QC 1915 by Teazel

Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Great fun today from my oldest adversary Teazel, and I would say more fun than challenge (at least as far as I was concerned). What says the court of opinion? Several anagrams, well signposted, as noted, and nothing really that gave me pause apart from the finch as mentioned at 13A. But even that went in pretty quickly because as I say, it was PERCHING there somewhere on the outskirts of my knowledge. I think my problem is that whenever I see an ornithological clue I tend to QUAIL (sorry, end of ornithological puns) automatically because I know I am usually teetering on the brink of one of my many GK black holes, so that I have a bit of delay even if I know the answer. Many thanks to Teazel.

FOI was 1A, LOI the famous bird at 13A and COD probably 22A just for the bad joke.

At the end of the day of my last blog I was still posting as I often do last thing when I do a final check to see if anyone has said anything else. In this case there was a comment which involved the hoary old subject of the differences in nuance between British and American English. This reminded me of a conversation I once heard in the bar of Glasgow airport between two Americans which I though would be worth mentioning in this forum. (I would have posted it in the comments for my last blog but at that time of day it is a bit like the tree falling in the forest with nobody there to hear it and it would have been a waste of effort. Of course that may be the verdict of all of you now, but at least some of you will see it. If I need to make a claim for some sort of spurious topicality then I would point out that at least it concerns football, and as I understand it there was some sort of ‘important’ fixture played out yesterday.)

So, these two Americans go into a bar at Glasgow airport and are overheard by this Brit as follows:

1st American: Hey, How’re ya doin’?
2nd American: Great! Just been spending some time in little old Glasgow!
1st American: Awesome! Do anything special?
2nd American: Well, I went and took in a soccer game the other day.
1st American: You don’t say! Who’d ya see?
2nd American (hesitating): Oh, now let me think, was it the… the Rangers and, erm, the Celtics?

Just intersting to me how there has to be a definite article (as in the Steelers, the Dolphins, the Globetrotters, the Red Sox etc) and also a plural. ‘Celtic’ just wouldn’t make sense.

