QCC 1525 by Trelawney

Author   astartedonPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

I am pretty sure I have never met Trelawney before on this blog, so good morning to you and thank you very much for this offering which I think would have become my PB if I had done it sitting down properly and concentrating, which I very seldom do as I am always doing something else at the same time, as was the case today.

Practically all the clues were write-ins although as often happens with me with QCs my mind snagged on the easiest clue that leapt to my eye which was 6A for my FOI. LOI was 12D. COD for me was probably 23A. As usual there is no clue that really stands out for difficulty so I normally go for the reassuring feel of a smooth surface.

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

Across
1 Leader of Tories in posh headgear? Well I never! (5,4)
FANCY THAT – T (‘leader’ of Tories) in FANCY HAT (posh headgear).
6 Gangster loses one item of clothing (3)
CAP – CAPone (gangster) ‘losing’ ONE.
8 Wrong note, right singer (5)
TENOR – TENO (anagram (‘wrong’) of NOTE) + R (right).
9 Algeria destroyed symbols of royalty (7)
REGALIA – straight anagram (‘destroyed’) of ALGERIA.
10 Girl with record, we hear, that’s something comparable (8)
ANALOGUE – sounds like (‘we hear’) ANNA (girl) + LOG (record).
11 Vulgar puritan is beheaded (4)
RUDE – pRUDE (puritan) ‘beheaded’.
13 Meander to restored cathedral (5,4)
NOTRE DAME – straight anagram (‘restored’) of MEANDER TO. Sadly, of course, not yet restored in reality.
16 Bring back enthusiastic opera singer (4)
DIVA – AVID (enthusiastic) reversed (‘brought back’).
17 Leaders of drinking society drink vintage liquor for melancholy (8)
DOLDRUMS – D + S (leaders of Drinking Society) ‘drinking’ OLD RUM (vintage liquor).
20 Service person putting iodine in join (7)
SOLDIER – I (chemical symbol for the element iodine) ‘in’ SOLDER (join).
21 Starts to acquire cheap tops off rugby player (5)
ACTOR – initial letters (‘starts to’) Acquire Cheap Toys Off Rugby. A nice misdirection as the answer has nothing to do with playing Rugby.
22 Sneaky on a regular basis? No! (3)
NAY – take out ‘regular’ letters from sNeAkY.
23 Big guns badly stuck in main road (9)
ARTILLERY – ILL (badly) ‘stuck in’ ARTERY (main road).
Down
1 Result of putting lots of dough in the kitty? (3,3)
FAT CAT – cryptic definition. If you put a lot of dough (money) into a kitty (kitten) you may well end up with a FAT CAT.
2 Assassin infiltrating town in Japan (5)
NINJA – hidden word: towN IN JApan.
3 Department in minor seaside town (8)
YARMOUTH – ARM (department) ‘in’ YOUTH (minor).
4 Detective flying our helicopter (7,6)
HERCULE POIROT – straight anagram (‘flying’) of OUR HELICOPTER. Funnily enough I heard David Suchet giving an address from the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula on Radio 4 yesterday morning.
5 Got up, put on a white robe (4)
TOGA – TOG (GOT reversed (i.e. ‘up’ in this down clue)) ‘put on’ A.
6 Promote growth of civilisation (7)
CULTURE – double definition.
7 Scheme with alien world (6)
PLANET – PLAN (scheme) + ET (alien).
12 Foul game (8)
HANDBALL – double definition. A HAND BALL is a foul in Association Football, but not, of course, in Rugby Football or, indeed, in the game of HANDBALL.
13 Vet only reused something new (7)
NOVELTY – straight anagram (‘reused’) of VET ONLY.
14 Inventor is done with invention (6)
EDISON – another straight anagram (‘with invention’) of IS DONE.
15 Aid for smoking, herring primarily having gone missing (6)
ASTRAY – AShTRAY (aid for smoking) with H (Herring primarily) ‘having gone’.
18 A French match is separate (5)
UNTIE – UN (French indefinite article) + TIE (match).
19 Fix a Baltic city (4)
RIGA – RIG (fix) + A gives the capital of Latvia on the Baltic coast.

38 comments on “QCC 1525 by Trelawney”

  1. My LOI was 12d, too, since I didn’t know the answer. Faced with HANDBALL & HARDBALL, I guessed the wrong one. The Puritans weren’t particularly prudish, actually; narrow-minded yes, prudish no. 4:29 but.
  2. 12 minutes. I had some problems getting started but once under way (with REGALIA my FOI) this was reasonably straightforward until I came to 10 as my LOI. I’ve never met the word ANALOGUE other than as the opposite of ‘digital’ and didn’t really know what it meant, but it fitted the wordplay and checkers and then I remembered ‘analogous’ which means ‘comparable’ so I bunged it in with some confidence.

