Quick Cryptic 2873 by Orpheus

 

Orpheus provides us with our final QC for 2024. I was cruising along admiring the view until I was stopped in my tracks by 3d. The same definition as part of the definition for 21a was the other uncommon word here; we can be thankful we didn’t have an obscure book from the Old Testament to make things even harder. Otherwise, all very reasonable for a QC and a good way to finish off the year. Finished in 13:18.

Thanks to Orpheus and a happy New Year to everyone. Looking forward to more QC’s to entertain, challenge and occasionally frustrate us in 2025.

Definitions underlined in bold, deletions indicated by strikethrough.

Across
7 Gain nothing, being a drunkard (4)
WINOWIN (‘Gain’) O (‘nothing’)
8 Tie it in a knot and begin (8)
INITIATE – Anagram (‘knot’) of TIE IT IN A

‘Knot’ as an original anagram indicator (though I know some solvers have a thing about which anagram indicators should be allowed and there was a recent discussion on TfTT on the topic) which fits in nicely with the surface.

9 Row about doctor’s deal, perhaps (6)
TIMBERTIER (‘Row’) containing (‘about’) MB (‘doctor’)

A definition by example, ‘deal’ being a sort of TIMBER.

MB for ‘doctor’ as Bachelor of Medicine, or in Latin Medicinae Baccalaureus, with “Medicine” here in the sense of Internal Medicine. This is usually combined with BS (Bachelor of Surgery) for MB BS, the “basic” undergraduate medical degree, though some medical schools award just an MB degree, with “Medicine” in this sense meaning the practice of medicine more generally.

10 Fix wise man’s prescribed amount of medication (6)
DOSAGEDO (‘Fix’) SAGE (‘wise man’)

eg I’ll do / fix you a light lunch.

We had DO clued by “cook” yesterday. As noted by Amoeba in yesterday’s blog comments, “to cook” is sense number 15 of DO in Chambers; “to prepare, set in order, arrange”, which I think would cover ‘fix’, is sense number 14. In Collins, “to arrange or fix” is given a much higher status as sense number 3.

11 Well ventilated eagle’s nest, some would say (4)
AIRY – Aural wordplay (‘some would say’) of EYRIE (‘eagle’s nest’)

The standard reference works give various pronunciations for EYRIE, so (just for a change for a homophone) not everyone may agree with this one.

12 Mould made by casual worker behind schedule (8)
TEMPLATETEMP (‘casual worker’) LATE (‘behind schedule’)
15 Idleness of one in popular part of West London (8)
INACTIONI (‘one) contained in (‘in’) IN (‘popular’) ACTON (‘part of West London’)
17 Genuine Brazilian coin (4)
REAL – Double definition + straight definition

A REAL (R$) is indeed ‘Genuine Brazilian coin’ and is subdivided into 100 centavos.

18 Not just a French travelling entertainment (6)
UNFAIRUN (‘a French’) FAIR (‘travelling entertainment’)
21 Girl with a large service book (6)
MISSALMISS (‘Girl’) A (‘a’) L (‘large’)

A book containing the texts of the Roman Catholic mass used throughout the year. Derived from the Latin missa “Mass”

22 Reportedly light up a south coast resort (8)
BRIGHTON – Aural wordplay (‘reportedly’) of BRIGHTEN (‘light up’)

Straying close to chestnut territory. I look forward to seeing Bexhill-on-Sea in a QC in 2025.

23 Boat-builder’s failure to carry out GP’s request? (4)
NOAH – Whimsical cryptic hint.  NO AH would be a ‘failure to carry out GP’s request?’ when asked to say “Ah” as part of a mouth and throat examination.
Down
1 Courteous chap, a non-military type (8)
CIVILIANCIVIL (‘Courteous’) IAN (‘chap’)

For ‘chap’, IAN being a random man’s name

2 Unstable, throwing such a fit? (6)
WOBBLY – ‘throwing such a fit?’ referring to the colloquial expression “to throw a wobbly”

Yes, it’s in the usual reference works.

3 Books cracking up bitter pills regularly (8)
LIBRETTI – Anagram (‘cracking up’) of BITTER and PILLS (‘pills regularly’)

The text of an opera or other long vocal work (OED).