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

Across
1 Snooker ball on playing surface in complete dark (5-5)
PITCH-BLACK – BLACK (snooker ball, worth 7 points, the last to be potted in a clearance game) on PITCH (playing surface).
7 Note big jug is more fresh (5)
NEWER – N (note) + EWER (big jug).
8 Make lines on paper that child can play with (3,4)
RAG DOLL – RAG (paper) + DO (make) + LL (lines)
10 Are they tricky for actor to learn? Too bad (4,5)
HARD LINES – cryptic definition. HARD LINES may be ones that are difficult to learn.
12 Flap about, does it? (3)
BAT – TAB (flap) ‘about’ (i.e. reversed). This gives BAT which is the ‘it’ of the clue that may well flap about thus making it an &lit.
13 Bird one’s seen in the flesh (6)
SISKIN – I’S (one’s) ‘seen in’ SKIN (the flesh). As I have said before I am no ornithologist, but this type of finch was somewhere in the back of my memory and the cryptic was clear.
15 Priest’s circle needing reorganising (6)
CLERIC – straight anagram of CIRCLE (‘needing reorganising’; I guess you’ll probably never see a clearer anagrind than this, short of “take all the letters of this word and mix them up”).
16 Took a meal back for Greek character (3)
ETA – ATE (took a meal) ‘back’ giving the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet.
17 Box here perhaps showing my amusing broadcast (9)
GYMNASIUM – another straight anagram: MY AMUSING ‘broadcast’. Broadcast here in the sense of ‘scattered abroad’. Box here ‘perhaps’, because there are many other places where you could potentially practice your Queensberry Rules.
20 One with obsession to cool attic, but only one time (7)
FANATIC – FAN (to cool) + ATtIC (attic with only one ‘T’ (time)).
22 Be liable for where dog’s dinner might end up? (5)
INCUR – as it happens our dog is going through a funny phase at the moment where he sometimes doesn’t eat his dinner. But when he does it goes IN the CUR. Geddit?
23 Wine daily, and no holding teacher! (10)
CHARDONNAY – CHAR (daily as in CHARWOMAN or I suppose CHARPERSON nowadays) + NAY (no) ‘holding’ DON (teacher (in a university)).
Down
1 Might of monarch supporting prisoner of war (5)
POWER – in this down clue we have the monarch (ER) ‘supporting’ (i.e. under) POW (prisoner of war).
2 Exciting hour in allotment work (9)
THRILLING – HR (hour) ‘in’ TILLING (allotment work).
3 Drug, not one for eater of fish (5)
HERON – HEROiN (drug) ‘not one’ (i.e. removing the ‘I’).
4 Record mathematical operation (3)
LOG – double definition (log = logarithm, commonly either to base 10 or ‘natural’, to the base e). Richard Feynman, the Nobel prizewinning physicist, used to have fun cracking the safes of his colleagues by guessing that the number combinations they would use would probably have a mathematical connection, and that first choice would probably be a common irrational number (and therefore a string of endlessly unpredicatable digits except to those in the know, such as him of course) such as e.
5 In vehicle, after argument start to brandish heavy implement (7)
CROWBAR – the defendant used a CROWBAR to gain entry, m’lud, and the vehicle in question was the usual CAR. Having gained entry he inserted ROW (argument) + B (‘start’ to Brandish) to obtain the heavy implement which is the subject of this enquiry. I rest my case.
6 Too long unmarried, but presumably immediately available? (2,3,5)
ON THE SHELF – slightly cryptic definition, hence the ‘presumably’. Without that I suppose it could just be a straight double definition.
9 Delayed arrivals scare motel silly (10)
LATECOMERS – anagram city! SCARE MOTEL ‘silly’.
11 This army so valiant in conflict (9)
SALVATION – and another one. SO VALIANT ‘in conflict’.
14 Stem offering firm support (7)
STAUNCH – double definition. As in to STAUNCH the bleeding (stem the flow) and also as in a STAUNCH friend and ally.
18 Aggressively masculine revolutionary embraces church (5)
MACHO – MAO is the revolutionary embracing CH (church).
19 Not at first spiteful, but irritating (5)
ITCHYbITCHY (spiteful) ‘not at first’.
21 Put on protective coat — start in the middle (3)
TAR – sTARt ‘in the middle’! Can’t say plainer than that.

65 comments on “QC 1915 by Teazel”

  1. I biffed PITCH-BLACK (DNK) and BAT; took me a while to see how that worked. Also HERON; I took H to be the drug, didn’t twig until after submitting. 4:55.
  2. I had trouble with the SISKIN / STAUNCH crossing which cost me a few minutes.
  3. Enjoyable one tonight. Only problem: I live in the US and am unfamiliar with the siskin, but Chambers confirmed it for me.
  4. 6 minutes. I knew SISKIN but wondered if it may cause problems for newer solvers. I hadn’t considered it as potential geographical problem as my dictionary says they occur in North America – more fully ‘called the ‘pine siskin’ – as well as in Northern Eurasia.

    I didn’t think the wordplay was particularly helpful because ‘flesh = skin’ are not synonymous to my mind, however Collins allows it specifically in this context: You can use flesh to refer to human skin and the human body, especially when you are considering it in a sexual way.

    Edited at 2021-07-12 04:34 am (UTC)

  5. Just over half an hour, and much enjoyed.

    RAG DOLL took a bit of brain time to work out.

    A good start to the week.

