Quick Cryptic 1824 by Mara

76 comments on “Quick Cryptic 1824 by Mara”

1. At 8 minutes this was a welcome return to form for me after the problems of the last 3 days. I thought for a moment that the setter intended a double definition at 16dn with ‘petition’ defining ISSUE – until the penny dropped as explained in curarist’s blog.
2. I remember STAG from a 15×15, DNK at the time. I’m not sure why 5ac has ‘when’. 3:12, which must be a pb. But there are 3 solvers (legitimate ones, that is) who got in under 2 minutes.
   1. I can’t even type that fast😊 well done
3. … which rounds off a week of under par finishes. That said I have finished them all.
   Nothing really stood out today. FOI 1a PROMPT and LOI 22a WIRING.
   Looking forward to the weekend Jumbo.
   Have a great weekend fellow crackers.
4. A quick solve, with the bonus of learning a new word – WASSAILING – with my only brief pause over WEAVER. Finished in 6.04 with LOI FLATTERY
   Thanks to Curarist
5. 4 seconds over target at 15.04, so I think I’ll accept that as a target finish. Held up at the end in the top left corner, by PROMPT, ROOST and STAG in that order. Otherwise, no real problems, just slow to see the light for some of them. FOIs were MANAGED and the artist. Thanks Mara and Curarist.
6. 1719, good time after another very poor start. I think I’m suffering from EGS – Empty Grid Syndrome. I stare at the empty grid with more and more frustration as I am unable to get a toe-hold, but once in, solve proceeds at a decent rate. Last few puzzles have been like this. FOI 3D, after a fruitless run of Across clues.

   I struggled with the artist, even tempted to make up JOHN ROBERTSON. I like the fact that this clue nicely combines UK and US terms. UK has plenty of words for loo, bog, khazi etc that are not known in the US.

   I think several of us would have looked at an anagram of “eat fish in” at 10d, I know I did until. NHO STAG, and lots of misdirection in that clue, as I was keen to use SN for tin.

   COD WASSAILED, an excellent word, well clued as “sing carols”

   Edited at 2021-03-05 08:42 am (UTC)

   1. I agree with you to a point and even though it’s a familiar enough term from US films and dramas, I don’t think John is used here. I’m not sure why the UK times indulges the US so often.
   2. COD WASSAILED, an excellent word, well clued as “sing carols”
      Strictly speaking wassailing is not carol singing. It’s a pagan tradition usually on twelfth night when people visit apple orchards and sing to the trees to ensure a good harvest. This tradition still takes place in Somerset and Devon.
7. Happy enough with 13m for this one albeit with a pink square (giving two errors!) for putting in FIHISH OFF — and so mucking up PARDON too. My lack of culture sometimes shocks me. I couldn’t solve _O_N/CONSTABLE — partly because JOHN for ‘loo’ is known from TV but not at all an everyday association and partly because I now realise I’ve never known Constable’s first name (but also partly dur to misdirection and I was trying to think of a type of constable, like Chief or Special. Oh dear. I did get there in the end though. Before that I’d enjoyed this — hard start with only four acrosses but then good progress. Special mentions to MIME and ITSELF which both brought a grin to my face and also LESSEN which is the hardest work I’ve made of a clue all week.

   Edited at 2021-03-05 08:42 am (UTC)

   1. I still count it as a full solve if there is a Pink Square for a typo. I got one today as well. Hence yet again I am almost at the bottom of that table.
8. 5A MER: A weaver is not a spinner. Two very different processes
   1. In textile manufacture that’s true but both words have extended meanings with crossover, e.g. a spider can be said both to weave and spin its web.

      1. There is also a group of spiders called weaver spiders (for example the Cross Orb-Weaver spider) so the clue works directly as well as the way Jack describes.
         Cedric
   2. I concur!
   3. My wife, who both spins and weaves, would definitely agree. They are not the same.
      1. Nonsense
         Spider is the only real example
         I am competent plumber and also electrician, does that mean plumber = electrician just because I do both and both are related to house building.
         Or to be more extreme there are only 2 steps in making an omelette chicken produces egg and chef turns it into omelette. Does that mean chicken=chef

9. FOI: 15a TRAIPSED
   LOI: 6d. APART

   Time to Complete: 55 minutes

   Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 21

   Clues Answered with Aids (3 lives): 13a, 5d, 6d

   Clues Unanswered: Nil

   Wrong Answers: Nil

   Total Correctly Answered (incl. aids): 24/24

   Aids Used: Chambers

   Well, wonders will never cease! My fourth completion in a row, in the same week!

