QC 2813 by Pipsqueak

78 comments on “QC 2813 by Pipsqueak”

1. 14:03. AT IT (is sex a criminal activity?) held me up for ages. CRASS meaning stupid, ISSUE meaning provide, and CHARLIE meaning cocaine were also hard for me to see. SEEK was fun!

2. I started out thinking it was cheeroot, but there weren’t enough spaces, so I thought again – who was that cricketer? To the relief of many, the A in currant is a checked letter, as it is easy to make a mistake if you are rushing for a time. For me, beneficial was the most difficult, but it was evident enough once all the crossers were in.

   Time: 8:45

3. No problems that I can recall, but then I can’t recall anything about this one. NHO ROOT. I don’t think I knew Charlie for coke; none of the kids in my set used the word. I agree with Merlin on ‘current’. 5:27.

   1. For what it’s worth, Joe Root has recently become England’s leading test runscorer and century maker. It ranks him about 5th all-time. His might be a name that comes up again.

      * I’m not a cricket fan so this is what I recall from my cursory readthrough a couple of weeks ago.

4. 14 minutes, although I’m not sure now what delayed me.

   Generally speaking I’m happy to leave the validity of abbreviations to the lexicographers at Collins, Oxford and Chambers, as presumably they put in a lot of work researching usage before compiling their lists of entries. B for British is in Collins and Chambers and the Shorter Oxford so that’s good enough for me as I’m solving crosswords, not editing a lexicon. Similarly Sp for special is in Collins and Chambers but this time the Oxfords are unanimous in excluding it – still, two out of three suggests it’s good enough for crossword purposes.

   Exceptions I would make are obscure single-letter abbreviations, especially some that lurk in the depths of Chambers, and I understand this is Times policy too. It has long been rumoured that setters have a list of acceptable single-letter abbreviations although I have yet to establish whether anyone connected with TfTT has ever laid eyes on it.

   Also I understand that using single letter abbreviations based only on their appearance in acronyms or longer abbreviations is not permitted in The Times or Sunday Times although I note that The Guardian has no such qualms.

   I have no problems with ‘popular / current’. Both can mean widespread and fashionable.

5. My clean-living ways were my undoing. Missed going sub-10 by taking an age over CHARLIE even with a guessed H and all the checkers. I did have qualms over CURRANT and entered the wrong one before OPERATE set me straight – so I’m one of Vinyl’s many. Enjoyed SEEK once I worked out which end to start the clue from and smiled at IRIS. Good one. All green in 12.28.

6. A steady solve with pipsqueak’s wavelength suiting us nicely this morning. All done at 19.21 with classics and aitch holding out longest.

   In my head I could see how other = more, but failed to express it out loud, can someone give an example please.

   Some great surfaces but COD to Validate

   Thanks pipsqueak and Merlin.

   1. “Do we have more options beyond Labour or Conservatives?” (apologies for political example)

      1. 👍Thanks

7. A respectable (for me) 18.37 today though AT IT held me up, as I could not see past A SIN either. An alpha trawl later and I eventually saw the answer, but not sure I’ve seen singer meaning bird before. Presumably only songbirds, like a tit. Not a mute swan, though. However, they’re apparently not mute. So, a moot swan then?

   Enjoyable blog as ever.
   Pi

8. I found this fairly straightforward before minor hold up with my LOI.
   Like others I was relieved that the ‘a’ in CURRANT was checked as I can’t remember which spelling is the fruit and which is means up-to-date at the best of times, the added complication of making it a homophone would likely have caused my brain to short circuit.
   An enjoyable solve which started with ACNE and finished with COD CHARLIE in 6.36.
   Thanks to Merlin

   1. A local farmer left a notice on our car saying we were currAntly parked in the wrong place!

      1. You’d better raisin with him

         1. I will at some Date.

            1. We could conSULT AN Authority on this…..

               1. Yes, we’d better or we’ll drive ourselves NUTS, especially at this time of night. (Good comment though)

9. 4:46. No problems with this although I was surprised to see a reference to snorting cocaine. Thanks Pipsqueak and Merlin.

