Quick Cryptic 1944 by Pedro

53 comments on “Quick Cryptic 1944 by Pedro”

1. Stupidly put MUSEING in 2d. Doh!
   Otherwise all others correct in less than 20 minutes.
   Must be the claret I had yesterday evening.
   Thanks to blogger and setter
   BW
   A
2. Thanks Curarist and Pedro. Thought twice was superfluous in 26d. Just scraped in under 30 min this morning. Think it was because lots of IKEA clues which may favour more experienced solvers
3. … and at 8.00 am UK time too. I did not find this as straightforward as our blogger, with a 13 minute solve. At least we had a 1A clue today, and a long one at that, and I was much helped by getting it and 1D fairly quickly. Thereafter some tricky clues I thought, and one I did not understand — in 16D Loose, what is the word twice doing? “Fail getting nothing” would be Lose with an extra O in it, but why “twice”.

   That apart 14A Blotchy took some construction, as did 15A Hilarious, but I spent most time on 7D Steady, which was my LOI and where I took an age to work out how the parsing worked.

   A good Friday challenge. Many thanks to Curarist for the blog
   Cedric

   Edited at 2021-08-20 07:09 am (UTC)

   1. Isn’t it that ‘lose’ has one ‘o’ (nothing once) and ‘loose’ has two. Superfluous if it was ‘nothing extra twice’ but not wrong as clued here?
      1. That was my reading too.
         1. Thank you. I can I think just about see that interpretation if I squint hard enough, but it doesn’t seem quite as smooth or logical as my initial reading, which was that it was Free as the definition, and the cryptic being “to fail” (ie lose) “getting nothing” (ie with an O in it). And hence my thought that “twice” was redundant. But then I am not a setter …
            Cedric
         2. And me.
         3. Me too. Is that what people refer to as a “Clunky” clue?
      2. The clue works without ‘twice’ so it’s superfluous but the surface is better when it’s included.
      3. I parsed it, in the same way.
   2. I had no problem with “getting nothing twice” as an indicator for adding a second O.
   3. Agree twice is superfluous.
4. ….but still got home inside my target. I actually found this a little tricky, but it may just be a slight case of “morning brain”.

   FOI AMNESIA (slight MER at “helps”)
   LOI MISSING (I was looking for a random girl, but that’s the story of my life !)
   COD HOME STRAIGHT (which I was in by the time I solved it)
   TIME 4:24

   1. Sorry Phil J, but the “random” girl you may have been searching for is already taken. Mrs Random is the love of my life, in spite of her ability to outshine me in almost everything she tries.
5. Pesky daughters commandeered the computers this morning, so a phone solve in the garden. All green in 17 but with some struggles. BLOTCHY and HILARIOUS the biggest hold ups. Relieved to see a 1a but then couldn’t solve it until some downs went in — even then wondered why ‘stretch’ wouldn’t fit. I paused over ‘twice’ in LOOSE too.

   Edited at 2021-08-20 07:26 am (UTC)

6. 8 minutes
7. Sluggish here though a bit surprised to see quite how much outside my normal-ish time I was. I did stare at B_O_CHY for quite a while at the end unable to see quite how to finish it and therefore the puzzle. Also struggled with the assembly instructions for STEADY for some reason

   I like the HOME SECRETARY (the clue that is)

   Thanks Pedro and Curarist

8. Mostly straightforward solve from bottom to top. LOI STEADY as I tried in vain to work around TEAR. 25 mins.
   Now back to puppy care which is infinitely more demanding than babies (from memory). Why the little chap is determined to gnaw through every hidden electric cable I don’t know. Two more weeks before he can be returned to son whose ill timed holiday has foisted this care and training duty on me and an unsuspecting but accomodating 15 year old terrier.
9. A strange QC for me. I thought I was on Pedro’s wavelength at first (SCRUM, RUMBA, MISSING etc.) and I biffed more than I truly solved once I got going. However, like others, I had problems with HILARIOUS, BLOTCHY, and STEADY. I thought MOTOR was a bit weak and assume that LOOSE is a setting error that should have been picked up in editing but I liked BLOSSOM, my COD. I disagree with curarist’s description of this as straightforward and was surprised to find that I went a few minutes over target. Sorry if I sound a bit grumpy this morning. John M.