    Diana

  6. I was on for a very fast time until SISKIN and STAUNCH and CROWBAR slowed me down to a still fast for me 10m solve. Intrigued by SISKIN, I’ve never heard of it but a quick search brought up birdwatching sites saying they have been sighted numerous times in Buckinghamshire in the last couple of weeks. Now I’ve seem a picture I’m not sure whether it looks familiar or not — pretty though — I’ll keep an eye out for them. Part of the delay with STAUNCH was that it looks so much like ‘branch’ would fit. CROWBAR delay was due to them not being as heavy as the implements I was imagining and that I hadn’t got BAT at that point! Good start to the week.
  7. A steady start to the week with a bit of a block at the end with the SISKIN/STAUNCH intersection, both of which were fairly clued. I had to write out the anagram fodder for COD SALVATION and the parsing of CHARDONNAY took a bit of figuring out. Finished in 9.11.
    Thanks to Astartedon
  8. FOI: 1D POWER
    LOI: 21D TAR

    Straightforward start to the week.

    Thank you, astartedon and Teazel

    Edited at 2021-07-12 07:35 am (UTC)

  9. FOI: 1a. PITCH-BLACK
    LOI: 13a.
    Time to Complete: 53 minutes
    Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 21
    Clues Answered with Aids: 3
    Clues Unanswered: Nil
    Wrong Answers: Nil
    Total Correctly Answered (incl. aids): 24/24
    Aids Used: Chambers

    This took almost all my one-hour target. Not too difficult save for a small number of tricky clues that took me a while to work out.

    I answered 23a. with CHARDONNAY, though I was unable to work out how the answer was obtained until I had finished and come here.

    However, I am happy that I completed it.

    1. Really glad that it was a good one for you.

      I also like your new avatar pic. It gives me a much better idea of what a poison wyvern looks like if ever I should run across one in the flesh. Or skin as the wordplay of 13A would have it!

  10. Good start to the week …
    … and all done in 11 enjoyable minutes. I did not know the bird at 13A Siskin — the list of birds I don’t know is immensely long — but it was generously clued. LOI was 8A Rag doll, but only because despite biffing the answer in the first pass, I could not immediately parse it and left it for later … which ended up being much later as I nearly forgot to put it in at all!

    7A Newer also took a moment or two as I ran through all 7 musical notes (Aewer, Bewer, Cewer …) before deciding that this time, Note = N. At least I didn’t also run through the Sol-fa scale as well.

    Many thanks to Don for the blog
    Cedric

  11. NHO Siskin, and was looking for a five letter word for Flesh with a single I in it (at fifth position). Seems a plausible way of looking at the clue. Not convinced about Flesh=skin, either.

    I just checked the RSPB page, if I saw one, I would for sure identify it as a Greenfinch. At least I know what a Heron looks like.

    I did’t really understand BAT, and was worried about BUT/TUB.

    COD LATECOMERS, nice surface, very clean anagram

    Edited at 2021-07-12 08:29 am (UTC)

  12. Sometimes it just clicks and today was one of those days. I started off slowly at 1a because I assumed BLACK was the first word but when I looked at 1d I realised my mistake. Next up I solved ON THE SHELF and I was off. All those first letter checkers led to a super quick solve in 6:03 with just two biffs RAG DOLL (I never did parse it) and CHARDONNAY (parsed post solve). Thanks Teazel for an excellent start to the week.
  13. No particular problems today. I knew the bird. POWER and PITCH BLACK were first 2 in. TAR was last one in as I spotted a blank space during proof reading, having missed it during the solve. Spent a bit of time wondering how BAT worked, and then shrugged and put it in as nothing else made any sense. 7:54. Thanks Teazel and Don.
  14. 08:08 finishing with BAT, where I thought there was a case for BUT (meaning Does it?).
    Otherwise few hold-ups and a number of good clues. FOI LOG.
    COD to GYMNASIUM.
    David

