clincher

    Thanks to Astartedon for the blog

  27. Not that I measured it but in only 15 minutes or so. Started trying the QC during lockdown… just as Don describes… totally blank to start with but gradually getting the hang of it! Still look occasionally at the prize crossword but with total confusion…. maybe that will start to come to me eventually! Thanks all setters over the last few months, and for this blog which i usually end up referring to to help with the last clue or two.
  28. I’m with those who don’t think it’s quite as easy as the blogger makes out. I was at the slow end of my target range of 15-20 mins and never managed to parse 8dn. I do agree however that some clues were very straightforward, so much so in fact that I actually spent some time over 18ac and 22ac as the answers seemed a little too obvious.

    FOI – 7ac CASINO
    LOI – 8dn SLEDGEHAMMER
    COD – liked both CHOP CHOP and HIPPOPOTAMUS

  29. Late to the party today. Done in 07:26;LOI GLOW.
    No problems. Nice start to the week.
    David
  30. It all fell into plaice with delays over casino (didn’t spot the obvious anagram for too long) and having got the hammer bit took too long to see the sledge or the slammer – otherwise it would have been a sub-10.
    A nice exercise that didn’t take up my time (an interesting debate today).
    Maybe I should try them all after 8 pm!
    Thanks all
    John George
    1. Not when applied to people, no. But you could say that, say, some of Boris Johnson’s guidelines about the virus situation “are just insane”, meaning they are stupid.

      By the way I am not being partisan there and that is not necessarily my opinion, I am just taking a random topical example to illustrate the point.

      Don

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