10. 10:27, with pink squares for AS IN. It looks like most people avoided this trap, since there are only two reference solvers with errors in the Quitch.

    Liked CHEROOT and CLASSICS.

    Thanks Pipsqueak and Merlin

11. Just under 12 minutes, which suggests a middling challenge, but that hides 3 or 4 where I was struggling to see the definition. NHO CHARLIE as cocaine (fortunately it is about the only word that fits the checkers) and AT IT was a guess – still don’t see how it means criminal activity as opposed to any other sort of activity. OTHER = more also seemed tenuous when I was doing the puzzle, and although I note New Driver’s suggestion above, it’s not to me the strongest linkage. By the time I got to ISSUE for provide I had mentally recalibrated and decided Pipsqueak was in “it’s close enough” mode, but it’s another where I had to stop briefly and think whether they really are synonyms.

    Many thanks Merlin for the blog
    Cedric

    1. Sorry I can’t find it in the usual sources, Cedric, but Chamber’s Dictionary of Slang has:

       at it [18C+] involved in something illegal or bad

       1. Pipsqueak could have used “sexual activity”, and clue still works well. No need for any 200 year old slang.

          1. Cheer up Merlin – at least Pips didn’t use “a Laotian monetary unit worth one hundredth of a kip” as the definition of “at”.

          2. Not 200 year old slang. ‘AT IT again’ could mean any activity the speaker disapproves of, however faintly. ‘The puppy is at it again, jumping on the furniture’.
             Doesn’t have to be criminal or sexual. But I admit the word ‘again’ is needed.

    2. In old episodes of The Sweeney Jack Regan (played by John Thaw) would often say to his sidekick Carter that criminals were ‘at it’.

       1. Oh, I’m glad you said that as I was thinking the same! I love colourful language and I’m happy for anything that keeps such expressions alive.

       2. The question is whether “at it” specifically means “engaged in criminal activity”, or simply “engaged in whatever one is doing”. Rabbits can be at it, children can be, indeed Mrs S often says I am “going at it hammer and tongs”, referring to almost anything I’m doing enthusiastically and with energy from gardening to the washing up.

12. My Covid-addled brain made really heavy work of this. I ended up revealing CHEROOT, one I should have got, as I just didn’t have it in me to persevere today 🤒 I somehow thought the definition was a cricketer rather than just part of the wordplay so immediately panicked! Liked SEEK and AITCH. Great blog. Thanks Merlin and Pipsqueak.

13. Generally quite straightforward, but held up by AT IT, CHARLIE and SMART for a while.

14. I enjoyed this and finished in 30 mins. My FOI was halfway down: threat so by then I was expecting a much harder slog.
    Some clues I could not parse. Nho Roots for instance.
    Very pleased after yesterday’s utter failure.
    COD: seek.

    Thanks for blog.

15. Could not for the life of me understand why LOI CHARLIE was going to be right. Looked at it up, down and sideways – no revelation. So shrugged, hit submit, delighted by absence of DPS (hooray), came here for enlightenment. Ha! Naughty old Pippers. Immediate COD award, what a belter.

    Fun puzzle, SEEK another good one. All done in 07:37 for 1.5K and a Decent Day.

    Many thanks Merlin and Pipsqueak.

16. Just noting the Quich isn’t picking up the blog. I’d guess it’s because the title isn’t in any of the formats it has been automated to pick up. Likewise yesterday’s main puzzle didn’t link up.

    1. There’s a correct format for the blog title? I’m using the form I always use. Let’s see what the Quitchmeister says.

       1. I’m not sure there’s a correct format – I was delicately trying to avoid saying there is because I realise bloggers are doing it for free and they don’t necessarily want to be told how to! As always thanks for the write-up Merlin

          1. I know nothing about the Snitch, but I noted that the category for this blog was Daily Cryptic instead of Quick Cryptic so I have changed it in case it has some bearing. I don’t think the heading makes any difference or bloggers would surely have been told.