  15. Fairly easy for me- another bird I’m familiar with in SISKIN. Also making progress on the 15×15 today.
    BW
    Andrew
  16. 17 min, delayed finally on STAUNCH after also taking toooo long to see the wine — how could I not?! It’s Monday. All the rest flowed in gently and enjoyably. At least I knew the bird.
    Some nice anagrams. Big smile at INCUR.
  17. Finished fairly quickly in two session as am rather busy. Maybe I should stick to two sessions as the brain flow was better.
    Thanks all, esp Don.
  18. Fifteen minutes. Saw pitch black early but couldn’t parse it at first so left it till later when the downs showed that it was right, then I understood the clue. FOI hard lines. 22 clues fell with some pondering at first pass, then had to go back for staunch and LOI chardonnay, easy with all the letters in, then parsing became clear. Didn’t parse rag doll. Lots here for me to enjoy – siskin, heron, bat. Thanks, Don, and Teazel. GW.
  19. Some good times already posted, and mine was no different (relatively) at 10:22. Virtually all answered as I looked at them, with the exception of CROWBAR, STAUNCH and SISKIN ( LOI), all of which I had to return to.COD SALVATION. Thanks to Astartedon for the entertaining blog, and Teazel.
  20. 4:25 this morning. Nothing too obscure here, providing a pleasant start to the week.
    Slight delay for LOI 5d “Crowbar” , not sure why because I had all the elements but perhaps for a while I was thinking of a word beginning CA and ending in R.
    COD 11 ac “salvation” — Shaw’s Major Barbara was a member of that army, I believe. Also liked the surface of 8 ac “Rag Doll”.
    Thanks to the Don for an entertaining blog and to Teazel.
  21. Oof, that was frustrating! Just under 15 minutes, with a full third spent on STAUNCH. Tried an alphabet trawl, but it wasn’t until I decided to see what could go between the A and the N that it fell into place. A curate’s egg for me – some biffs which I never fully parsed because I could see the bones (rather than the flesh/skin) of them immediately, particularly CHARDONNAY and RAG DOLL, while some took a bit more effort but were definitely worth it. The anagrams were indeed clearly signposted but what great surfaces – LATECOMERS and SALVATION got ticks.
    We used to have siskins in our garden when we first moved here 28 years ago (and bull finches too) but now it’s mostly woodpigeons 🙁
    FOI Pitch black
    LOI Staunch
    COD Incur – very witty
    Many thanks Teazel and Don
  22. 11 minutes; no real problems. Lots of siskins in my garden but still was slow to get it!
  23. Strange crossword.
    Normally I do all the across and then all the down and don’t move on until I have parsed each one
    But this one I raced through without parsing and after 6 mins had all but 13a
    After 45 mins I still had all but 13a and gave up
    A bit like England so close to pb (7:50) but in the end so far
  24. Birds do tend to befuddle – Siskin (spinus spinus) is smaller than a greenfinch (chloris chloris). Time 9:30 mins.

    FOI 1ac PITCH BLACK

    LOI 12ac BAT

    COD 17ac GYMNASIUM

    WOD RAG DOLL from ‘The Four Seasons’ from Lincoln – excellent ‘Ivy League’ impersonators

    The 15×15 is on the easy side it took me just 14min and there were personal bests!

    1. There is indeed little in the 15×15 to scare us who do not often go there, so give it a go.
      1. I’m sometimes baffled the recommendations here as to what constitutes an easy 15×15 suitable for QC-ers. I completed today’s in just under 30 minutes, which is on target for me, but despite being an experienced solver (over 50 years) it contained no less than 5 words or meanings that were completely unknown to me.
        1. Yep – in line with snitch – 11:35 for me, despite the oddities you mention.
          1. Well done, hopkinb. I’m not sure I have ever solved a 15×15 in fewer than 15 minutes, but evidently you and I are not among the QC solvers who might benefit from advice here as to whether the main puzzle is worth a try. I’m all for newer solvers having a go at ‘moving up’ so to speak but I am concerned that it’s unhelpful telling them that a puzzle is ‘easy’ when it contains so many words or references that are unfamiliar to seasoned solvers.

            Edited at 2021-07-12 04:01 pm (UTC)

            1. Interesting. There were several words that I did not know, but they were — it seemed to me — very clearly clued and indeed my answers were correct. I struggled with the German clue but nothing struck me as significantly harder than I have seen here at times. I am only an occasional visitor to the 15×15 and a staunch supporter of the SCC here.
            2. I have a simple test: if I can finish it without aids, it must have been easy 😉
  25. For me at least.

