Quick Cryptic 1624 by Wurm

40 comments on “Quick Cryptic 1624 by Wurm”

1. My lack of general knowledge and carelessness once again slowed me down mightily. 21m today although finally all green. ISOLDE and TOPSAIL were my most major holdups just ahead of STRING THEORY where typing ISADORA had made me give up on the anagram leaving me to wonder what the concept starting STRONG might be. Also struggled with IRELAND and BARNET, not sure I can excuse myself of either of those.
2. Nope. I found this one quite hard. I got very bogged down with the 1a anag. and was playing with contrition etc for ages. Only got it once I’d got all the Down clues. I didn’t get 8a STEP which was one of the easiest so no time given, but it must have been well over 35 minutes. Plenty long enough for my coffee to go cold anyway!
   A good workout even though I’m disappointed to have got one wrong!
   Back to The Daily Telegraph for tomorrow’s crossword for something nice and doable to tackle over the weekend!

   Edited at 2020-05-29 07:23 am (UTC)

3. Just under half an hour, which is about par for me. I took the definition for ENTER as ‘a key often used’ ie on a keyboard. Always regarded ISADORE as a man’s name but couldn’t think what else it could be. COD BARNET as a former resident.
4. Another 8 minutes here. Looked twice at ODDS, not seeing wordplay for a moment, nor being quite sure of the definition ‘price’ but concluding that it may a reference to ‘starting price’ in betting. STRING THEORY would have been unknown a couple of weeks ago but it came up either here or in one of the other puzzles I do.
5. DNF. No idea what was going on at 23ac, and would never have connected ‘price’ with ODDS.
6. Pleased to have completed another one of these, even if it took 60 mins. Started really well and thought I was going to be done in maybe half an hour but then there are always a few I just end up staring at for ages. Had never heard of Isolde, Topsail had me stumped for ages, as did Ireland and Alabama.
   Getting slowly better though, and finding these crosswords an excellent morning brain workout.
   Yesterday I found myself looking up ‘biff’, and ‘anagrist’, just to fully understand what everyone was talking about on here!
   Thanks again for the explanations, most useful.
   1. Have you found the glossary? it will either be on the right of your screen or at the bottom, when you open TftT, depending on whether you’re using a laptop or a phone / tablet. All the jargon is explained there, but never be shy to ask 😊
7. Testing but satisfying. I had to move clockwise around the grid before coming back to complete the NW with 1ac, 2d & 4dn and TOPSAIL was my LOI. Exactly on target at 15mins. I biffed BARNET but really liked ODDS, STRING THEORY, SALAD CREAM, and MIDDLE AGES. I, too, had my doubts about Isadore’s gender but went with the available letters. Thanks to Wurm and curarist for a happier end to my week.

   Edited at 2020-05-29 08:45 am (UTC)

8. Nice puzzle but hesitated to put Isadore in as all the definitions I found said it was a male name – thought Isadora was the female form of the name( couldn’t be anything else with the letters given though so put it in eventually)
   Thanks for the blogs really helpful.
9. I finished this in 19 minutes so am feeling pleased. It would have been a shorter finish time had I not stared and stared – in my mind’s eye – at ODDS, my LOI, simply unable to see how that squared with “price”. Thanks to Curarist, I get it now. I had a slight problem with 18 across, EXTRA, too, as I did not know the cricketing term. It had to be that, though, so it didn’t really matter. Very much liked 21 across, GET DOWN. I would have thought that solvers outside of the UK would have problems with 7 down, SALAD CREAM – does anyone outside of these isles eat this? The princess in 4 down, ISOLDE, visited the grid quite recently, I think, so I biffed that and then parsed it. Like many here, I would have expected ISADORE to be a man’s, rather than a woman’s, name but, as I had already entered STRING THEORY, I just had to accept it. Great blog – thanks, Curarist – and thanks, too, to Wurm, for a fab puzzle.
   1. Very popular in the old Commonwealth countries, I believe, and the Heinz variety is on sale in the USA. The Americans also have a product called Miracle Whip that from the description and list of ingredients seems remarkably similar.
10. FOI topsail, I wish I was up there furling it at the moment
    DAPPLE brings visions of the sun dappling the ground under the apple tree.
    COD MIDDLE AGES

    Dnf but enjoyed it, thanks Wurm.