   Another enjoyable crossword with some answers that just seemed to flow out of my mind and into my pen.

   15a. TRAIPSED – My first one in, and a word I only know as it was one my mother used a lot when, in my childhood, I was dragging my heels.

   6d. WASSAILING – I have not heard of this word before and had to use my first life. I did figure out ASS for fool. My error was to lean too much toward crying being the definition.

   13a. LESSEN – I used a life for this with Chamber’s. I should have been more patient as I believe I would have unravelled it without help.

   6d. APART – Ditto above. I saw that I had two clues left (this one and 13a), and I was still under an hour. Really wanting to complete in less than sixty minutes, I resorted to using the last two lives.

   As usual, my reward for completing this crossword is a trip to the candy store. Any more completions and I will be getting fat!

10. I don’t normally finish a Friday puzzle, but finished this one in about half an hour.

    COD 19a. Not a phrase I’ve heard used for 60 years though. I wonder what it’s etymology is.

    I agree about weaver/spinner but no doubt they’re classed together in some remote tome.

    Thank you Mara and Curarist.

    Diana

    1. Bob’s your uncle apparently derives “from the apparently nepotistic choice by Tory leader Robert Cecil of his nephew Arthur Balfour as Chief Secretary for Ireland – a decision that was both surprising and unpopular “ (Cassell Dictionary of Slang)
    2. I wondered, too, having used it for years. I found the following online (clearly from a US source but I have left the original spelling).
       “Bob’s your uncle” is a way of saying “you’re all set” or “you’ve got it made.” It’s a catch phrase dating back to 1887, when British Prime Minister Robert Cecil (a.k.a. Lord Salisbury) decided to appoint a certain Arthur Balfour to the prestigious and sensitive post of Chief Secretary for Ireland. Not lost on the British public was the fact that Lord Salisbury just happened to be better known to Arthur Balfour as “Uncle Bob.” In the resulting furor over what was seen as an act of blatant nepotism, “Bob’s your uncle” became a popular sarcastic comment applied to any situation where the outcome was preordained by favoritism. As the scandal faded in public memory, the phrase lost its edge and became just a synonym for “no problem.”
       New to me.
       Why is it often followed by the response ‘And Fanny’s your aunt’?

       Edited at 2021-03-05 09:41 am (UTC)

       1. I’ve always understood the expression to mean something more akin to “hey presto” than “no problem”, although I suppose they’re not too dissimilar.

          Interestingly, Phrases org suggests the ‘Balfour’ origin may be a ‘back-formation’, as the first known use of the phrase came decades after both men had left office. They think a more likely explanation for its common usage comes from a 1931 music hall song “Follow Your Uncle Bob” by Florrie Forde, which contains these lines:

          “Bob’s your uncle
          Follow your Uncle Bob
          He knows what to do
          He’ll look after you”

          I personally think “Fanny’s your aunt” is just a meaningless addition. Certainly, the convoluted explanations I’ve just read online also ring like back-formed inventions to me.

          —AntsInPants

          1. Note: I initially wrote phases[dot]org but the spam filter nuked it.

             —AntsInPants

    3. We still say Bob’s your uncle, but sometimes in a jokey sort of French.😕
    4. Spinning a story. Weaving a tale.
11. A good puzzle but I was slow to get going and, once again, toured the grid clockwise before ending up back in the NW with ROOST, STAG, and JOHN (why didn’t I see that much more quickly?). I should have got words like AIRPORT and ISSUE sooner but, apart from such frustrations, I enjoyed Mara’s workout and just managed to stay out of the SCC. Thanks also to curarist for a good, crisp blog. John M.

    Edited at 2021-03-05 09:52 am (UTC)

12. Well I think I must not have been on the wavelength this morning as found it quite a grind. I know Bears & Bulls but had never heard of Stag as a speculator although it was fairly clued. Weaver took a very long time, and once I had the “w” I thought it must be wassailed, which I had also never heard of, so checked the meaning. As Kevin mentioned the “when” confused me and I spent some time trying to get an “as” and an “ass” in!
    DNF as gave up on “pardon” which I now see was quite obvious. Thanks Mara and Curarist.

