QC 3059 by Alex

Author   MerlinPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Tough Tuesday, never really got on the wavelength today, and a visit to the SCC.

As I look through the clues, many of them have nouns that need to be re-read as verbs (prompt, groom, fan, suspect, cheer ) This is a common trick of setters, worth remembering when you hit a wall.

Definitions underlined in bold, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, synonyms in (parentheses), deletions in {curly brackets} and [ ] for other indicators.

Across
1 False promises to pay following prompt (8)
SPURIOUS – SPUR (prompt) + IOUS (promises to pay)

IOUS often appears in crosswords as its a common set of letters. It is not an acronym in the traditional sense: each letter doesn’t represent a separate word. Instead, it directly mimics how “I owe you” sounds. It actually comes from the 1700s but is in the same class of much more recent shorthands like K9,or EZ.
6 Remove line from cut belt (4)
SASH – S{L}ASH (cut)
8 Horse biting male groom (4)
COMB – COB (horse) contains M{ale}
9 One who lives for rest (8)
BREATHER – Double def

First one is cryptic, I can imagine paramedics at an accident scene darkly proclaiming “We’ve got a breather here”
10 Former test for country (8)
PASTORAL – PAST (Former) + ORAL (test)

So not a country, then. There are 20 8-letter countries to run through.
12 Swear a vicar flipped (4)
AVER – A + REV (vicar) reversed [flipped]
13 Shoes with fringes (6)
WEDGES – W{ith} + EDGES (fringes)

Wedges are footwear where the sole gradually inclines from the toe towards the heel,
15 Heartless referee crushed cigarette (6)
REEFER – (REF{E}REE)*  [crushed]

“Heartless” indicates the middle letter (an E) should be dropped, then anagrammed. It’s a slang term for a marijuana joint, but you already knew that.
17 Scorch vegetable having removed end (4)
CHAR – CHAR{d} (vegetable)
19 Dental appliance trainee fixed after run (8)
RETAINER -R{un} + (TRAINER)* [fixed]

I usually call them “braces” but that’s not actually correct. Braces move teeth but RETAINERs keep them where they are.
21 Getting cold feet about daughter studying (8)
DREADING – D{aughter} + READING (studying, as at University)

On University Challenge you can hear the Oxbridge contestants say “reading”, and other universities say “studying” or “doing”.
23 Flea destroyed part of plant (4)
LEAF – (LEAF)*

Very pleasing compact clue.
24 Shoetree regularly in this place (4)
HERE – {s}H{o}E{t}R{e}E
25 Time and love make that woman well-organised (8)
TOGETHER – T{time} + O (love)+ GET (make) + HER (that woman)

Collins has this as an adjective with the plausible quote “I know on the surface I appear to be quite a TOGETHER person, but I’m really quite disorganised“
Down
2 In favour of cool European being blasphemous (7)
PROFANE – PRO (In favour of) + FAN (cool) + E{uropean}

That FAN was tricky, a lot of  words fitted: PRO- – – E. The old noun-to-verb trick from Alex.
3 Plunder books for automaton (5)
ROBOT – ROB (plunder) + OT (Old Testament=books)

The tough part here was reading “automaton” correctly, not “automation”.
4 Sphere held by major benefactor (3)
ORB – Hidden in “major benefactor”
5 Suspect malts earl manufactured (5,1,3)
SMELL A RAT – (MALTS EARL)*

This was tricky if you assumed that “suspect” was the anagram indicator, and “manufactured” was the definition, as I did.
6 Fully gratify one entering gallery following special arrangement initially (7)
SATIATE – TATE (gallery) contains I (one) prefixed by S{pecial} A{rrangement}
7 Scandinavian   root vegetable (5)
SWEDE – Double def
11 Prudence about to pull head of technology (9)
RESTRAINT – RE (about) + STRAIN (to pull, as in a muscle) + T{echnology}
14 Sugar bag emptied partly in rubbish (7)
GARBAGE – Hidden in “Sugar bag emptied”
16 Raise cheer drinking bevvy regularly (7)
ELEVATE – ELATE (cheer) contains {b}E{v}V{y}

If you ELATE someone you fill with high spirits, exhilaration, pride or optimism (Collins). Not common, I’ve never heard this verb used, but of course its outcome, ELATION, is very common.
18 Crowd in store chanted (5)
HORDE – sounds like HOARD (store)

“chanted” is an odd homophone indicator, a little unfair I think
20 Small bay trees primarily found south of popular lake’s edges (5)
INLET – IN (popular) + L{ak}E + T{rees}

Nice clue with “bay trees” needing lift and separate treatment. “south” here is not S, but a positional indicator in a Down clue.
22 Band’s performance going up and down (3)
GIG – A palindrome

It’s believed to be short for “engagement,” referring to a musician’s performance commitment. 

74 comments on “QC 3059 by Alex”

  1. No problems with this fairly gentle offering, although I took the usage of RETAINER on trust.

    FOI COMB
    LOI RESTRAINT
    COD BREATHER
    TIME 4:29

  2. A lot of guesses today so blog much needed, Merlin. Wafted through, but slowed in SW. At last saw the hidden GARBAGE, and that helped with WEDGES. Finally biffed HORDE, then encouraged by CHAR. LOI DREADING.
    Liked SPURIOUS, TOGETHER, PROFANE, COMB.
    CNP e.g. INLET, as failed to separate.
    PS, Merlin, there is a typo in the blog 3d. Shd be OT.