             Edit: It’s in the Snitch now if it wasn’t before.

             1. I have “Quick Cryptic” on a bookmark which takes me straight there – clicked on it about an hour ago and at the top was yesterday’s! No blog for today. So I just waited an hour and here you are (and here I am). Thank you.

             2. Thanks Jack – that was probably it; as it wasn’t there between 8am and 10:15am when I looked.

                The Quitch itself still hasn’t included my blog reported but that is a different matter. It seems like I am destined to remain a member of the SCC in its eyes!

17. 7:58

    Embarrassed to say LOI was my own name. Not surprising as I don’t associate it with an idiot!

    Otherwise a swift and enjoyable solve, thanks Merlin and Pip.

    1. Bet you felt a proper Oompah

18. I managed around 14 mins and enjoyed it overall so thanks Pipsqueak and Merlin. Quite a few of these did seem quite a stretch. I never understand why setters go for iffy stuff for a quickie.

19. Went over the 10 minutes at 12:05
    Today brought me back to Earth all right after having whizzed through the championship puzzle yesterday!

20. A bit like yesterday, going along nicely until grinding to a halt on my last two. The mists finally lifted to allow me to get CHEROOT, but innocent that I am CHARLIE took me over three minutes. I’ve seen enough detective dramas on tv to know of its existence, but not necessarily that it was specific to the stuff that I see them sniff up their hooters. Glad to finish in the end with all correct in a disappointing 12.13.

21. 10 minutes and no real hold-ups apart from LOI SMART; this word crops up a lot and I keep forgetting it.
    Maybe now I’ll be smart about it.
    Agree with many comments above.
    COD to IRIS.
    David

22. Slow to start but got there in the end. LOI CHARLIE – used to be prefaced by Proper. But, like others, am too proper to think of cocaine.
    Liked IRIS, CHEROOT (COD), AITCH, ROULETTE. Solved GELATO without noticing it was hidden at first.
    Thanks vm, Merlin.

23. A few challenges today, with some questionable references by Pipsqueak, such as in 21a and 6d. At the same time there are some enjoyable clues, such as ROULETTE and IRIS. About 13 minutes, I’m not a clock watcher!

24. 9a Iris; was only aware of Siri from TfTT blog.
    18a LOI Charlie; I was assuming that Charlie might be slang for snot, bogey or whatever. I missed the obvious coke. Thanks Merlin.
    Interesting that in my mind heroin is always Horse rather than Hotel. That may be the “old” US/UK phonetic alphabet; Charlie is C in both.
    On edit: Just checked; not Horse but How for H so the mystery remains.

    1. I recall Horse being some kind of drug reference in the 80s Prince song Sign O’ The Times which looking it up is In September my cousin tried reefer for the first time, now he’s doing horse, it’s June. Never really known what these are but I would assume reefer is a mild drug like marijuana or pot and horse is the hard stuff. Either way it’s been Horse for almost four decades

       1. This has come up before; on betting slips, it’s H for Horse and M for Mare, so that is one theory.

          1. Since I seem to be the Abbreviation hunter, I tracked down lots of abbreviations on a racing form card: https://help.racingpost.com/hc/en-us/articles/115001699689-Abbreviations-on-the-racecard

             And h=horse is there

25. On wavelength today with the exception of my last two in which were CHARLIE (thanks for the explanation Merlin) and CLASSICS which I parsed post submission. 6:34

26. Couldn’t see 1ac nor 1d, so started in the NE with Acne for a clockwise solve. Some quite tricky stuff from Pipsqueak, so no complaints from me about a window seat finish with loi Classics. Relieved to say that I’m another who had no idea what was going on with the second part of 18ac, Charlie. CoD to 1d, Cheroot, for the pdm, though Seek ran it close. Invariant

27. Struggled again but amazingly (for me) did actually finish though many CNP so thank you for all the explanations, Merlin. LOI AITCH, unlocked by POI OTHER.
    Now I see where my ignorance lay: NHO RED TOP, CHARLIE, or any names of batsmen. I’m always surprised how much everyone seems to know about dangerous killer drugs, and the extent to which that knowledge seems to be accepted GK.

