QC 1765 by Oink

Author   astartedonPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

After having had a long run of very easy Monday puzzles we have had two on my watch that I believe have been a bit more difficult. I found this a medium challenge in QC terms and enjoyed a lot of the clues so many thanks to Oink for a skilful and entertaining puzzle.

Having said that there was plenty of easy meat with the hidden words and the anagrams so there should have been lots of checkers to help with the more difficult clues and so I would class this as a good educational puzzle.

FOI was the obvious 1A and my LOI was 16D which I didn’t see straight away. For COD I liked 11A, 9D and 14D but would probably go for 24A in the end.

14D is interesting because it uses the same device (‘on vacation’) that caused several comments on my last blog. Quite a few people commented that they could not see how this device worked, how (using this week’s example as opposed to the previous one) ‘girl on vacation’ led to GL. I and some others pointed out that if you take the internal letters out of the word then you are left with the first and last letters, but it still seemed that some people didn’t get it. In fact one commenter answered one of the later queries rather testily by saying if they couldn’t understand it then they should read the earlier comments before posting because the question had already been answered. And that set me thinking: maybe I as a blogger and the other commenters as seasoned crossword solvers weren’t answering the right question.

So when one final (anonymous) person posted at the end of the day that they couldn’t understand this device I answered them and repeated the earlier explanation, but then also speculated that maybe I had misunderstood their difficulty. I suggested that perhaps the problem was not with the idea of deleting the middle letters and leaving the outer letters behind, it was with being unable to get through the surface meaning of ‘on vacation’ and therefore not understanding why we were deleting the middle letters in the first place. I pointed out that although the surface meaning of ‘on vacation’ was ‘on holiday’, it could also be cryptically taken to mean ‘on vacating’ or ‘on emptying’, so that we were being instructed to ‘vacate’ the word, or ’empty it of its contents’. This did indeed strike a chord with the commenter in question and I received a grateful note of thanks back saying that, yes, now they understood what was going on.

The lesson for me was that, as I said in another context a few weeks back, we seasoned solvers sometimes take too much for granted. For me, as I imagine for most 15×15 addicts, when I see that phrase ‘on vacation’ in a clue I immediately think of that device. The ‘straight’ definition of ‘on holiday’ just doesn’t even go through my mind. Paradoxically, a more difficult clue for me would probably be one which used the ‘easy’ straight definition!

I have therefore decided to try and adapt my blogging style a bit. I have always been somewhat afraid of ‘explaining too much’ and of people thinking I am insulting their intelligence. But of course it’s not like that at all. It’s not really about intelligence, it’s more about experience. As we keep saying, these QCs are meant to be educational, and there are lots of people out there who are embarking on cryptic crosswords for the first time and for them at the beginning of their journey all explanations are helpful. I am therefore going to try and look at the clues with a beginner’s eyes and try and see past the blinkers that I have developed over the years. I’m going to try to talk more directly to the beginner and so you will probably notice in this week’s blog that I am explaining things at a more basic level.

Finally I would like to say that it is lovely to read all the comments that come in including the anonymous ones because it is the anonymous people who are most likely newcomers. But it would be even better if as a newcomer you were to come on in and join our community so that we know who you are. Do please therefore take a few minutes to set up an identity and come in and introduce yourselves properly. We don’t bite. Well most of us don’t anyway. I am sure you will find us a friendly and by and large helpful community.

Anyway, on with the blog. Definitions are underlined and everything else is explained just as I see it as simply as I can.