  3. Stopped at 30 mins with 17 ac and 18d not done. In retrospect they both seem straightforward clues. COD SPURIOUS

    I enjoyed this. Thanks Alex and Merlin

  4. 19.32 Slow to start (FOI LEAF), then a rush of joy – then snail pace finish with BREATHER, PASTORAL and HORDE.
    Missed the hidden for GARBAGE, though saw the letters and biffed it ( thank you for the clarifying blog Merlin…).
    Thanks Alex, also.

  5. A good example of why it is important not to spend too much time thinking about the early clues. I thought this was going to be a really hard one for a while, as I only got AVER of the first eight clues. Then they just started to go in, and apart from DREADING, GARBAGE and ELEVATE, I think I was able to get all the rest in order. Then, with the help of all the checkers, the ones I’d missed went in too, so I finished in a better than average time of 12:55. COD to the well hidden GARBAGE. Thanks Alex and Merlin.

  6. A strange one for me, with clues veering between trivial and agonising. I finally staggered over the line in 14:50 after I (for once) remembered the rule “If you’ve got no idea, look for a hidden” and saw GARBAGE, which then unlocked WEDGES.

    Thank you for the blog!

  7. 17 after my now customary three passes separated by coffee and admin.
    LoI orb (!)

    Thanks Merlin and Alex

  8. Thanks Alex and Merlin.
    1a Spurious. I like dr.shred had an unparsable Specious here for a while and it took a Robot to shift it at 3d.
    19a Retainer, DNK that def, thanks Merlin.
    DNF, 18d Horde, I forgot to read this clue, so didn’t solve it. DOH!

  9. My loi, Breather, took me nearly as long as the rest of the puzzle. I had trouble seeing the definition and B*e*t*e* really wasn’t talking to me. Pastoral was also a bit slow to come to mind, despite thinking earlier that it might be a rural rather than national country. One to forget. Invariant

      1. Hello Random Chap.
        The reason that I post an approximate time is that The Times site has changed the way the timer works. In the past, if you completed the puzzle correctly you would get a page saying ‘Congratulations’ and showing your solving time: the timer would also stop. Now, you just get a page saying that you have completed the puzzle but showing a zero time: you then have to click on ‘Review the Puzzle’; the timer is then shown, but it has continued running, so you need to make a small allowance for the time taken in changing the pages. I usually deduct only a second from the time shown when I review the puzzle, but sometimes two if I have been tardy.
        It’s all a bit petty, but the blogsite is called Times for the
        Times and I do like to compare my solving performance with other commenters whose times are generally close to mine.
        A bigger problem is that, as I have said many times, I solve on an iPad and the page often jumps to a different page (another puzzle) when I enter a letter. Frequently, it happens several times, and on those occasions I do not register a time. The problem only occurs on The Times website, and is very annoying.
        Best wishes.

  11. I am happy with my time of 25-26 minutes. Well into the SCC, I know, but still in time to claim a comfortable seat.

    My FOsI were COMB and AVER, and my last were RETAINER and ELEVATE. I never saw GARBAGE hidden in 14d, but it just had to be and so it went in.

    Many thanks to Merlin (I was surprised to see you as I was welcomed into the club) for the blog and Alex for the entertainment.

  13. 1 word away again, this time foiled by SPURIOUS, couldn’t think of IOUS, but a very clever way if clueing it. Need to remember that for the future. Really liked BREATHER and INLET. Thanks for the blog 😁

  14. 19.36 All but one done in ten minutes then massively breeze-blocked by BREATHER. Thanks Merlin and Alex.

  15. I’m another “specious”, and another slow to see LOI BREATHER. Hesitated over whether DREADING fitted the definition. All done in 08:17 for 1.4K and an OK Day.

    Many thanks Merlin and Alex.

  16. Well, it’s obviously a wavelength thing, because I thought this was probably the hardest Alex I’ve tackled! That was despite some chestnuts like AVER, GIG and SWEDE falling into my lap. I liked the terseness / brevity of the clues, but some left me quite baffled 😅
    13:01 for a Foxtrot Day* FOI Comb LOI Breather COD Garbage AOD Smell a rat
    *Slow, slow, quick, quick, slow

  17. Found this a bit better than Pipsqueak’s yesterday. Char and Profane held me back longer, otherwise thought this was as good.

  18. Another dreadful day.

    27 minutes of sheer hell.

    Snitch of 89 and it takes me almost half an hour. All that time spent on 15 x 15 and I am nowhere at all with this infuriating competition. If I can find an ‘easy’ puzzle so hard, there is no realistic chance of progress.

    Failed by one on 15 x 15 after 70 mins. Disappointed to say the least.

    1. 27 mins is not bad at all, I’m happy if I manage to finish, and in that sort of time, don’t be too hard on yourself.

  19. A slowish 18:30, with the southwest corner holding out until I finally spotted the well-hidden GARBAGE.

    Thanks to Alex and Merlin.

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