My LOI. I think this is the correct parsing but am open to better suggestions. An alternative parsing would be a reversal (‘up’) of anagram (‘cracking’) for BITTER, followed by IL (‘pills regularly’), ie ‘cracking up’ as a sort of combined anagram and reversal indicator, but this is probably over-thinking it. A not common word for the answer didn’t help.

If Orpheus had thrown in the vertigo-inducing ‘cycling’ to the wordplay, as he could have, I really would have taken his cue and thrown a wobbly!

4 Booby possibly to attempt crossing river (4)
BIRDBID (‘attempt) containing (‘crossing’) R (‘river’)

Those birds with the colourful feet.

5 Cheap decoration can find a buyer, mostly (6)
TINSELTIN (‘can’) SELL (‘find a buyer, mostly’)

SELL for ‘find a buyer’? I suppose so.

6 Part of theatre largely for men only (4)
STAGSTAGE (‘Part of theatre largely’)
13 Obelisk built by Greek character in very little time (8)
MONUMENTNU (‘Greek character’) contained in (‘in’) MOMENT (‘very little time’)
14 Rush off, seeing hooligan (8)
TEARAWAYTEAR AWAY (‘Rush off’)

TEAR AWAY for ‘Rush off’ is two words so I didn’t parse it as a double definition.

16 Demand payment for onslaught (6)
CHARGE – Double definition
17 Getting up insurrection (6)
RISING – Double definition
19 Standard displayed by women or men (4)
NORM – Hidden in (‘displayed by’) ‘womeN OR Men’
20 Pity Babe, the baseball player (4)
RUTH – Double definition

Babe Ruth is definitely your go-to ‘baseball player’ for a UK-based cryptic crossword. Maybe, like Bexhill-on-Sea, Joe DiMaggio for next year.

81 comments on “Quick Cryptic 2873 by Orpheus”

  1. Carelessly entered TEMPLALE instead of TEMPLATE which made TEARAWAY a little tricky. MISSAL came after dismissing lassal. Like the wordplay for NOAH. LIBRETTI took some figuring out, I thought about the cycling device too. Wasn’t keen on CHARGE for demand payment, seems a bit strong.
    Thanks BR and setter.

  2. I biffed LIBRETTI, but BR’s parsing is correct. I wasn’t sure about WOBBLY, but ‘throw a wobbly’ seemed vaguely familiar–probably came across it here once. 7:50.

    1. Bang on six minutes for this, with last one in LIBRETTI, which I parsed even as I was entering it, which I thought was pretty cool and as close to a Bletchleyite as I will get.

      Sorry, this wasn’t meant to be a bit of one-upmanship on Kevin. I didn’t realise I had depressed a Reply button.

  3. 11:50. I had trouble with MONUMENT and LIBRETTI. NOAH was very amusing! I thought the WOBBLY first might be a GOOGLY until TIMBER gave me the B.

  4. 10 minutes. After yesterday’s ‘do / cook’ and in the light of today’s ‘do / fix’ I wondered if we might see ‘fix /cook’ at some point. If so, Collins would seem to support it by having this example: ‘to fix a meal’.

  5. 11.01 for which I received an extremely generous 845 points. Something’s wrong. The QC is up twice today. The one I did is marking as if it were a 15×15 that I’d solved in 11 minutes

  6. 7 minutes, so this counts as towards the simpler end for me. And indeed all but one clue were almost write-ins. But LIBRETTI seems out of place in this crossword – not a bad clue in itself, just out of keeping with the level of all the others. Like a wine list full of £10 bottles but with one at £100.

    I suspect Orpheus backed himself into a corner, had -I-R-T-I to fill in, didn’t want to rework the grid so had to settle for the only word (and it is the only word) that fitted. Fair enough, but for me it unbalances what is otherwise a very nice puzzle.

    Many thanks BR for the blog and a Happy New Year to all
    Cedric

  7. A bit like yesterdays solve in that most of this was fairly gentle but there were a couple that needed a lot of thought – TEMPLATE, MONUMENT and the unknown and LOI LIBRETTI.
    Finished in a smidge under average in 7.44 and CsOD to NOAH and CIVILIAN.
    Thanks to BR

  8. Took a couple of minutes to get going then a nice steady solve to a very respectable 17.26 finish.

    No problems with libretti as a musician, and thankfully reading the clue correctly to get the right letters from pills, helped by having the final I in place. A bit of nostalgia for Mrs RH who went to a catholic convent school and carried her missal every day ( it was NHO for me).