    SISKIN was dredged/constructed, but otherwise it all went in pretty quickly.

    Favourite probably INCUR.

    3:45

    Edit: I just read the blog properly and realised that BAT was a big old biff…

    Further edit: I popped the answers in the crossword club, then pressed submit without waiting for the clock to tick round to 3:45, so to my shame, I’m a neutrino, albeit a neutrino slower than some real solvers and with the same time as Verlaine.

    Edited at 2021-07-12 02:22 pm (UTC)

  26. A pleasing 18 mins for me with lots of fun along the way.

    Apologies to anyone who thought it was obvious, but how fitting is 11dn “salvation” as an anagram of “so valiant”?

    My last two in were 13ac “Siskin” and 14dn “Staunch”. The former coming somewhat easily due to living on an estate when I was younger whose streets were all named after birds of prey. I lived on Merlin Drive, whilst Siskin Avenue was just off Kestrel Drive 😀.

    FOI — 1dn “Power”
    LOI — 14dn “Staunch”
    COD — 8ac “Rag Doll”

    Thanks as usual!

      1. No — I’m lucky enough to live in the Lakes. But I’m sure there are plenty of towns across the country with a similar bird theme.
  27. PITCH BLACK and POWER went straight in, and I then made steady progress until the 20-minute mark, when I had 10 clues still to solve. At that point, however, I hit a wall and made no further progress for another 10 minutes. Finally, getting CROWBAR led me fairly quickly to BAR, RAG DOLL and LOG, but I was still faced with a big set of interconnected clues at the bottom of the grid. Eventually, and with only one checker, I solved CHARDONNAY, which was the key to all of the remaining clues. I crossed the line in 49 minutes, which I’m reasonably happy with, given my >50% DNF history with Teazel.

    Anyway, I must have had three times as much ‘fun’ (?) as Mrs Random, as she polished it off in just 16 minutes, today. Here’s a strange question: Given that both Mrs R and I find Orpheus and Wurm particularly difficult, and that we both find Hurley and Trelawney comparatively straightforward, why would one of us (Mrs R) generally find Teazel relatively easy, whereas the other (me) invariably find him really hard to crack? Might it be something to do with this mysterious ‘wavelength’ thing? If so, how could I lock into it?

    Many thanks to Teazel and astartedon.

  28. And, at 5 minutes, our quickest ever solve! Remarkably, and somewhat surprisingly, we seemed to know the answer to every clue. It was a fun puzzle and we chuckled our way through it. The only clue we had to revisit was 13A where we needed all of the checkers to get SISKIN.

    FOI: PITCH BLACK
    LOI: SISKIN
    COD: INCUR (lol!)

    Thanks to Teazel and Astartedon

      1. Thank you. But don’t forget there are two of us whereas you and Mrs Random work independently. This may never happen again but we won’t forget the date – we’ll always be able to peg it to the day after the Euros final.
        1. One reason why Mrs Random and I work on the QCs independently is because if we combined forces the sequence of play would go as follows:

          1. Mr R reads out the first clue.
          2. Mrs R solves the first clue.
          3. Mr R writes in the answer to the first clue.
          4. Mr R reads out the second clue.
          5. Mrs R solves the second clue.
          6. Mr R writes in the answer to the second clue.
          7. Mr R reads out the third clue.
          8. Mrs R solves the third clue.
          9. Etc, until the whole puzzle is solved (entirely by Mrs R).

          However, we do sometimes work together on the 15×15 or Saturday Jumbo, although our efforts are a little too embarrassing to report (even for me) at the moment.

          1. I always complete the QC by myself, but Mrs Rotter and I will occasionally tackle a 15 x 15 or weekend puzzle together, but independently, which is a bit weird. We will look together at the clues, and when I get an answer, I’ll say ‘I have 7a’, giving Mrs Rotter a chance to look at that clue to see if she can also solve it. Only when we both say we know the answer to a clue will it be entered.