Across
1 One flying out of Yugoslavia to Romania (7)
AVIATOR – hidden word: ‘out of’ YugoslAVIA TO Romania.
5 Charlie in sanatorium for a test (4)
SCAN – C (Charlie, phonetic alphabet) ‘in’ SAN (sanatorium).
7 Cry when husband leaves for a fly-by-night? (3)
OWL – hOWL (cry) when husband (H) ‘leaves’. Left behind is an OWL, which may cryptically be termed a ‘fly-by-night’.
8 Diverted tramline — ending here? (8)
TERMINAL – straight anagram (‘diverted’) of TRAMLINE.
10 River, extremely rough one (5)
RHONE – RH (‘extremely’ RougH, i.e. take the extreme letters – those at either end – of the word ROUGH) + ONE.
11 Survive, being first to follow U-boats? (7)
SUBSIST – IST (first) following SUBS (U-boats).
13 Greedy guts allowed to be Pooh’s friend (6)
PIGLET – PIG (greedy guts) + LET (allowed). PIGLET is Pooh’s best friend in the Winnie-the-Pooh stories of A A MILNE.
15 Swear Madagascar is concealing fleet (6)
ARMADA – hidden word: sweAR MADAgascar ‘is concealing’.
17 Leave a Mafia boss outside bar (7)
ABANDON – A DON (a Mafia boss, as in Don Corleone for example) ‘outside’ BAN (bar).
18 Group initially believing Cockney’s intuition (5)
BUNCH – B (‘initially’ Believing) + hUNCH (‘Cockney’ intuition. A HUNCH is a form of intuition and Cockney accents are popularly perceived to drop their ‘aitches’, so any reference to being a Cockney, or an East Ender, or from Bow or similar in a clue is likely to be a cryptic indicator to take an initial ‘H’ away from a word).
20 Alas I’m no fancy oil painting (4,4)
MONA LISA – straight anagram (‘fancy’) of ALAS I’M NO.
22 Small chocolate perhaps unwrapped (3)
WEE – sWEEt. A chocolate might be a SWEET, and if you ‘unwrap’ it, i.e. take off the outer layer (the first and last letters) you get WEE.
23 Love god angry when rejected (4)
EROS – if you are angry you might be SORE. Reverse this, i.e. ‘reject’ it, and you get the Greek god of carnal love whose statue is NOT in Piccadilly Circus (as I think has been mentioned in this blog before). If you don’t know who the statue REALLY represents it’s worth going and asking Uncle Google.
24 Is annoyed by alien’s way of thinking (7)
MINDSET – MINDS (is annoyed) + ET (Extra-Terrestrial, alien, either generically or more specifically from the Steven Spielberg film).
Down
1 Carol happy when drunk? That’s not true (10)
APOCRYPHAL – straight anagram (‘when drunk’) of CAROL HAPPY.
2 House in India with grand bathroom (5)
IGLOO – I (India, as a country abbreviation and also a phonetic alphabet letter) + G (grand) + LOO (bathroom).
3 Proof of ownership? Doctor deleted it (5,4)
TITLE DEED – straight anagram (‘doctor’) of DELETED IT.
4 Others holding artist up? Most unusual (6)
RAREST – REST (others) + RA at the beginning and so ‘holding artist up’. An artist in Crossworld is usually an RA (Royal Academician, a member of the Royal Academy of Arts in Piccadilly, just down the road from the famous statue q.v. supra) and here the artist is ‘held up’ by REST, that is to say it is on top in this down clue.
5 Runner is going back to protect king (3)
SKI – IS ‘going back’ = SI and K = King (abbreviation for the Chess piece, as opposed to R (Rex) as an abbreviation for a human king). ‘Protect’ K by putting it inside SI to get the answer.
6 Language used in Yemen to get a coffee (7)
ARABICA – ARABIC (language used in Yemen) + A gives this variety of coffee bean.
9 Affection that may come with email (10)
ATTACHMENT – double definition, the latter one slightly cryptic. An email will often have an ATTACHMENT with it.
12 Clever chap supporting Turkey? Or a fool? (9)
BIRDBRAIN – Again, a clue that only works in the down part of the puzzle. BRAIN (clever chap) is placed underneath, and therefore ‘supporting’, BIRD (turkey).
14 Attractiveness of girl on vacation having affair (7)
GLAMOUR – here we have the same device (but used on a different word) that caused some difficulty in my last blog (see comments in the preamble above). Girl ‘on vacation’ = GL, and then we add AMOUR (affair) to get the answer.
16 One northern company is in poor health (6)
INFIRM – I (one) + N (northern) + FIRM (company).
19 Information about last of giant amphibians (5)
NEWTS – NEWS (information) ‘about’ last of gianT.
21 Idiot girl removing top (3)
ASS – Another specifically down clue. lASS (girl) ‘removing top’, i.e. the first letter when you write the word in the downwards direction.

75 comments on “QC 1765 by Oink”

  1. I think you’re onto the right problem!

    One of the first great insights in the early days of computer programming was the importance of distinguishing instructions from data.

    So with cryptic crosswords: some parts of the clue say WHAT goes into the answer (GaL, in your example), and other parts say HOW (“on vacation”, again in that example).