    I know little about soccer but knew HAND BALL as a foul so 12dn went in easily enough.

    Don, Trelawney has set us only 6 puzzles to date and I am the only blogger to have met him more than once.

    Edited at 2020-01-13 06:19 am (UTC)

  3. On target with 15 mins but dreaded pink square typo.

    Oh well, at least I completed the 15×15, and echo vinyl1’s comment.

    Last 3 were handball, doldrums, and astray.
    Notre dame is clever, Cod to doldrums.

  4. The un-restored Notre Dame must get a centime for every mention in the crossword as this is the third time it has appeared this year.

    FOI 1ac FANCY THAT

    LOI 10ac ANALOGUE

    COD 4dn ‘ERCULE POIROT

    WOD 17ac DOLDRUMS

    The 15×15 is easy-ish but may have a couple of pitfalls for the unwary. Rated at 76 on the Snitchometer presently.

    Edited at 2020-01-13 06:43 am (UTC)

  5. My FOI was also REGALIA which indicates I did not get going straightaway. And my progress though the puzzle was steady rather than quick. I found these clues needed some thought. LOI was ANALOGUE after several looks en route. Prior to that the excellent DOLDRUMS but my COD goes to ASTRAY.
    No problem with HANDBALL (the FA is struggling with it thanks to VAR) but I nearly put FUNNY THAT at 1a; the pause for parsing was worthwhile as I finished all correct in 14:10.
    David
  6. 4:29, exactly the same time as Kevin but with the right Foul game at 12D, although it was my LOI. I liked the misdirection in ACTOR and the nice surface for EDISON. Thanks ‘Don and Trelawney.
  7. “Capo dei capi” is another term for a crime boss (qv: “The Godfather”). “Gangster losing one” could be “capi” losing one (I) giving “cap”. I’m sure the blog is correct BUT would this alternative parsing pass muster? I probably need to get out more.
    1. I forgot to mention that, but that’s exactly how I parsed it at the time. But I don’t think ‘loses one’ is sufficient to justify specifically deleting the O.
    2. “Capi” is plural (“boss of the bosses”), so it would have to be “Gangsters lose one” for that to work in my view.
  8. I thought that was a superb puzzle, one of the best for ages. Lots of very smooth surfaces and clever clues. My COD went to TENOR in the end, a little masterpiece. Bravo.

    All done and dusted in just over 2K for a Good Day, but more to the point it was a really enjoyable interlude. Thanks Trelawney and Don.

    Templar

  9. 28 minutes from an SCC member, 8 over target. I’ve found that occasional setters cause me more problems than regular ones and this was tricky. I only had two across answers on the first pass, but seemed to get onto the wavelength in the downs.
    Last two were CAP and CULTURE, I should really have spotted ‘cap’ minus ‘one’ but was looking for the letter ‘I’ instead. I also struggled with ANALOGUE for ages.
    Thanks to Trelawney and to Don for the blog.

    Brian

    Edited at 2020-01-13 09:18 am (UTC)

  10. I was left with the CAP, CULTURE and RUDE intersections in the NE as my L3I after 15 minutes, and actually cracked them using anon’s suggested alternative parsing for CAPi as suggested above, although I accept the CAPONE version is probably what was intended. Finally finished in just under 18 minutes, so tough on the Rotterometer. I liked FANCY THAT but didn’t see it immediately.
  11. A sign of a good puzzle for me is when I keep changing my mind about my COD, as happened several times whilst I was making my way through this one. FANCY THAT, FAT CAT, ASTRAY and NOTRE DAME were all contenders but eventually DOLDRUMS pipped them to the post. A steady solve today finishing in 13.02 with the 6s.
    Thanks for the blog
  12. I agree with Templar – it was smooth, straightforward, and enjoyable. 3K for me. I liked FAT CAT, ASTRAY, FANCY THAT but I join others in choosing DOLDRUMS as my COD. Thanks to TRELAWNEY and Don. John M.

    Edited at 2020-01-13 09:50 am (UTC)

  13. ….as, having finished on paper, I decided to replicate my time online for comparison purposes. Fat Finger kicked in, and it took 7 seconds longer to submit than my actual solving time – and two pink squares jumped out at me. I seriously doubt that I shall ever opt for electronic solving as my preferred option.

    FOI CAP
    LOI NAY
    COD FAT CAT

    1. Practice makes perfect, Phil, or so I have found. What device are you using? I use an ipad and find it easier than my laptop and much, much easier than my phone (which I strongly dislike). John
      Oops! I didn’t see your subject line until after I hit submit. It seems we are in close agreement!