    Diana

11. With CONTRITENESS going straight in, I was off to a flying start. IRELAND held me up for a while, as I read “untimely” for ultimately. Another coffee needed I think. Failed to see the parsing of OATMEAL. LOI was BARNET. 8:09 including 20 seconds proof reading. Thanks Wurm and Curarist.
12. Another 12 minute solve for me, despite being held up a little at the end by STRING THEORY, which I failed to see immediately, despite spotting it was an anagram, and despite being very familiar with the theory (from a lay persons perspective rather than as a physicist). Luckily, CONTRITENESS sprang quickly to mind at the other end to give me a good start. I liked ODDS, in the UK the phrase ‘what are the odds on that?’ Is in common usage and odds / price are interchangeable in gambling circles. Thanks Wurm and Curarist.
13. Another enjoyable puzzle today. I usually find Wurm quite tough and thought this one was going to be when I saw the grid and then couldn’t think what 1a could be, but then they started to go in and it turned into a steady solve of 33:39. Hadn’t ever heard of the name ISADORE either for a man or a woman, so that never aspect didn’t worry me, but I do feel if they are going to use names like that they should try to use relatively common ones. Having said that, I recognise how fiendishly difficult it must be to fit words in sometimes. Last ones in, once I had painfully constructed 1a, were 5d (D’oh) and then RABID. Liked MIDDLE AGES (though it came to me because I thought it might be leages after MID(day) and D and only then realised that wasn’t how leagues was spelt), but COD definitely goes to BARNET, which always reminds me of Eric Idle singing that your team losing 15-0 at home to them isn’t the end of the world in “Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life”.
14. Record time for a Quickie, and so near the Holy Grail of beating three minutes.

    Didn’t stop to savour some very neat stuff – capacious cups and the great find of ‘others trying’, inter alia.

    1. Excellent performance !
    2. Chapeau!
    3. Hat indeed! Super time.
15. Enjoyable today, but not quick for me, coming it at a little over 20 minutes. Slowed down by having to work to get the anagrams. Enjoyed ODDS and BARNET.
16. Thanks to Wurm for this mix of fairly straightforward and more taxing clues.
    I enjoyed pondering over the long anagrams and wordplay. My LOI was ISOLDE which I biffed as I hadn’t thought of ‘old’ for ‘getting on’ – very clever.
    I too believe that Isadore is a male name but obviously Isadora wouldn’t have worked.
    Other than that, a very pleasant way to spend 15 minutes and I was amused by ODDS once the penny had dropped as to what sort of cups were involved!
    Thanks to Curarist for the succinct blog.
17. …. won’t you follow me to Barnet Fair ?” (Steeleye Span). It’s a better earworm than Gilbert O’Sullivan’s ode to his dog at 21A.

    ISADORE (or more commonly Isidore) means “gift of Isis” and is given as a male name on Wikipedia. Canadian hotelier ISADORE Sharp is possibly the prime example. But definitely male.

    FOI STEP
    LOI/COD BARNET
    TIME a full minute longer than Mr.Crooks’ PB noted earlier. Respect !

18. Wurm is always tricky but I am getting onto his wavelength.
    Started with STEP and LOI TOPSAIL in about 11 minutes on paper. Paused over ODDS, an amusing clue, but I thought a plural was needed strictly; also ISADORE was not a spelling for a female name I recognised but the anagram made it inevitable.
    COD to SALAD CREAM. David
19. This took around 45 mins but probably should have been quicker as there was nothing too odious. I also got hung up on 23ac “Odds”, although once it finally clicked it seemed reasonable to me.

    A nice end to the week.

    FOI – 8ac “Step”
    LOI – 23ac “Odds”
    COD – 15ac “Kisser” (another one that took a while)

    Thanks as usual

20. Probably a personal best if I hadn’t stopped to make a sandwich.

    Liked Odds and Salad Cream.
    Couldn’t parse Middle Ages or Isolde until I saw the blog.
    Thanks, as ever

    Now to actually read the paper.