13. FOI was TWO and LOI WEAVER which took me a while to see. Otherwise another steady plod around the grid with no particular problems. 8:26. Thanks Mara and Curarist.
14. Super puzzle on which to end the week. We came in at 13 minutes – a mix of write ins and some teasers. Also learned a new definition of STAG.

    FOI: prompt
    LOI: pardon
    COD: Bob’s your uncle

    Thanks to Mara and Curarist.

15. Twelve and a half minutes, leaving time for the 15 x 15 again, see how that goes. FOI managed – as I got nothing on the first three acrosses, I tried 1d. Four acrosses at first pass, but the early downs went in quickly, assisting with the acrosses. Another run of late downs then had a doh! moment on prompt. LOI roost, not sure of it until accessing the blog. Did not parse John Constable(!) DNK stag, but the clue was clear. COD pardon, but they were all enjoyable as usual. I am starting to recognise a pattern with my solving — the down clues seem easier than the acrosses much of the time. I think I will try the downs first occasionally, rather than reading all the clues in sequence filling in what I can, as I usually do – to see if I get any quicker. Thanks Curarist and Mara. GW.
16. But came to a halt on the relatively easy LESSEN LOI.
    Everything else flowed in PROMPTly without my having to think very hard.
    Thank you, Curarist.
17. Chewy in places for me, but a reasonably steady solve until I stopped my watch on 24 minutes and then saw I still had 5a to work out. Unfortunately that one took a further 10 minutes before a great PDM gave me a final time of 34:47. NHO of STAG but I saw the wordplay so that was okay. FOI PROMPT, LOI WEAVER, COD 11a. Thanks all, especially to bativy for shedding light on BOB’S YOUR UNCLE.
18. A bit of a mixed bag, with a few definitions that seemed stretched — Lessen/drop? However, 24mins for Mara on a Friday isn’t too bad, so I’ll take it and move on. Wassailed made an appearance in the 15×15 recently, so it was still fresh in mind. Just a pity loi Lessen didn’t, as that took an age to see. Invariant
    1. Lessen and drop are much closer (lessen in value drop in value) that spinner and weaver are
19. Friendly for a Friday …
    … and all solved and parsed in just under 10 minutes for a Good End to the Week.

    Held up by not immediately seeing 5A Weaver (I wondered if Worrey was a word for a bit), and then more seriously by 11A Pardon — penny just refused to drop and it was my LOI.

    Like Merlin I also tried to make an anagram of Eat fish in for 10D. I came up with Finish tea, and tea when stewed is certainly rotten, but the checker from 21A “finished off” that pipe dream fast enough.

    Many thanks to Curarist for the blog, and a good weekend to all
    Cedric

20. After binge watching all 8 series of Sprial and finishing the final one last night, I felt suddenly bereft (what on earth am I going to do without Gilou, Laure, Tintin, Roban and Josefine Karlsson?) — so I perked up slightly with an enjoyable 16 minute completion that had a lovely mixture of clues.

    Liked both the long ones of 8ac “John Constable” and 19ac “Bobs Your Uncle” (which in my case is true) and the more thoughtful 16dn “Issue” and 21ac “Itself”.

    Main hold up was 5ac “Weaver” which prevented me from an even better time (as all I could think of was a spider).

    FOI — 1ac “Prompt”
    LOI — 5ac “Weaver”
    COD — 11ac “Pardon”

    Thanks as usual.

    1. We watch almost anything in French, but nothing lives up to Spiral. You can search All4 ‘Walter Presents’ for ideas or watch the Sat night subtitled thriller on BBC4. Sorry, moderator, this is Off Topic.

       Edited at 2021-03-05 04:16 pm (UTC)

       1. One of those series where you wonder how on earth you’ve missed it for 15 years. Not a French speaker myself, but even those fluent I believe struggle to understand all of the slang. I’ve heard The Bureau is good – but not sure where to find it.

          Anyway – at least Deutschland 89 starts tonight 🙂

21. Not happy with “spinner” definition for “weaver” completely different jobs.
    1. Please see above. Your point has already been made and discussed. That is the place to add further comments about it if you have any – click on Reply.
       1. Bit unfriendly, Jack. Back in your box!
          1. I was actually trying to be helpful without saying it too directly that if posting here with only a single negative point to make it’s not a bad idea to read the blog and check the discussion so far to see if anyone has already made it.