  2. Which is about as fast as they come for me. (I think I’ve had one solve in the 4-minute range.)

    Astartedon, as a fellow blogger, I appreciate your prologue. I have tried various approaches to blogging in my meager two years or so on the “job”, and I keep tweaking it. These days I have been summarizing the wordplay indicators and “abbreviations/small bits” at the end of the blog, though I haven’t gone as far as to explain how, say, ‘nuts’ might indicate an anagram or ‘tail’ might indicate the last letter. It’s not that I think these things are obvious, but I do think they’re worth pondering.

    If there’s one lesson I’ve learned in my short time as a solver, it’s that no matter how many tricks of the trade you learn, you’re still going to get tricked. You have to do a lot of puzzles, and you have to be willing to scratch your head and wonder, “Why the hell does that mean that?”. And, of course, you need to look things up, but in the end you have to ask.

    For the most part, we commenters are a humble bunch. But occasionally I do see people who seem to be indignant that they have been fooled. To each their own, of course, but to my mind this is like someone trying to learn tennis who complains that their opponents keep hitting the balls at them. My (un-asked) advice to anyone listening: be humble, be curious, be prepared to feel like an idiot, and be willing to stretch our crazy language to its limits.

  3. 8 minutes. I enjoyed reading your blog, Don.

    Nobody so far has mentioned the customary ‘pig’ reference from this setter, so I shall; it’s at 13ac.

    Note to aspiring 15×15 solvers: Have a go at today’s puzzle.

    Edited at 2020-12-14 07:08 am (UTC)

    1. Further note aspiring 15×15 solvers – also try the Guardian today, it should be a real confidence booster. I broke 5 minutes for the first time ever.
        1. Yes, I raced through the Guardian too. I had to go to the Telegraph for half a decent challenge today.
      2. I’ve started doing the Guardian 15×15 – as I find it’s between these QC’s and The Times 15×15. Average time is generally between 30 mins and an hour, but I spread it through the day.
  4. Raced through many more acrosses than usual but I found the downs harder so there was still plenty of challenge before I finally finished all green in 14. APOCRYPHAL caused me problems even with four of the ten letters in place. I’ve obviously been saying it wrong because I stuck ‘apocraphyl’ in which left me needing ‘leave’ starting with a Y. So I had to pause to decipher ABANDON properly and then I could replace the rogue letters. Also held up by INFIRM – just couldn’t see it, probably fixated on CO for ‘company’ and ARABICA where the beans came to the rescue but not before a fair few minutes passed and I’d written it out horizontally – when it leapt out. Good puzzle, good blog, thanks all.
  5. We enjoyed Oink’s offering (thank you) which we completed in 9 minutes. Some great clues which were fun to solve.

    FOI: aviator
    LOI: inform
    COD: attachment (😂)

    Great blog Astartedon. I think it’s an excellent idea to provide a fuller explanation of the solution – will really help beginners (and us on occasion)

  6. A nice puzzle from Oink – for me uniformly good clueing even if no real standouts. Fairly swift progress anti-clockwise but then a few hold-ups in the NE corner.

    Astartedon, thank you for your fuller blog – I can confirm it is invaluable to a beginner to have such clear and detailed explanation, and still very useful to the moderate solvers like me. But I am aware that it takes rather more time and that real life has its demands too!

    FOI 1a AVIATOR
    LOI 11a SUBSIST
    COD 3d for the clever anagram and lovely surface.

    6:53 for a Pretty Good Day.

  8. Thanks for your explanatory blog about the philosophy of these cryptic crosswords, it helped a lot. I could only manage one clue before I abandoned this morning’s crossword. But I cannot be that stupid – I have completed some of these in the past. But I realise that I just do not like being tricked by setters with twisted minds who abuse the language by stretching meanings of words unfairly and use all manner of obscure expressions. So I will not be wasting any more time on these puzzles. They annoy me even when I get them right. So thanks for helping me not to waste any more time on these irritating puzzles.

    1. “Being tricked by setters with twisted minds who abuse the language by stretching meanings of words” is basically the entire point of cryptic crosswords, so if that’s really not for you then it does sound as though you need another hobby!
  9. ….. for a wise and welcoming blog. It should help to encourage our newer, anonymous posters and, I hope, persuade them to join us properly and add a ‘handle’ so that we, and they, can become a proper part of the community.
    This was a welcome change from Oink after some of the trials of recent weeks. A mix of easy and chewy clues on a helpful grid that I should have finished in a quicker time than my 16 mins. Enjoyable, though, on a relaxed and (currently) sunny morning. It isn’t all about times even though we all like to have some measure of our performance.
    I quite liked SUBSIST, ABANDON, ARABICA, BUNCH, INFIRM and the neat anagrams but I hesitated over GLAMOUR (despite considering amour) and ATTACHMENT (until I read the whole clue properly). Thanks to Oink for a fair puzzle (and just the one porcine reference) and to Don for a blog to re-read now. John M.