21. Well, I’m glad this was ‘super straightforward’, as I wouldn’t enjoy having to tackle a really difficult one from Wurm… Nearly 30mins at the coalface, and that was despite the benefit of having more than a nodding acquaintance with String Theory. Loi Odds took an alphabet trawl to loosen the penny, but by then I was just happy to finish. Invariant
22. Not getting 1a straight away set the tone for the rest. Some very neat clues (ODDS, IRELAND, etc) and the same MER as others at ISADORE.
    Many thanks to Wurm and Curarist.
    5’45”
23. Was actually 5:43.

    “Capacious cups” seemed a bit risque for the Times. I’ve been doing the Guardian crossword as well recently, and some of clues are filthy!

24. Isadore is not a MALE name.
    1. Did you actually bother to read any of the previous posts ? Words fail me !
25. When I finally got ODDS it made me chuckle in true schoolboy fashion. The wrong gender for ISADORE, by contrast, made me snort with annoyance, though not as much as Mr Anon made Phil snort. CONTRITENESS is not a word I would ever use – I’d always say “contrition” – and I’m blaming that for the inordinate time it took me to crack 1ac.

    FOI STEP, LOI ENTER (can someone please explain to me why “key” is a definition for “enter”? The blog is gnomic), COD ODDS. A whisker over 10 mins for 2.5 Phils and a Good Day. Wurm is always at the top of the difficulty league for me and that was a good work out.

    Thanks Wurm and curarist.

    Templar

    1. The enter key on your computer keyboard? Which I’m just about to press 😊 and I am completely with you on contriteness (what??) and Isadore too!
       1. Oh DURR! Thank you pebee. It just will not lodge in my brain that “key” can be a reference to a keyboard and not music!
          1. I know! I’m always flummoxed by Esc, Alt, Del etc, as well as A-G, and then we have the Do-Re-Mi malarkey as well. That’s before we get to the dozens of options for back! This is why I will never be a speed merchant 😅

             Good time btw

26. Loved this puzzle – great end to the week. Like others we were held up with contriteness – obviously an anagram but an unusual word so took a bit longer to get. We went through an Isadora delay before double checking the anagram which resulted in Isadore. Ultimately took us a happy 20 mins to complete.

    FOI: on the spot
    LOI: odds
    COD: string theory

    Thanks to Wurm and Curarist.

27. Not straightforward (super or otherwise) for me – 3+ Templars for a Poor Day! I find Wurm’s puzzles quite tricky and today was no exception, with too much time spent on a handful of clues – BARNET in particular. That was worth the struggle, though 😊

    I had the same issues as as everyone else (apart from anon) regarding Isadore, which I would normally spell Isidore anyway, just to add to the confusion, and entered Isadora without thinking it through. Ms Duncan leapt (well floated) to mind which didn’t help.

    FOI Step
    LOI Barnet
    COD On the spot (for the great surface) with Barnet a close second
    Time 17 mins

    Thanks Wurm, for the work-out, and Curarist for the blog

28. Although I knew it meant hair, I didn’t realise until today that Barnet was CRS for Barnet Fair. Crosswords are so educational – though this clue might be a tricky one for overseas solvers.
29. After a slog at work today this felt quite chewy in places, mainly because I seem to have misplaced my anagram brain cell which meant writing them all out. It felt like there were a lot of them but on count back post solve they seem to have reduced in number again. Anyway finished in 12.25 with LOI BARNET and like Templar my inner schoolboy particularly enjoyed ODDS.
    Thanks for the blog
30. … as I usually find him a challenge, but today a 12 minute solve and all parsed.

    I missed the Isadore/Isadora controversy – the answer was obvious from the clue and I just assumed the name could be either, like Shirley.
    I was rather more interested to see both Isolde and Isadore in the same puzzle, which i doubt has ever happened before!

    Only slight hesitation was over 18A Extra; unusually and extra are not exactly synonyms. COD to 23A Odds which made me chuckle.

    Thanks to Wurm and Curarist, and a good weekend to all.

    Cedric

    1. SOED offers this by way of definition and example:

       extra – adverb. More than usually; additionally; in excess of the usual, specified, or expected amount. E19.

       C. Kingsley: He must be an extra good boy that day.

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