             At the time anon posted about spinning and weaving there was already a discussion on that very point with three comments at that stage, two of which were headed in bold type ‘Weaving and spinning’.

22. 11:57. An enjoyable romp until I ended up in the top left stuck forever on PROMPT crossing with ROOST. Once I’d seen it, I liked PROMPT, but I now feel I’ve had the same thought before. It won’t trouble me next time! I also liked TRAIPSED
    1. ….and those crossers took over 2 minutes to resolve.

       FOI JOHN CONSTABLE
       LOI PROMPT
       COD TRAIPSED
       TIME 5:57

23. … with a finishing time of 18 minutes. All were parsed on solution, too — or so I thought until I read curarist’s blog (thank you! ) and realised that I had been sloppy in my reading of 16 down, ISSUE, where I had assumed it was a simple double definition.

    NHO STAG with this meaning but the wordplay was obvious.

    COD WIRING, 22 across, which made me smile.

    I couldn’t create a QC to save my life but I did think that some of the surfaces today were a bit clunky eg 3 down, MANAGED, which, as a simple 3 word list is slightly under processed, it seems to me.

    Many thanks again to curarist and thanks also to mara

24. Interrupted by too many distractions and phone calls with the clock still ticking, so ended up at 55:00. LOI LESSEN. A chewy end to the week’s puzzle.
    You may wish to skip the following babble, it offers no insight to today’s puzzle.

    Mulling over the need for speed in solving QCC I am minded of sitting down to enjoy a fine meal. The setter has spent hours (days) preparing his offering, carefully selecting a mix of common and exotic ingredients tinged with varying amounts of spice, subtlety and whimsy for our delectation. Some of us, the speed merchants, devour the puzzle in haste, swallowing one bite after another, barely having time to pause to sample a delight, in their hurry to get to the Main course. For them it is an amuse bouche. For others, we sit licking our lips with anticipation, smelling the clues one by one before gingerly tasting and testing the subtle or not so subtle composition. Too salty, an old chestnut, a melée of ingredients compressed into a stale vol-au-vent or a gleaming chocolate truffle, we analyse before and after digesting. The Main course, a Masterchef 15×15 concoction of haute cuisine wrapped in a Heston mist; or QCC, a Saturday morning kitchen fix for those with less skills and a shorter attention span. Manoir or Nando’s? Some may regard the QCC as a training camp to prepare for the big event. But for me, it is a simple pleasure that I savour, in no particular hurry, happy to finish and knowing that even if I leave with some pieces left unfinished on the plate, it does not detract from my enjoyment of the dish of the day. I can always come to this blog to enjoy what I missed and share a digestif with fellow diners.
    Have a good weekend, thanks Curarist and bon appetit Mara.
    Richard. Bob’s your uncle as they say.

    Edited at 2021-03-05 12:14 pm (UTC)

    1. Well said! Whilst I do still time my QCC attempts, I try now to focus more on enjoying the different challenges set by the various compilers. Also, after a disappointing couple of days for me, your comment about sometimes having to “leave with some pieces left unfinished on the plate” has lifted my mood, both in time for the weekend and for next week’s QCC conundrums.
    2. Thoughtful and interesting. Yes, it is a better way but we are all so competitive at heart.
       I have tried to take a more relaxed line from time go time but then I come to the blog and the early posts are (nearly) all about times.
       I like your idea about a multi-course meal. I often just enjoy the ‘starter’ QC — I can always claim that I am trying to eat less to lose weight…. However, I do snack on other xwords including the Torygraph (when I can get it free at W-rose) and Private Eye which I enjoy tremendously. John
       1. Thank you for these thoughts. I agree that the pleasure is in the solving not the racing — for exactly the same reason I try to actually solve clues by parsing rather than simply using crossword aids to find words that fit the checkers. Last resort if totally stuck, but not why we do the puzzles!

          On the other hand this blog site is formally called “Times for the Times”, and I do find the times of some of the experienced solvers interesting, both in themselves (how do people physically complete the grid that fast?) and as a yardstick to measure myself against. If even the stars are posting slow (for them) times, then I feel less bad about a slow time myself. But I am not interested in where I come on the list of fastest solvers (so I don’t fill the puzzles in on the Club website), because the one certain thing in life is that whatever time I post there are going to be people both faster than me and slower than me.