            This is actually a bit slower for some puzzles than solving independently, but we each solve most clues ourselves. It is a bit of an admission of failure on those occasions when one or the other of us says ‘OK, what’s the answer’.

            1. Sounds a good method, and thanks for the suggestion. If it works for you and your Mrs R perhaps it will also work for me and my Mrs R. We’ll give it a try.
  29. A late start because we are having a seaside break. It went smoothly and I enjoyed it despite a couple of interruptions. Just under 11 mins so a decent start to the week (under 2K again). Some very nice clues including my LOI HERON. Many thanks to Teazel and to Don. John M.
  30. Was on for a good time for me (around 20 mins in 2 sessions) but DNK Siskin. Like Cedric I took a while adding musical notes to the front of ewer before finally spotting N for note! FOI POWER, LOI STAUNCH, Loved INCUR 😂. I’m really enjoying my slow QC journey. Thanks Teazel and astartedon.
    1. Trawled each vowel in turn between B and T … finally plumped for BAT over BUT, not seeing “flap” as a “tab”. Close run thing.

      Otherwise nothing to report.

      FOI PITCH-BLACK, LOI BAT, COD SALVATION, time 07:49 for 1.6K and a Very Good Day.

      Many thanks Teazel and Don.

      Templar

  31. Despite finishing within our target, we made hard work of despite knowing siskin. As 1d started with P, we tried to solve 1a with pink, felt foolish when eventually getting the answer.
  32. ….but as hopkinb and at least one regular neutrino are above me I’ll claim 7th. Absolutely jaw-dropping performances from the REAL speed merchants, under 2 minutes is beyond even me !

    FOI PITCH-BLACK
    LOI BAT
    COD STAUNCH
    TIME 2:48

    1. I thought I’d better disclose my inadvertent neutrino status, in case you got a flyer…
  33. A pleasant solve for me, coming in at 16:04. That doesn’t seem that quick to me now, but upon counting all my faster times, I found it still scrapes into the top 20 at 19th. Thankfully I knew of SISKINs so it jumped out at me once I had ON THE SHELF. No problem with flesh = skin because they can have basically the same meaning even if it doesn’t sound quite right if used interchangeably, e.g. seeing someone in the flesh, receiving a flesh wound. What did cause a MER is make = do. I can’t think of a circumstance when one could replace the other, but I seem to remember thinking the same thing before and being proved wrong. Anyway, FOI PITCH BLACK, LOI STAUNCH, CsOD FANATIC and INCUR. Thanks Teazel and Astartedon
    1. With the crossword today — well done! You did it! You made it!

      And from my schoolboy French vocabulary I seem to remember faire = to make or to do. So refracted through a French lens it has always made sense to me.

      But I’m struggling to do the trick with the English present tense.

      I suppose it works in the culinary sense: “What’s for dinner?” “I’m doing/making a casserole”.

      Does that bring your eyebrow down at all?

      Edited at 2021-07-12 08:19 pm (UTC)

  34. Late to it today but a comfortable solve in 13 mins. Enjoyable puzzle causing minimal hold-ups although I failed to parse RAG DOLL. Thanks Teazel and Astartedon.

    FOI – 1ac PITCH BLACK
    LOI – 14dn STAUNCH
    COD – 22ac INCUR

  35. An enjoyable start to the week, completed in 7 mins. FOI PITCH BLCK at 1ac, LOI THRILLING in that same NW corner. Familiar with SISKIN as they visit my garden. Nice one.

    Edited at 2021-07-12 09:06 pm (UTC)

  36. Got off to a speedy start but held up by the itchy/incur cross and the staunch/Chardonnay one. Finally done in 61 minutes! I’ve been addicted to the QC for a few years and greatly appreciate this blog and it’s contributors. Many thanks to all.
    1. Very kind of you. It is always great to know that people find it useful.

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