      Edited at 2020-01-13 10:44 am (UTC)

        1. It can be done. I do all my solving on my phone, with two-thumb typing. Average time 5:30ish, max about 3m, no typos in the last couple of months. And my annoyingly large thumbs suggest my times are less than optimal
          Lou.
          1. I do submit Jumbos and Mephisto on the phone. I don’t want to put times up for those, and it gives me time to carefully check before I submit.
            1. So far I have always done it on paper. Could someone point me at the address to do it electronically?

              Many thanks, Cedric

  14. A really enjoyable puzzle which took about an hour (more than double the average for me). Whilst there was nothing too complicated, there were a number of clues that required (IMHO) just about the right amount of thought for the QC.

    “Analogue”, “Artillery”, “Doldrums” and “Astray” come to mind as well as the tricky 12dn “Handball” (after much elimination of pheasants, guinea fowl etc.)

    However, I did have my usual wonder whether headgear is clothing eg. “Cap”.

    FOI – 8ac “Tenor”
    LOI – 15dn “Astray”
    COD – 17ac “Doldrums” (as noted above – could have been a number)

    Thanks as usual. A really good start to the week.

  15. That being that I couldn’t complete it. All was going well, with lots of smiley faces in the margins until I could not solve 17 across. This is because I had entered, for 12 down, “baseball ” imagining that “base” and “foul ” were pretty good synonyms. I still think that they are. And then I realised that 10 across was beyond me as well. Even after I had read Astartedon’s super blog, my eyebrows stayed raised. I’ve never ever heard of “analogue ” as a synonym for “something comparable”. Harrumph. On the other, much more cheerful, hand, I very much liked 8 across and 15 down. Thanks, Trelawney, for the puzzle, even if it did render me dyspeptic by the end, and thanks, too, to Astartedon, for bringing clarity!
    1. Handball is rather obscure in the UK, although I believe it is popular in mainland Europe – especially Germany. Happy to be corrected if someone thinks otherwise.
  16. Acrosses easier than downs for once. I was enjoying myself until four to go. CULTURE, DOLDRUMS and ANALOGUE the last to fall with HANDBALL the other problem clue. Well misdirected for ANALOGUE – wasn’t expecting the girl’s name to be a homophone too. So in the end a toughish start to the week. Will look at 15×15 today thanks for the heads up!
  17. Granted Trelawney was generous in places, but I found some of the clues today distinctly difficult. Like Jackkt I started with 9ac, having missed what was going on with 6ac until I had almost finished. I found the down clues slightly easier, but I had doubts about 1d (could it be that simple?) and so it took a long time for me to feel confident about my loi Analogue. Crossed the line after 35mins, with CoD to 15d, Astray. Invariant
  18. I carelessly entered HARDBALL at 12d which a moment’s more thought would’ve seen didn’t fit the Foul definition. Drat! 8:11 WOE. Thanks Trelawney and Don.
  19. I have found Trelawney’s offerings very gentle so far, but today was definitely more challenging – and interesting too. I got stuck in the NW corner for a bit so went and did some chores to clear the fog. It worked – when I came back, I did the last three – 1d, 1a and 3d in that order – in about a minute!

    Lots of fun surfaces, as others have commented, so hard to pick a COD. I did like Doldrums, but it got pipped at the post because I didn’t love the drinking / drink combination. Maybe imbibe for the verb part? Tenor was good too – simple and effective 🙂

    FOI Regalia (like many others)
    LOI Yarmouth
    COD Hercule Poirot – a great surface and a great image
    Time 13 minutes (just under 3K or 1P11 😉)

  20. …constructing DOLDRUMS from the cryptic. LOI HANDBALL for no particular reason other than it was the last one I came to. 7.26, so a smidge under par.
  21. I was pleased that I thought of Baseball quickly on and paid the price since Dolefuls just didn’t work. Tried Old in there but was convinced Baseball was correct. Doh.. Dejected and gave up on Culture/Cap – although remember Capone and similar from before.
    Thanks all
    John George
    PS…thanks to the pointers to an easier 15×15 – I’ve never completed one but enjoy trying those that are more accessible to my standard.
  22. Forgot to look at the clock when I started, but all went in at a single sitting without getting stuck anywhere, which means that I found it easier than I often do. No problem with handball, perhaps because I have German family connections. Also regularly use ANALOGUE in the sense given here, so it came easily once I had a few checkers. LOI ASTRAY, which also gets my COD. Also enjoyed constructing DOLDRUMS, and liked EDISON and YARMOUTH as well.
  23. Just the right level for me to be engaged and not so hard as to cause a major blow to my self-esteem. Bizarrely, last night it was too hard but after FOI REGALIA this morning, I polished it off in about 20 minutes. LOI was HANDBALL because I didn’t understand it was a foul in football!
    COD was DOLDRUMS.

    Edited at 2020-01-14 08:59 am (UTC)

  24. Anyone else put “Analogus” in for 10a ?
    “Ana” + “Log” + “Us” = something comparable.
    And then I read the blog !
    “O” dear….!

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