QC 3071 by Oink

Author   MerlinPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

 

Pretty easy going from Oink today, 7:20 for me. No obscurities, but a couple of clues tripped me up as being “too easy”, still not sure what’s going on at 5d.

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

Across
1 Regularly connected in times gone by (4)
ONCE – {c}O{n}N{e}C{t}E{d}
4 Senior officers stop bars becoming anarchic (3,5)
TOP BRASS – (STOP BARS)* [anarchic]

From the brass insignia worn by high-ranking military officers, Earliest documented uses date to around the 1890s-1900s in military contexts and 1920s for broader usage.
8 Noise made by the Bells in heated argument (4-4)
DING-DONG – Double def,

DING DONG for a fight or argument, not so common, but definitely still current, often preceded by “a right”
9 FBI agents — good chaps (1-3)
G-MEN – G{ood} + MEN (chaps)

A somewhat dated term for “the feds”, (usually the FBI, but could be the IRS, or other “Government Men”. First popularised in the 1930s when J Edgar Hoover was launching the FBI.

G-MEN is also a term used for members of G Division, a Dublin Metropolitan Police unit operating out of Dublin Castle prior to Irish independence in 1922 and this predates American usage.
10 Help a speculative venture (4)
ABET – A + BET (speculative venture)
11 Fan of The Crown? (8)
ROYALIST – Cryptic (barely)

Without the italics this would be a straight definition such as you might find in the Concise crossword. The italics refer to the Netflix show.
12 Fleet of ships near Madagascar is closing in (6)
ARMADA – hidden in near Madagascar

“Is closing in” is the containment indicator, but doesn’t quite work for me. “Encloses” yes. “Is hidden in” yes.
14 Angry following American from one side to the other (6)
ACROSS – A(merican) + CROSS (angry)

As noted before, A for American has not been spotted in the wild, but only in Collins. I put the latest version of ChatGPT on it, which came back with there doesn’t seem to be any credible example—whether in crosswords, editorial style, technical codes, or scholarly writing—where “A” by itself stands specifically for “American.” It’s just not used that way.

The challenge is to find it not as part of another abbreviation.

It suggested further looking at “military dispatches, older telegram codes, or specialized dictionaries” and came up with one example: the Canadian Football League (CFL). They label player status with a single letter e.g., the Negotiation List shows the A/N/G column and explicitly defining A: American.
16 Heck, I’m so desperately longing to be back in Britain? (8)
HOMESICK – (HECK IM SO)* [desperately]

The suffix -SICK works in two opposite ways : The “yearning sick” words (homesick, lovesick) are metaphorical use where “sick” meant something closer to “afflicted with longing.”

The “causative sick” words (airsick, seasick) follow the more modern, literal pattern where the preceding word identifies what’s making you physically ill.
18 Mess about in large vessel (4)
LARK – L{arge} + ARK (vessel)

“vessel” is one of the most vexing words to see in a clue. It is used by setters for ships (like today), containers such as basins, pots etc and also for tube-like things such as arteries.

I think setters use it to tune a clue to make it a bit harder, as today “ship” would have been a bit easier.
19 English social worker heading west for Italian hotspot (4)
ETNA – E{nglish} + ANT (social worker) reversed [heading west]

ETNA being, of course the Sicilian volcano, hence a hot spot.

This time Oink tunes the clue a bit easier, because omitting “Italian” would have made it considerably harder.
20 13-year-old maybe knocking over green tea (8)
TEENAGER – (GREEN TEA) * [knocking over]
22 Amphetamine discontinued? That’s a blow (8)
UPPERCUT – UPPER (amphetamine) + CUT (discontinued)

The Times crosswords often requires deep knowledge of drugs and their slang. Amphetamines are called “uppers”, though “speed” is also common.
23 Post small object (4)
SEND – S{mall} + END (object)

“End” as in the aim(object) of an action, as in “They worked tirelessly to that end”
Down
2 Arrest local in beauty salon (4,3)
NAIL BAR – NAIL(arrest) + BAR (local)
3 Cardinal’s importance initially ignored (5)
EIGHT – {w}EIGHT (importance)

EIGHT is just one of the Cardinal numbers. It’s a linguistic term rather than a mathematical term, for numbers one, two, three etc written out as words. Mathematicians like me don’t use this term, and we never write numbers out. We say “integers” and it’s more precisely defined.
4 Briefly sound one’s horn as well (3)
TOO – TOO{t} [sound one’s horn]

I think “toot” is a bit too polite for a car horn, I’m sure that “honk” is generally more common in Britain?
5 Popular investment product for the young? (5,4)
PIGGY BANK – ?Cryptic?