   Edited at 2021-08-20 08:44 am (UTC)

10. One minute over target at 16 minutes dead. Nothing particularly held me up, just generally slow on the uptake. LOI was STEADY after BLOTCHY fell. Thanks both.
11. The HOME STRAIGHT was my starting gate today and provided a few danglers to set me on my way. The rest of the puzzle was straight forward until LOI, BLOTCHY, which made me think. I have acquired a new external 24″ monitor for my laptop, and it seems to have helped my solving by making the clues much easier to read, and typos easier to avoid. 6:56. Thanks setter and Curarist.
12. FOI: 17a. ELM
    LOI: 14d. BLOSSOM
    Time to Complete: 51 minutes
    Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 22
    Clues Answered with Aids: 2
    Clues Unanswered: 0
    Wrong Answers: 2
    Total Correctly Answered (incl. aids): 22/24
    Aids Used: Chambers

    I must respectfully disagree with the blogger. This QC was not straight-forward by any stretch of the imagination. I found it extremely tricky. However, I have to say that I am stunned that I got so far with this one. In fact, I answered all the clues, only using aids twice. Unfortunately, two wrong answers gave me a DNF. But for me to have solved something this difficult bang on my average solve time, with aids used only twice is, in my honest opinion, remarkable.

    1. I didn’t find it that straightforward either. Couldn’t see 7d even though I had a fsur idea how it worked.
    2. We didnt find this straightforward either. And yes last ones BLOTCHY and STEADY (didnt actually get STEADY as looking for a word meaning unhappy). Dave and Sal
13. Just a little over average time for me, so I felt the difficulty was about right. I needed the crossers to see my LOI PRISM, but just a 7D solve really. COD to the ingenious INGENIOUS. Thanks Pedro and Curarist. 5:32.
14. 12 minutes to get to LOI 7d.
    My journey mirrored Cedric. I got 1a straightaway for a change and found the long clues like 1d easily biffable.
    I could not parse LOOSE and concluded it was an error.
    BLOTCHY was tough.
    It took me 5 minutes to get STEADY. Struggled to find the definition; so 17 minutes in all.
    David
15. 4:36 this morning. I thought this was a well balanced QC with several clues requiring more than a bit of thought. On balance, harder than average in my opinion, so I was happy with my time.
    As ever with this type of grid construction, solving the longest anagrams quickly was key.
    FOI 1d “hire purchase” then few hold-ups until LOI 7d which required a little care to parse before submitting (and keying in correctly, I’m glad to say after yesterday’s botched 15 x15)
    COD 1 ac “home straight”.
    Thanks to Pedro for a very good puzzle and to Curarist for his blog under perhaps not perfect circumstances. From my own experience I find that hangovers and cryptic crosswords aren’t exactly happy bedfellows, so you have my sympathies! Here’s to a clear head for tomorrow’s prize puzzle!
16. 17:15, with 5 mins on LOI BLOTCHY. Just could not get lot=crowd, even thought about an adjective of something irregularly shaped like a broach, broach-y.

    Generally felt like an simpler puzzle today, so disappointed with the time. I also didn’t really see what was happening with LOOSE.

    COD BLOSSOM

17. By no means a straightforward solve. Couldn’t see 1ac, so stated with 1d and picked up a few more in the bottom half of the grid before working upwards. Blotchy took a long time to see, but Missing, Rostrum and loi Steady were the real problems, especially from a parsing point of view. All completed in the end but, with the clock pushing 30mins, far from easy. CoD to 14ac, Blotchy, just ahead of Rostrum. Invariant
18. FOI HIRE PURCHASE did not provide as many quick answers as I had hoped.
    Quite a lot of random guesses today.
    Was about to give up on STEADY and BLOTCHY when the penny dropped.
    Thanks for much needed blog, Curarist.
19. I know it is from yesterday but maybe the setter entertains some thoughts or conjures up some ideas too.
20. I really wasn’t on wavelength. Whilst I solved HIRE PURCHASE straight away I just couldn’t see HOME STRAIGHT and it ended up my POI. My LOI was MISSING which was easy enough when the M checker was in play. GAMUT, STEADY and BLOTCHY also caused significant delays. 15:21 for a very bad day.
21. 30 mins for me — again, I didn’t think it was straight forward and I ended up halfway down the grid before I got anything in.

    Overall — I felt there were quite a few clues that seemed somewhat complicated for what they were. Not saying they were wrong — just wordy.

    I’ve squinted very, very hard at 16dn (as noted above) and I still don’t see why there is a “twice” in the clue. Similarly, wasn’t convinced by 13dn “Tornado” — it’s a bit more than a “blow” in my opinion.

    Main hold up in the end, which took a fair chunk of time, was 14ac “Blotchy”.

    FOI — 12ac “Right”
    LOI — 14ac “Blotchy”
    COD — 14dn “Blossom”

    Thanks as usual!

22. I do not understand steady. Why does the confines of the mean th, why not just the h. This clue still baffles me.
    1. Confines of THE is T(h)E ie its outer letters, as Curarist says in his blog.
       1. I wouldn’t have got this without help. It was the most difficult clue today.

          I can’t see a problem with LOOSE, it went in easily, and I thought the whole puzzle a good mixture of hard and less hard ( not exactly easy).