    1. I wouldn’t even take an aspirin for a headache, let alone touch illicit drugs. It’s all a bit of a mystery to me but some of it comes up regularly enough that I’ve learned it. Just like, despite not being much of a drinker beyond the occasional Guinness, there is an array of alcohol that comes up regularly and needs to be learned. And as per my cricket comment at the top. I browse the news and current affairs and there are occasionally stories about drugs to learn a bit of the lingo.

28. 15 minutes but with AS IN at 21ac. I thought this was weak when I entered it but I’m not sure the correct AT IT is much better. Couldn’t parse COTTON and was unaware of the drug-related meaning of CHARLIE. I was also held up by completely failing to remember the name of the digital assistant at 9ac and also by having biffed UTTER at 2dn. Getting OTHER at 11ac forced a rapid rethink there. So all in all a relatively fast solve by my standards but rather fraught with error!

    FOI – 5ac ACNE
    LOI – 9ac IRIS
    COD – 1dn CHEROOT

    Thanks to Pipsqueak and Merlin

29. Slight eyebrow raise at my LOI CHARLIE, though it didn’t detain me, more that I might expect to see the clue in the Guardian rather than here at Times Towers. Very neat clue though and it’s my COD.

    Way better than “expected” time for me today – WITCH of 71, which is about as good as it gets.

    4:18

30. 6:18

    Either I’m having an enjoyable run of form in October, or the puzzles have been a shade less tricky? According to the Quitch, between May and September, my average completion time slipped month by month from 7m16s to 7m45s, whereas so far this month after 19 completed puzzles, my average is 7m09s which is my lowest average since Nov 2023.

    As for the puzzle, a steady solve without any real hold-ups – if I missed it on the first pass, I picked it up on the second pass with just a couple of exceptions: BENEFICIAL, CLASSICS, COTTON and OPERATE were my L4I.

    Thanks Merlin and Pipsqueak

31. 9.57 I knew I knew the Italian for ice cream but it took a couple of minutes to surface. I felt like a fool afterwards when I realised it was a hidden. Thanks Merlin and Pipsqueak.

32. 28 mins…

    Pipsqueak really does squeak those pips. The NW corner was impenetrable to start with so had to lurch to 5ac “Acne” to get going. The rest went in steadily, if somewhat slowly. Like many, I wasn’t really sure about 21ac “At It”, but didn’t have any issues with 18ac “Charlie”. Loving the (sniffy?) comments that some people had no idea.

    FOI – 5ac “Acne”
    LOI – 1dn “Cheroot”
    COD – 1dn “Cheroot”

    Thanks as usual!

33. Steady all correct solve. All parsed and understood, except CHARLIE. Thanks for the blog.
    After making errors on yesterday’s and today’s 15×15, it’s nice to get an enjoyable puzzle completed successfully!

34. Went for ‘ as-in’ option rather than AT-IT; felt CHARLIE was poor clue – is this part of focus on younger generation?

    1. I don’t think drug taking is restricted to the young, and I don’t think the young would use that particular slang.

35. Another in a series of forever solves at 37:46 (shock!).

    Unknowns to me in this puzzle were RED TOP, CHARLIE for cocaine, AT IT for crime, and Joe Root. But the rest is on me. Maybe it was too soon after coffee. I forgot Che too. I for some reason took forever to unravel BENEFICIAL, stubbornly refusing to resort to pencil and paper, and was just dumb about PRECEDE, a clue I really like.

    Thanks to Merlin and Pipsqueak!