          The main thing is surely to enjoy the puzzle …

          Cedric

          1. A fine comment, Cedric. Just for the record, you can complete on-line on the Club site and are then presented with options then submit so that you don’t have to take part in the league table. I still prefer paper myself.
    3. There is one regular fast solver who sometimes says that they wrote the answer in without reading the clue… à chacun son goût 😉
       1. Yes, I sometimes find that an answer hits me solely on the basis of crossers but I always check the clue and parse it before entering anything. Anything else makes a mockery of the whole idea of a Crossword puzzle.
          I have learned to ignore the posts from people who post early with just a short time and a self-deprecating remark about how slow they were. John
       2. My grandmother, in her 90’s, used to do the Telegraph crossword. She completed the grid quite swiftly to her satisfaction. Her entries bore no relevance to having read the clues. She was unfortunately mildly demented. 🙂
    4. There’s no use pretending the Quickie isn’t quite easy, if it is. After whipping through this one, I spent nearly two hours struggling with today’s 15 x 15, which is a truly diabolical masterpiece. And if that one’s too easy, there may be a good one over in the Guardian….and if all else fails, there’s Mephisto and Azed.
    5. The sanest comment I’ve read for a long time. I must forward it to some whom I’ve bee trying to lure into tackling QCs
       Many thanks
25. Just over 10 minutes to get to my last three -5a, 5d and 13a- but then I got stuck. I stopped after 24 minutes to go for a walk, and on my return I got them fairly quickly.
    LOI WASSAILED, a word I knew, but the definition here did not bring it to mind-even having guessed ASS. LESSEN for Drop was also not obvious to me. 5a across very good, and in view of today’s test match, I’ll make WEAVER COD.
    A good puzzle which nearly defeated me.
    David

26. … I suffered a wholly dispiriting second half-hour. As yesterday, I bowled along (for me, anyway) to the 28-minute mark, whereupon with only four clues to solve, I well and truly hit the buffers. In spite of another 30+ minutes of alphabet-trawling and reading the clues many different ways, PROMPT (1a), WEAVER (5a), WASSAILED (5d) and LESSEN (13a) just never came to mind. Disillusioned, I gave up after 60 minutes.

    This was my 200th QC since I started last June, although not one to I wish to remember, and my solving record (all unaided) now stands at:

    101 solves within my 1-hour target, plus a further 8 in 60+ minutes
    91 DNFs (30 of which have been for want of just one clue)
    Personal Best: 17 minutes (No. 1702, by Tracy)
    Personal Worst: DNF with 12 clues unsolved (1631 by Orpheus)
    Median outcome: Fully solved in 59 minutes
    Record vs Mrs Random: Don’t ask!

    Many thanks today to Mara and curarist.

27. Why on earth have I have I been banned?
    1. I am told I am banned but I can post this. Jack has checked and I am not banned. It looks as if there is a glitch. I suggest you try posting and see if it goes through.
28. Back on track after yesterday’s DNF.
    FOI PROMPT
    LOI JOHN CONSTABLE
    COD FLATTERY (Switched to tubeless tyres on my bike to avoid this problem)

    6:53 all parsed

29. Steady solve in 12 minutes, mostly but not completely parsed. Thanks to Curarist for filling in the parsing gaps. Started in the NE, although not with 1ac, and proceeded without any particular hold-ups in a more or less anticlockwise direction, ending up back in the NE. My best time of the week – thank you Mara!

    FOI – 9ac STAG
    LOI – 1ac PROMPT
    COD – liked 15ac, 7dn and 14dn but they are just pipped IMO by 10ac FLATTERY