          Thank you Pedro and Curarist

          Diana

23. ….not difficult for experienced solvers. Three out of the four long ones are mildly UK-centric, and I essayed back straight at first before seeing the obvious. In case UK solvers are wondering, in the US we would say home stretch, sales clerk, and installment plan.
    1. I would think of “home stretch” first, but Collins lists HOME STRAIGHT as both US and British usage, though Collins also thinks we Yanks call it a “straightaway.”

       Edited at 2021-08-20 06:19 pm (UTC)

24. In my target zone of 6-7 minutes.

    LOI was BLOTCHY. I quite liked GAMUT and BLOSSOM.

    6:17.

25. Felt like a long solve but in the end it took me my usual twenty minutes. FOI right. Only four acrosses on first pass, then the answers started to drop (slowly) in all over the place which seems to be how these things go for me. LOI missing – I thought I’d finished, then I noticed I hadn’t filled in 2 down, at which point it was a write-in, but not before. All parsed except steady. Lots of good clues. Thanks, Curarist, and Pedro. GW.
26. We set off like the clappers — the grid quickly filled and spirits were high — then we slowed right down. It took us ages to get STEADY as we convinced ourselves that the solution contained an anagram of YEAR (doh!). Any how, after lots of head scratching we finished in a leisurely 19 minutes.

    FOI: HOME STRAIGHTS
    LOI: STEADY
    COD: BLOSSOM

    Thanks to Pedro and to Curarist (particularly for parsing 7D — greatly appreciated)

27. A lunchtime solve for a change and a mixed bag from Pedro. I Couldn’t make head or tail of the 1s at first so thought I was going to be in for a bit of a slog. But GAMUT got me started and I worked my way round the grid from the NE.
    I thought there was some clunky cluing today – the previously mentioned LOOSE, the surface reading of 1a and LOT for crowd. Or maybe it was the general wordiness of the clues that I didn’t enjoy as much as normal.
    Finished in 10.06 with the last pair of BLOTCHY and STEADY.
    Thanks to curarist
28. 14 mins, so quite quick for me. Nearly a quarter of that was spent failing to see STEADY – I struggled to identify the definition and the word play, wasted time trying to work in an anagram of year, and knowing nothing about horses, the word stable undermined my confidence. But an enjoyable solve. COD 6d.

    Thank you Pedro and Curarist

29. We found this more difficult than yesterday. Took an age to sort out steady and gamut, and generally we felt many clues needed more thought. Over our target for first time this week. Thanks for the blog.
30. But I found it tricky and it took me ages. (Est. 30+)
    Pleased to finish. LOI Steady as others and took some patience….Hilarious wasn’t very…
    Count me in the not liking “twice” in Loose camp…
    But a tricky Friday completed so that is saying something!
    Thanks all
    John George
31. Biffed quite a lot, 7 mins gone with blotchy, reform, and steady left. Finished in 10.

    Cod home sec.

32. Taken just over 10 mins by GAMUT – couldn’t get gambit out of my head and so gamut took a while. Perfectly straight forward clue – just didn’t see it for some time.
33. All answers in the grid in 39 minutes, but a further 6 minutes to parse STEADY and RIGHT. I don’t know which time to enter in my spreadsheet.

    Looking at the times mentioned above, I am now quite happy with my performance today, despite my 12-14 minute hiatus at around the halfway point, during which absolutely no clues were solved (I was starting to despair).

    Apologies for no further insights today, as Mrs Random and I are still with her parents, celebrating her Mum’s birthday.

    Many thanks to Pedro and curarist.

34. Sorry but Straight as a noun is more than a MER for me. Should be Strait
    1. HOME STRAIGHT is an idiom in the dictionary. “Home strait” is not. The sense of “a straight part of a racetrack” is one noun def. for the word in both British and American parlance. There are other senses of “straight” as a noun that could apply if the word were used in a different clue.
35. Massive DNF. Just could not get to grips with most of the bottom half. Found many clues too long and confusing. A bad end to the week.
36. Well, I’d classify myself as a fairly experienced solver these days, and I didn’t find it at all easy. Definitely in coach today, at 16 mins, my worst time for a while. I’ve always found Pedro to be quite a wordy setter so was surprised to see rather shorter clues. Unfortunately it didn’t make any difference 😕
    For some reason, although I knew exactly what phrase I was looking for at 1d, I couldn’t bring it to mind until I had few checkers! I rather liked it when it clicked. I also liked SHOP ASSISTANT and INGENIOUS.
    FOI Rumba
    LOI Steady
    COD Home Secretary — brilliant 😅
    Many thanks Pedro and Curarist
37. And finished today with no real problems for once. Clocked at 17 hours+ by my iPad 🤣 That must be some sort of record! FOI INGENIOUS, LOI REFORM (stared at blankly for quite some time), COD most definitely HOME SECRETARY! Enjoyable. Definitely easier in 2 sittings. Many thanks all.

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