36. Hard pounding today! Well into the SCC with SMART and ROULETTE still holding out: and my biff of I’M IN (a singer engaged) only failing when CRASS had to be. So an enjoyable dnf but plenty of fun along the way.
    No problem with CHE and (Joe) ROOT joining forces for a puff and cod to the brilliantly hidden ESTIMATE. Thanks Pipsqueak and Merlin

37. Damn – a dnf with 23a SEEs – couldn’t get the direction… Really liked 16d P/Recede. Thought that 9a SIRI might fox the pc-brigade but for us Mac-users it was fine. I just had to get over the platform issue after considering Ai/iA options.
    FOI 8a Estimate
    LOI 24a Roulette where for some reason I had marked the grid as 4+4 rather than a 8.
    COD 16d Precede

38. 08:49

    Little bit of a struggle in the SW with SEEK going in last and holding me up while I figured out the parsing. Wasn’t much convinced by AT-IT either and my first look at CRASS had me trying to mix in Chas for KC3 with the ASS. Helpful to have that clue next to CHARLIE which I think might be bonus points for Pipsqueak.

    Thought there were some good clues across this especially CLASSICS, PRECEDE, THREAT and IRIS 👍

    (Deleted and reposted in attempt to get Quitch to pick it up 🤷‍♂️)

    1. Are you listed as a blog solver?

       1. Yes. It was working fine all last week. I didn’t post yesterday so wouldn’t expect to be on there.

          1. Strange, mine uploaded after a few mins.

             1. I’ve just tried adding a preceding zero like you have, not that I think it will make a difference. I’ve had them picked up previously without it.

                I’d originally posted 7th comment at 8am before the blog was linked (see discussion above) so I don’t know if that’s the issue. Starstruck only added me a couple of weeks ago and some of my historical data seems to be missing so maybe it’s connected to that bug.

                Oh well. It’s frustrating not to have it included but not the end of the world.

                Thanks for your interest/thoughts 👍

                1. Agree, not sure that makes much difference, because if I have interruptions I just give e.g 13m.

                   Also when I find your name on the Q snitch, there is no link to get further details, so something odd is going on.

                   1. The lack of a link is just another ‘feature’ that Starstruck hasn’t added because I’m only referenced from the Blog.

                      But I have one at https://quick.xwdsnitch.link/solvers/1103 so I just use that to access.

    2. Astonishingly good time. Keep this up and you’ll be in the crossword championship one day.

       1. Thanks GA – I seem to be on Pipsqueak’s length now as the last couple were quick solves too. Was quite surprised many on the board reported it as being tough.

          But there are still more than a few difficult QCs being thrown into the mix – gave up on yesterday’s, same last Monday followed by some midweek toughies.

39. just wanted to say it seems unfair to assume ee know the name of cricketers – or indeed any sports person! otherwise an enjoyable crossword.

40. Definitely on Pipsqueak’s wavelength today. Really enjoyed this puzzle. Not a cricket follower but Root has been in news quite a lot recently, not just sports news.
    Thanks Pipsqueak and Merlin.

41. 09:50
    Nice. Only classics not parsed.
    LOI Precede.
    COD charlie, oo err

42. Another day of failure.

    23 minutes of toil. I see all those great times and wonder why I bother. Truly inept.

    Solved the big crossword but with no sense of achievement as I got many from the straight definition.

    I can’t see how to improve. Just reading the comments makes me realise what a 3rd rate brain I possess.

    No positives at all from today after seeing the times of others. ☹️

    I know how Mr R feels. When there is no improvement, it’s hard to find the desire to continue.

    PS Turns out I failed on big crossword as well. One answer spelled incorrectly and another one slightly wrong. Just when I think it can’t be much worse, it appears that it can!

43. Definitely not on the right wavelength today with 7 left undone (including AT IT, CHARLIE and CHEROOT). I had no idea what I was looking for with any of them. For example E for English in 1d but then what? And all this after feeling pleased with finishing yesterday’s QC.

44. 18:57 with no errors. FOI – ESTIMATE, LOI – IRIS, COD – CHARLIE, made me smile. Thanks Pipsqueak and Merlin

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