Not sure what Oink is getting at here. Children have Piggy Banks, is that it?
6 Soldier who’s often found in same pub? (7)
REGULAR – Double def

Soldiers who serve under regular, standardized conditions: consistent pay, uniform training, organized ranks, and permanent service. This contrasts with irregular forces like militias, partisans, mercenaries, or volunteer units.

And someone who drinks in the same pub.
7 They help one see tiny particles, I’m told (5)
SPECS – sounds like SPECKS (tiny particles)

Homophone indicated by “I’m told”
11 Lifelike articles I manufactured (9)
REALISTIC – (ARTICLES I)
13 OK to declare how old one is? (7)
AVERAGE – AVER (declare) + AGE (how old one is)

AVER=declare (or say) is very common in crosswords.
15 Son harbouring desire to be a medic (7)
SURGEON – SON contains URGE (desire)
17 Books acquired by old age pensioner freely available (2,3)
ON TAP – OAP contains NT (New Testament=books)

I think OAP is generally frowned upon. There was even a petition to ban its usage even though the Govt just calls it “State Pension”.  The US “senior citizen” is making inroads.
18 Boys drinking nothing — or a lot? (5)
LOADS – LADS includes O(nothing)
21 Take in Cockney’s warmth (3)
EAT – H{EAT}

“Cockney” is just how setters indicate that an aspirated H is to be dropped.

90 comments on “QC 3071 by Oink”

  2. I didn’t know it was an Oink puzzle, but biffed PIGGY BANK from the enumeration. No problem with A=American, as Vinyl notes. 5:14

  3. 3:33, a reprieve from a horrendous 15*15 DNF with 4 clues still missing at the 30′ (aka give up) mark.

    Thank you for the useful notes. With ‘closing in’, I agree that it sounds not quite right. At the same time, it feels vaguely Shakespearean (as in, it might have been grammatically correct with that meaning for Shakespeare).

    1. Thanks for the heads-up on the 15×15. I’ll leave it until after lunch and clear my other stuff up first!

      1. You’re welcome but I’ve got a feeling you won’t have much trouble…bit of a sore head this morning haha

  4. Twice lost my comment and been “sent” to the cryptic blog.

    Full solve except for 3d. Cardinal as in cardinal number perhaps?

    Thanks Merlin and Oink

      1. The apostrophe S misdirected me I think. I was trying to find a chuchman that I could delete the first letter from. I obviously had E x G x T but the penny didn’t drop….

        Close but no cigar ….

  5. I was on course for an super-fast time until the SW corner held me up and pushed it out to 7:53, still rapid for me but not the PB it might have been. Not sure why having finally got there, as all the clues seem fair and above board, but sometimes it happens …

    Enjoyable crossword, enjoyable blog – thank you Oink and Merlin.

  6. 10 minutes. I enjoyed the PIGGY BANK clue.

    On A = America(n), the fact that it’s in at least one of the usual dictionaries is enough for me. It’s not generally sufficient to justify a single-letter abbreviation on the basis that it stands for a word in a multi-letter abbreviation, but when it occurs as frequently as this example there is a much stronger case for it, and presumably that why Collins have chosen to list it.

  7. Another sub ten at 9:03. might have been faster if (as Merlin points out) I hadn’t spent a minute trying to understand how a speedcut could be some type of blow-dry hair thingamy.
    MER at piggy bank softened by discovery that it’s an Oink
    Ta M&O

  8. A relatively gentle offering but was held up a smidge in the NW where DING-DONG and EIGHT proved elusive for a bit.
    My main issue with A for American is that I often forget about it as an option and spend time trying to cram US into somewhere it doesn’t belong – fortunately it wasn’t an issue today as the ‘a’ was already in place when I got to ACROSS.
    Started with ONCE and finished with EIGHT in 5.53.
    Thanks to Merlin and Oink

  9. Another straightforward one – thanks Merlin and Oink of course! I’m with you on A for America – doesn’t seem right to me.

  10. Another sub 20 finish, (19.10), two in a row, with a few minutes pondering throughout on CARDINAL. We often hear a cardinal bird in the morning in Florida, sitting on the car wing mirror, pecking at its reflection to protect its territory. Cute.
    Thanks Oink and Merlin.

    1. I remember seeing my first cardinal in New England. As a Brit, used to rather drab birds, it was stunning.

      1. I agree. We call them Florida Robins! We also get groups of Roseate Spoonbills which are stunning.

  11. Foolishly put SPEEDCUT in at 22ac thinking there could be nothing else that fitted the crossers and who cares if there might not be such a word. Feeling stupid. Would still have got a fast time if I’d paused to think.