30. After a disaster on the 15×15 today I was pleased to rattle this off top to bottom in 5:20.

    Enjoyable puzzle thanks c and Mara

31. After 14 minutes just 21a to get… four more minutes to spot it was an anagram! Doh- and hence Itself…. 18 minutes and pleased with that.
    I like the word Traipsed…
    FOI Prompt — 1a always good to get.
    Very happy to get the Weaver and Wassailed combo… wassailed just familiar.
    Great!
    Thanks all
    John George
32. A slow start and 5 unsolved after quite a while, but after a walk the brain had sorted itself out and the missing answers came easily. An enjoyable puzzle.
33. I’m worried. The advert at the top is in Russian. Is Boris keeping something from us.
    1. Tim, it may vary with devices but in my experience I only see the Russian stuff when I am accidentally logged out. As soon as I log in again as jacckt it disappears.
34. I agree with the sentiments in Steakcity’s post although I do like to time myself here – and my only rival is myself! The 15×15 is another matter. I certainly enjoy savouring the clues as I go, although sometimes the answers just jump out at you before you’ve even had the chance to parse fully. Today was an example of that for me — I romped through this in about 8 minutes while eating lunch, so I wasn’t even fully focused. So I did have to look back and enjoy the parsing afterwards — it does help focus the mind when choosing a COD if nothing else!

    I’m another one with an MER at the spinner / weaver combo and 10a and 10d took a few seconds to fall into place, but otherwise I thought this was a most enjoyable way to finish what has been a good week. I’ve had success with the biggie every day too, apart from today when I came completely unstuck 😯

    FOI Prompt
    LOI Flattery
    COD Flattery — definitely an good example of post-solve enjoyment of the clue

    Many thanks Curarist and Mara

35. I had 5 left to do after 25 minutes. These were pretty hard as already had all or most of the crossers. I join the ‘not so happy with 5a brigade’ – I started by looking at spiders and dropped that to move on; despite the earlier discussion, I still think weavers are not spinners, but there… Thought 2 should be Rooms (esp with reference to students), but had to correct this. Careless parsing on 5d had me wondering how SS meant fools – then saw I had split the word with both As in wailed so that got resolved. Liked 10a – reminded me of an early business trip t Minneapolis when I left the hire car nose into a snow drift at the office and spent a fruitless hour on the telephone to the hire company trying to explain it was a flat battery, not a flat tyre, until I remembered to talk in American rather than English… Learnt the hard way that in the US turning off the ignition did not turn off the headlights (buried in the snow)!
    FOI 1a Prompt. LOI 5a Weaver, COD 8a John Constable gave me a wry smile. Other than for 5a, thx to Mara and a helpful blog from Curarist. Will probably have a go at the Saturday Jumbo and abandon attempts to complete the last one!

    Edited at 2021-03-05 05:59 pm (UTC)

36. Something strange is going on. Just below my mid-afternoon post is one which is a direct copy of Kevin’s post from first thing this morning! It looks rather suspicious I think.

    Edited at 2021-03-05 06:19 pm (UTC)

    1. This happens from time to time; someone’s posting is copied verbatim, with a different avatar. No idea why. An administrator like Vinyl or Jackkt usually deletes them.
       1. Yes, it happens quite regularly, but not as often as the avatar with a single word comment such as ‘Nice’ or ‘Great’. The avatar is usually obviously commercial. I delete 4 or 5 of them most days. I have now removed 360 Organix who mirrored your posting.
          1. Thanks Jack and Kevin for explaining that – I was so surprised to see exactly the same message some hours later, and being quite twitchy about spam, phishing etc, I did wonder what on earth was going on. It must be very frustrating for you administrators to have to deal with this sort of thing several times a day, but you’re clearly quick off the mark as I’ve not noticed any escapees before!
37. For the first time all five QC s finished this week
    Don’t really care about the time though one course at dinnertime is nice as it was this evening.
    I have to accept the weaver issue but my Mother would spin on her grave
38. Have a look at all the answers with your Carry On hat on and tell me Mara wasn’t having some sport here. Or should that be Matron? Ooh. Johnny
39. Lovely crossword — probably my favourite ever ( and I have done all 1824) nothing too easy or too hard nothing horrible (pi = bible basher always makes my spit)
    I don’t record times as I like to ponder but mid range
40. I almost always use the Times iPad app, but today I had a few in front of me at the barber so pulled out the mobile phone to do this crossword.

    Finished the crossword in approx. 20 minutes and was surprised to see a pink square for the U in ISSUE. Did anyone else experience this? It’s not the first time the mobile interface has pink-squared a correct letter for me. Frustrating because it won’t show me my time until I put the ‘correct’ letter in!

    Back to the iPad from now on. Today’s puzzle was fairly straightforward I felt.

    WB

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