    Edited at 2020-12-14 09:46 am (UTC)

    1. Just one porcine reference? There is perhaps the little piggy that went 22ac 22ac 22ac all the way home?
  10. I thought Oink was in a gentle mood today; but that depends where on the crossword ladder you are. Don’s blog very helpful.
    My FOI was AVIATOR although it took a while for the jumpy Times website to recognise my instructions ; something has definitely changed -for the worse- in the software.
    I was quick after that but needed over a minute to get my LOI BIRDBRAIN. 08:59 on the clock at that point.
    Lots of good very precise clues, like an Izetti. COD to ATTACHMENT.
    David
  11. Thank goodness for a Monday Special. I really like Oink’s puzzles – he has the knack of being able to dial it down for the QC while still producing elegant, witty surfaces. Really skilful – bravo.

    FOI AVIATOR, LOI INFIRM, COD MONA LISA (super), time (in the absence of Kevin) 6:21 for an estimated 1.4K and an Excellent Day.

    Many thanks Oink and Don.

    Templar

      1. Oh wow – a time of precisely 1K! That’s a first so I’m re-calibrating this as a Red Letter Day. Thanks DDL.
  12. Thank you so much for great explanations, they really help us ‘newbies’. I only managed to ‘get’ 6 answers this morning (tough for a Monday) but your full explanations have helped me (almost) finish 1 or two in the past few months.
  13. I am not always on wavelength with Oink but today I was. 1a went in straight away but the 1d anagram had to wait. As per usual I filled the grid using where possible first letter checkers. I hesitated at ARABICA, where I biffed ARABIan but corrected once ARMADA went in, BUNCH because of the Cockney UNCH and INFIRM where I overcomplicated the wordplay. My POI was OWL and then LOI juggling the letters was 1d APOCRYPHAL. COD to MONA LISA. 8 mins and thanks for the blog astartedon. When I started out 3 plus years ago I needed this kind of analysis to keep me going.

    Edited at 2020-12-14 10:39 am (UTC)

  14. Just made my 15 minute target, being held up in the SE corner by BUNCH, MINDSET and LOI INFIRM. Nice puzzle, nice blog, thanks both.
  15. 15 mins with an interruption so not bad – but I couldn’t parse ‘glamour’ so thanks for that help. Hopefully I will remember next time.
  16. A excellent puzzle and a blog to match. Like others AVIATOR went straight in but a brief glance at 1d convinced me to come back to it once I had a few more checkers in place. A fairly speedy solve after that with my last two in being APOCRYPHAL and OWL. Finished in 7.54 with my favourite being IGLOO.
    Thanks to Astartedon
  17. Mon, 14 Dec 20
    FOI: 1a AVIATOR
    LOI: 15a ARMADA

    30 Minute Mark: 10
    60 Minute Mark: 24
    Time before use of aids: 45

    Total Answered: 24 of 26

    A fairly easy one today. I got my FOI as soon as I read the first clue, recognising the need to find the answer hidden within the clue. I liked 10a; I did have to use Bradford’s Crossword Solver’s List to get the answer, but as soon as I saw it, I could see how the answer was obtained.

    The two I did not get, and had to come here for were:

    24a MINDSET
    16d INFIRM

    1. We are rooting for you, Wyvern, I thought maybe was the day, but 2 short is still a good result. ET=alien was probably a new device. INFIRM was my LOI.
    2. I predict you’ll finish one before Christmas – keep at it, the battle is well worthwhile.
  18. I found this relatively easy, taking 15 minutes, five under my target. I have a general rule to try and parse all the wordplay as I go, but I’m afraid that if a fast time is in the offing the rule goes out the window! I always enjoy Oink’s puzzles, although I’m not a fan of ‘Cockney’ clues.
    I’ve always appreciated the blogs, the longer the better! Thanks to today’s blogger and to Oink.