    1. I put it too but I don’t feel foolish or silly for it – I humbly accept there are words I don’t know. Given speed fitted the checkers and I didn’t expect there to another synonym for amphetamines it seems a reasonable mistake to have made.

      The only pause for thought would be that this wasn’t an Izetti, who likes to throw in lesser-known words, and everything else in today’s puzzle is relatively well-known or colloquial.

    2. Another SPEEDCUT here. I assumed it was some sort of blow dry haircut which would have fitted the definition. UPPERCUT is of course neater.

  12. 11 mins…

    I’m not sure 5dn “Piggy Bank” is even cryptic, and 11ac “Royalist” didn’t feel that challenging. It’s not often I feel disappointed by completing a puzzle in 11 mins, but if I hadn’t got bogged down by 22ac “Uppercut” and 13dn “Average” I could have been on a PB.

    FOI – 1ac “Once”
    LOI – 13dn “Average”
    COD – 22ac “Uppercut”

    Thanks as usual!

    1. I guess the misdirection for making PIGGY-BANK cryptic is that “investment products” are normally financial products like ISAs. Looking it up you can get Junior ISAs, Junior SIPPs (self-invested pension plans) and of course trust funds. But that all seems somewhat specific knowledge.

    2. My wife loves pigs so I often tell her some of the clues in an Oink puzzle despite her total lack of interest in crosswords generally. I read out the clue for 5d to her this morning and, before I had finished and told her how many words and letters, she just smiled and said ‘piggy bank’.
      Put me in my place! 🐖 🙄

  13. Enjoyably easy except two NHOs: G-MEN (US culture again) and the other guessed wrongly: hoped maybe sPeEdCUT was something (cf. last week’s TERAFLOP). So that’s one to the bad, due to not knowing enough about illegal drugs – evidently we must get into that since it’s encouraged here. Which do we explore first?

    1. Explore the culture not the products…..

      When our O Level chemistry teacher mentioned L S D as the latest drug in 1967 I thought he was talking about money….as I was seriously into money at 16, and I have remained a “bread head” ever since.

      When me and some friends were offered purple hearts in 1966 we told the dealer where to go…we were spending our money on racing bikes and chasing girls.

      I had three friends that got into LSD. It didn’t end well for any of them.

      1. Thank you for that, Nutshell. Yes I agree: it’s a moot point, how much one ought to know about something nefarious. Knowing the distinction between murder and manslaughter (for example) is just GK and doesn’t imply any criminal inclinations. But maybe, knowing the different properties of different kinds of dagger, or jemmy, or a device for stealing details of a credit card, perhaps – where does general GK finish and specifically criminal GK start? I suppose one criterion might be the content of TV dramas.

        1. The film Train Spotting is quite informative… having to deal with a step daughter that goes to festivals and my own daughter who is 16 (yes, I was a very late starter) who is about to start going to festivals, I need to have a handle on things.

          I was driving my step daughter to a gig after her A Levels. She was on the phone to her friend and asked “have you got the meow meow” a drug derived from the khat plant. She didn’t know that I was aware of it….aka bounce, bath salts, mad cow, and bubbles (thank you Google).

          1. I’m a late starter too – son of 20 – but maybe we’re not as permissive as you! We caught him both vaping and smoking and there was such an almighty rumpus (others were expelled from Winchester but somehow he escaped) that he hasn’t tried it since (at least we think not). NHO any of the things you cite. We suspected we just wouldn’t enjoy Trainspotting – I was deceived by the innocent-sounding title “Once upon a Time in Hollywood” and didn’t understand one word of that, so won’t fall for that trick again – so just didn’t see it. True: result, ignorance!

            1. My daughter has admitted to trying weed and vaping. She got completely wasted at Bunkfest last year on vodka. Was ill all night so my wife reported. I can’t live at the family home since my injury so I was unable to go to the gig to keep an eye on things. She’s going to Bedales in September. Good move, bad move, who knows… Bunkfest is a three day music event in Wallingford last weekend in August.

      2. When doing Statistics at University, the lecturer introduced the Least Significant Distance LSD test (think I-beams on a graph).

        He called it the Acid Test.

        1. As a fellow mathematician, thanks for the reminder Merlin!

          And like a few (??) others, my knowledge of drugs is seriously limited in spite of growing up in the 60s / 70s

  14. 8:25 but with SPEEDCUT needing correction. I spent last couple of mins in the SE where SURGEON and especially LARK, SEND presented problems.

