Quick Cryptic 1284 by Mara

40 comments on “Quick Cryptic 1284 by Mara”

1. Heading for 7 minutes but ended up with 10 because I had a blank spot over CYMBAL and MANILA which extended my solve by 3 minutes. I had thought of MANILA earlier but was convinced it was spelt with double-L. Note to self, trust the wordplay!

   CASTAWAY is hardly a classic film, had some pretty shocking reviews,and if Ollie Reed hadn’t been in it would have been long forgotten. I have a feeling the setter may have been thinking of the Tom Hanks film but didn’t check for the exact title.

   1. ” Castaway” might have been remembered for Amanda Donohoe. The Tom Hanks film is two words.

      Edited at 2019-02-08 11:11 am (UTC)

      1. Thanks. I know it’s two words, hence my comment about the exact title.
2. 24mins and a nice puzzle.

   Foi zinc.
   Dkn Medusa for jellyfish.

   Had to be careful for the spelling of LIECHTENSTEIN and pre raphaelite.
   Inspired looks surplus in 5d.
   Loi Cymbal

   Cod Pass.

   Edited at 2019-02-08 07:22 am (UTC)

   1. The inspired means to include one (I) I to the answer. There’s no ‘I’ in paper leather.

      Edited at 2019-02-08 11:41 am (UTC)

3. Yesterday’s struggle with the QC long forgotten. A first finish of the 15×15 followed (thanks to Flashman for the tip off) and then a first under 10 today at 9.02 – soured a bit by having negotiated Liectenstein and Pre-Raphealite I then let a careless typo through elsewhere – never has a red square been so horrifying.
   1. Congrats.
      Today’s 15×15 is ok as well except for one clue!

      Edited at 2019-02-08 07:57 am (UTC)

      1. Thanks indeed for yesterday’s tip-off Flashy, it was a rare finish of that one for me and I wouldn’t have bothered without the tip.
4. Initial letters of Sound Effects Agonising is how I read it. Never seen SE or S/E for ‘sound effects’, and they’re not in ODE. And–assuming that it’s in Chambers, say– I wouldn’t expect a QC setter to purposely opt for a recondite abbreviation.

   Edited at 2019-02-08 08:10 am (UTC)

5. Had to wait for some checkers to get the principality. I never bothered to check the anagrist for PRE-RAPHAELITE; it seemed to be there, and the enumeration was enough anyway. Took a moment to remember AFTERS. 6:13.
6. I thought this was difficult in places.
   I was delayed by the two long anagrams,especially the artist. After 18 minutes I was looking at my LOI 16d trying to improve on COMBAT which I knew was wrong. Eventually CYMBAL emerged,so I’ll make that my devilish COD. 21:34 in the end.
   David
7. Another challenging puzzle, I thought, but a bit easier than yesterday. Took me over 23 minutes but several minutes of that was taken up with cymbal. Looks easy when you’ve finally got it.
8. Like Jack it would have been a fast time had it not been for CYMBAL … especially since a half-vowel takes a very long time to enter my mind as a possibility in an alphabet trawl, whereas “combat” entered my head quickly and took some time to dislodge! So ended up with 2 Kevins, which had to go down as a Disappointing Day given that it could have been so much closer to 1.

   COD SUITCASE from me, very neat! Thank you Mara, and thanks curarist.

   Templar

9. A PB for me, with only CYMBAL, my LOI, giving me any significant pause for thought. Like Kevin, I parsed 12D as the initial letters of Sound Effects Agonising. COD to MAYO. Thanks Mara and Curarist. 3:02.

   Edited at 2019-02-08 09:02 am (UTC)

   1. Great time, John!
      I had similar problems finding CYMBAL at the end to finish in a more modest 5’20”.
      Thanks to Curarist and Mara.
   2. Nice one John!
10. A PB for me, too, with 7.13 but…put in an unknown MAGO sauce! Mrs soj also helped with LIECHTENSTEIN.
11. Steady going for me today, coming in at 14.09 with the two long anagrams proving hard to crack. Like others I was held up at the end by CoD CYMBAL.
    Thanks for the blog
12. A rare sub-10 minutes for me, at 9.25. I plumped straight for the Tom Hanks film, not being aware of the Olly Reed one, and also not knowing that the later one had a two word title, so a technical mis-parse. I would have been quicker, but saw NEURAL as the first anagram for 8a (which kinda fits), but one glance at 4d disabused me of that notion and I had to look again. Thanks all, and for all the comments on yesterday’s blog.
13. Like a few others it seems, I could only think of COMBAT rather than CYMBAL…

    A general query which i’d be interested in people’s thoughts on; I usually do the puzzle on my iPad, on a crowded bus on the way to work, so can’t really write out/cross out letters/do any kind of pen-based gymnastics with anagrams. Do any solvers have any tips as to how to improve my anagram-ing (?!) as I tend to struggle for ages with them!