    Brian

    Edited at 2020-12-14 11:03 am (UTC)

  20. A good time to start the week with, and thanks Don for the extended prologue. I also encourage anonymous users to at least “sign” their posts if they don’t want to create a LiveJournal account for “GDPR reasons” (or any other excuse).

    My COD is 9d because it uses vocabulary from the 21st century: more of this, please, setters!

    Did anyone not have MONA LISA as a write-in? I like a few easy ones, like 13a (PIGLET) and 3d (TITLE DEED) so I’m OK with it.

    LOI INFIRM as I had CO=company for a long time.

  21. I’ve always found Oink’s puzzles on the slightly easier side, but I thought today’s was more medium difficulty. In the end, I completed it in an enjoyable 22 mins.

    I did make this more complicated by initially biffing “Sir” for 5dn – which is backwardly hidden within the clue. Also, I’ve got so used to “company” = co for 16dn, that it took checkers before I could get “infirm”.

    Astartedon – you may have been speaking to me in your prologue, as the first thing I thought of on seeing 14dn is that I wonder if “on vacation” means emptying the previous word rather than holiday.

    Liked 1dn “Apocryphal”, 9dn “Attachment” and 12dn “Birdbrain”.

    FOI – 5ac “Scan”
    LOI – 6dn “Arabica”
    COD – 22ac “Wee” – lovely and simple.

    Thanks as usual.

    Edited at 2020-12-14 11:43 am (UTC)

  22. A fine puzzle which eased me fairly gently into the new week. All complete in 10 minutes. Didn’t stop to parse 22ac and couldn’t parse 14dn, although having read the blog (thanks Astartedon) I do recall the discussion a few weeks back about the use of the on vacation device.

    FOI – 1ac AVIATOR
    LOI – 10ac RHONE
    COD – I would say a three-way tie today between 10ac RHONE, 24ac MINDSET and 16dn INFIRM

  23. I thought this was a really well-judged QC from Oink, with a good mix of straightforward and more testing clues. I started with 1ac and 1d, (the latter needing several spelling attempts), and their associated offspring. No major hold ups until my last pair, Infirm and Mindset, where I thought I was going to need an alphabet trawl, but eventually realised that company was Firm rather than Co. Crossed the line after 17mins, with CoD to 22ac Wee, for the nice surface.
    I enjoyed reading the more detailed blog and I’m sure it will help those just starting the journey we are all on. Interestingly, I parsed 4d as AR (RA up) within (being held by) Rest – a bit more clunky but it still works. Either way, my thanks to Astartedon and Oink. Invariant
  24. 8:55 – two seconds the wrong side of my PB – tipped over by spending an age starIng blankly at my LOI BIRDBRAIN. I must be one. Liked IGLOO and MINDSET. kap
  25. … and today was one of those days, with – for me – a very quick solve in 8 minutes, all parsed. A very enjoyable puzzle, as Oink’s always are: he does seem to have the knack of writing elegant, entertaining but above all fair clues. I thought 1D Apocryphal was a tremendous anagram and it was my COD.

    But then other days there is a chorus of “this one wasn’t too challenging” and I am staring at a DNF after 20 minutes!

    Many thanks to Don for a very good blog, all of which I agree with and appreciate. 18 months ago I was pretty much all at sea with this puzzle and it is blogs like this, and the enthusiasm of you and your fellow bloggers and your willingness to explain things, that has enabled me to finish the puzzle 9 times out of 10 these days. Thank you to all.

    Cedric

  26. was my LOI – AVIATOR – I even looked for a hidden…

    What a BIRDBRAIN.

    Otherwise, I had warmed up the little grey cells with the Guardian Monday duo, and this was on the easier side of things, at 5:29.

    Off to do the 15×15, see if I can get 4 cryptics done inside an hour..

  27. I was interrupted half way through this puzzle, by the man from Yodel bringing a parcel which will prevent me from going thirsty over the festive period, but that didn’t prevent me from coming in just under my target time. FOI was AVIATOR and LOI APOCRYPHAL. 9:32. Thanks Oink and Don. Great blog!
  28. Managed OK with all but the SW corner for which I had to resort to some help, but an enjoyable puzzle. Thank you for the very helpful explanations in the blog.
  29. I am a beginner for whom this blog is invaluable. I would simply be continuing to stumble on in the dark without it! Thank you for your explanation of on vacation as emptying the word – I was stumped but this and, of course, it’s obvious once explained. I will take the time to register very soon. Thanks again

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