    More interestingly my first look at the soldier in a pub gave me LO-GI-CAL which fitted the wordplay nicely but couldn’t understand why. I needed TOP-BRASS to sort that out.

    Thanks to Merlin for the blog and to Oink for a lovely little QC – very much enjoyed HOMESICK.

  15. A gentle, easy QC that would have been a welcome sub-10 for me but I spent too long on the simple LARK (can’t see what made this such a blind spot) and only then realised that I had left EIGHT unfinished at the other end. Hence my 10.55 (all parsed).
    A welcome return of Oink, a friendly grid, and a true QC.
    Thanks to Oink and Merlin.

  16. 7:29
    LOI was 22a, where I wasted some time wondering whether SPEEDCUT was a word before finally seeing UPPERCUT.

    Thanks Merlin and Oink

  17. Two straight passes, facilitated by solving all of the Down clues straight away. Thanks to Oink, and to Merlin for his usual excellent blog.

    FOI DING-DONG
    LOI SEND
    COD NAIL BAR *
    TIME 3:26

    * I gather that Border Force make a lot of arrests in NAIL BARS. The detainees are notably NOT locals!

    1. I’m convinced there is a money laundering aspect to nail bars and the new style of barbers shops that are littering our high streets.

      Where I used to live in London there were three shops that did hardly any trade but survived.

  18. Another day another pb. After a two year wait, two come along together. 5.29 yesterday and 5.01 today. Delay at the end for SURGEON and then SEND. All the acrosses on first pass bar UPPERCUT and ROYALIST and then most of the downs and a bit of mopping up. I know it’s not really important but I had to go and make coffee after pressing submit because waiting to see if there’s going to be a pink square was too much for me. Might have Marmite on toast to celebrate the all green grid.

  19. 3:57. Held up by LOADS by reading my L at the start of LARK as a C. Must improve my handwriting! LOI AVERAGE. I’ve no problem with A for American and I’ve always used “toot” for sounding a car’s horn and never “honk”, which I thought was American.

  20. A steady solve, just about remembering G-MEN and seeing PIGGY BANK quickly as it is an Oink puzzle.

  21. 10:37
    I thought I was also on for a PB with 3 clues left unsolved after 6:30 mins – EIGHT, LARK & UPPERCUT.
    As others, SPEEDCUT was stuck in my head as was LURN.
    Not sure about PIGGY BANK being cryptic and definitely don’t see how ROYALIST can be anything other than a conventional clue.
    Hey ho.
    FOI: ONCE
    LOI: UPPERCUT
    COD: DING DONG (because it brought back memories of Terry Thomas)

    Thanks to Oink and Merlin

        1. Not at all, they sometimes played similar types and I’m sure both of them used ‘I saaaay!’ as a catchphrase on occasion. I think ‘Ding-Dong’ became one of Leslie’s when making Carry On Nurse in 1959 in which he played the appropriately named ‘Jack Bell’.

  22. Finished correctly in 35 minutes.
    This offering from Oink follows the trend of slightly easier (or as would say
    “doable” ) puzzles. Long may it continue.

  23. Would have been first sub 10 ever were it not for SPEEDCUT, which added nearly two minutes, and then only to get it wrong. Sigh.
    Not the same delight as felt yesterday – however, am still new enough to this game for fact of filling the squares to bring joy.
    Thank you Oink and Merlin.

  24. I was nearly tempted by the SPEEDCUT, but didn’t like it, so flung other letters at it until the right sort of blow emerged. Cardinal makes me think of compass points rather than numbers so that took a little while to sort out. Otherwise no problems, and agree that a couple were barely cryptic at all but, hey ho, they all count.
    Interesting blog as ever from Merlin.

  25. No problems today. Thanks Merlin for great blog. Did not know derivations of TOP BRASS and G-MEN and interesting comment on
    -sick as a suffix.

  26. Amphetamine – speed – upper as opposed to downer. I’ve never heard of a speed cut as a blow in boxing…

  27. 4:02

    Just missed out on a sub-4 – needed around 20 seconds to finish the last three (SURGEON, ACROSS, SEND) but couldn’t quite get either SURGEON or SEND quickly enough. PIGGY BANK entered from checkers and enumeration – didn’t stop to admire/malign the clue. Liked UPPERCUT.

    Thanks Merlin and Oink

  28. On the wavelength. Very quick, easy and enjoyable. Had to think slightly longer about LOI SEND, and also EIGHT.
    Liked DING DONG, PIGGY BANK, ETNA, among others. Biffed G MEN – thanks to REGULAR.
    Many thanks, Merlin.

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