    1. In that situation, I have been known to open ‘notes’ on my ipad and put down the filled letters with spaces and then add the unused letters below for a little mental gymnastics. Just like pen and paper but slower, of course. John M.
       1. Once I have. a few checkers I look for likely patterns within the word. Thus a-e is likely to be ace, ade, ale, etc. Often that will lead to simply adding another chunk.
          PlayUpPompey
    2. I write the anagrist in the space, but backwards. This often helps.
    3. If I can’t see the answer straight away I tend to leave it and revisit after I have solved as many clues with crossing checkers. I find checkers make all the difference particularly when the anagram is long. I never make notes, relying on mental gymastics.
14. What happened there? My post vanished into the ether as I was about to send it.
    Anyway, many thanks to Mara for a sweet end to the week after a couple of tough ones (and to Curarist, of course). Some nice clues and a helpful grid pattern. I finished in under 12 mins for a change. Most clues went in smoothly, my first long anagram (5d) was no problem but I kicked myself when I finally wrote down the unused letters for my LOI 2d and it became so obvious. I liked CYMBAL, PASS, and AFTERS. John M.

    Edited at 2019-02-08 10:26 am (UTC)

15. 12 minutes for me today. Absolutely blasted through (remember – it’s all relative!) the first 34 or so before being slowed up by the whole SE corner. Though when I did get through it I felt it contained the most pleasing elements of this puzzle (cymbal, pass, afters) so was a satisfying end to the day & week.

    Edited at 2019-02-08 10:36 am (UTC)

16. I found this very easy (by my standards).
    FOI CANINE
    LOI CYMBAL
    COD PASS (very neat. Reminiscent of Mastermind and ‘the Khyber is an example of what?’)
    PlayUpPompey
17. Possibly the most stupid biff I’ve ever attempted at 11A, and the time taken to correct it nudged me over target.

    I’d never heard of CASTAWAY as a film, but the parsing was obvious.

    I had to write down “hint Celestine” and work it out on paper – not something I often resort to, especially with all the checkers already in place. LIECHTENSTEIN then revealed itself very quickly, and was practically impossible to mis-spell (I’ve been there before !)

    FOI CANINE
    LOI CYMBAL – I doggedly resisted “combat”
    COD PRE-RAPHAELITE – I disagree with the earlier poster, “inspired” is an essential part of the clue
    TIME 5:02

18. Well I didn’t find this one easy. I finally crossed the line in 11:30, which is over my target. I was held up by 2d, 5d and 16d. Nice puzzle but no standout clues. Thanks to blogger and setter.

    Adrian

19. On my 20 minute target I had only 2D to go, but it took another 8 for the PDM. For some reason I couldn’t get -nation out of my head.
    I usually find homophones very contrived, but I thought CYMBAL was a good one.

    Brian

20. Happily buzzed through most of this but then had to find pen and paper for Liechtenstein and, finally, to overcome thinking the wrong way for loi cymbal. 8:45.
21. Thanks Mara. I needed a QC with no obscure words and you delivered that today. FOI CANINE and LOI the elusive 16d CYMBAL. I also was held up by 22a AFTERS. Like sonofjim I thought about 6d MAgO for the sauce but biffed MAYO and parsed after solving. Thanks for the blog curarist which I am sure took longer than your 6 minutes solve. 8 minutes for me.
22. Had all of this, bar 16d, done and dusted in just under 20mins, but then spent another 5 getting Cymbal (via Combat). I usually struggle with anagrams, but for some reason 2d jumped out today and that was a big help along the way. Overall, I thought this was quite a gentle puzzle for a Friday. Invariant
23. I was over my target at 10:28, held up by LIECHTENSTEIN and MANILA and LOI, PRE RAPHAELITE. No trouble with CYMBAL. I saw Gerry Conway give the cymbals a thrashing with Fairport Convention last night at Stockton Arc Centre. Nice puzzle. Thanks Mara and Curarist.
    1. Gerry Conway was the drummer on two of my favourite Jethro Tull albums -“The Broadsword and the Beast” and “Crest of a Knave”.
       1. I bought Dave Pegg’s book “Off the Pegg”. Looking forward to reading some hair raising tales!
24. A model QC, as opposed to yesterday’s horror show. I would like to have Mara’s children.
25. I’ll echo the feeling of relief after yesterday! A respectable 25mins, only using an aid for 16d, which I couldn’t see.

    Being a regular visitor to Wightwick Manor means that, as soon as I twigged the first part was ‘pre’ the rest jumped out. I had to write out all the checkers for 2d and the spares to work out what it was.

    Many thanks to Mara for not leaving me grumbling all weekend…..

    1. To my shame, I have never visited Wightwick Manor despite driving past it on every weekday for years on end way back when collecting my son from after-school clubs!
26. S,E and A are the initial letters in clue, main is another word for sea

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