    Noah definitely gets COD, very good, thanks Orpheus.

    Thanks BR, after yesterday’s discussions, I’m staying out of the do do’s😂

    Happy New Year all.

  9. 8:28, with TEARAWAY my LOI. I biffed LIBRETTI, with a feeling that an anagram of bitter was somewhere in the mix.

    Thanks BR and Orpheus

    Happy New Year to all.

  10. Happy New Year one and all!
    Thank you for your generous provision of clarification, education and smiles over the past twelve months or so. Certainly helped us to plod on.
    For those new to the business, take heart – himself and I have progressed, from ‘getting a few over half an hour’ (then no more), to getting grumpy if not finished or close to, within half an hour or so.
    In consequence, with childlike optimism, tomorrow we add the ’15 x15′ to our daily doings…we suspect this may well somewhat curtail our happy new year by mid morning, so glasses raised now.. health and happiness : ) .

    1. I’d suggest the jumbo cryptic as a good middle ground. You have all week to chew on it, and long clues end up with plenty of checkers.

  11. 17:46
    Hard one, took ages to get a foothold, eventually the last down clue, RUTH, got me going.

    Didn’t like “knot” as an anagram indicator, “knotted” or “in a knot” fine.

    TEARAWAY LOI, COD MISSAL

  12. 25:43 for the solve! Reached my last two of INACTION and CHARGE just past ten mins. My West London knowledge ran out after Chelsea, Fulham, Ealing, Hounslow, Twickers, Brentford, Staines, Osterley, Southall, Feltham with a few glances to Harrow, Barnet and Wimbledon. Frustrating but hey – just got to learn it as it comes up more than it should. Looking at the puzzle post solve, it seems like one where everybody will get stuck somewhere but not necessarily the same place as everyone else.

      1. I miswrote – I know of Acton but meant to say it wouldn’t come to mind. My parents were both from the area, my sister lives up there but I never have.

    1. In my admittedly limited experience, “west London” fairly reliably means Acton, “east London” means Bow, and “city” means EC. Possibly there are other bits of London in the 15×15?

  13. NH EYRIE pronounced as AIRY but accept BR’s note on that. Knew LIBRETTI – think Orpheus frequently includes a musical clue in keeping with their name. Thanks to all the bloggers for their informative comments. Every day’s a learning day!
    Happy New Year to all.

    1. I always assumed, without any sort of defensible basis, that it was “EYE-err-ee”. I’d find some videos on Youtube but experience tells me that there will be at least a dozen, all confidently pronouncing it differently.

  14. 35mins but I put affair/form for UNFAIR/NORM. On form is to be up to standard and affair (A F(rench) + FAIR) seemed to fit. They still do but I will easily admit the correct answers make more sense!

    Enjoyable despite nho Babe Ruth.

    Thanks to Orpheus and BR.

  15. TEARAWAY too difficult for me and impossible to see with only T-A-A-A-. Otherwise all good. NHO booby, BIRD supplied by Mrs M whose GK is better than mine! Thank you BR and Happy New Year to all.
    Oh by the way (xwordnewbie above) of course I wouldn’t have HO Babe Ruth either, but he was here just a month or two ago, so we all learn!

  16. Held up by TEARAWAY, TIMBER and LOI LIBRETTI but finished in 14 minutes.
    I thought the parsing for Libretti tested the boundaries.
    FOI RUTH.
    COD to BRIGHTON; I went on Sunday, very cold and the pier shrouded in mist- but there’s plenty of life there and the streets became very busy.
    David

  17. Pretty quick for me at 6.55, but at least 45 seconds expended on my LOI LIBRETTI. Took a while to see the parsing of NOAH, but worked it out in the end. A fairly straightforward end to the year.

  18. 30 minutes but I had to resort to help with LOI TEARAWAY which took our combined New Year party about 3 minutes to solve. Nice clue.
    I’ve never pronounced EYRIE with an A but the answers was obvious.
    COD TIMBER
    Thanks as always and a Happy New Year to everyone.

  19. From INITIATE to MISSAL in 8:24. I tried wORM instead of NORM at 19d and LIBRETTI was a word I had heard of but not in the context of a book. The inclusion of Booby brought back fond memories of my trip to the Galapagos Islands. Thanks BR for your elucidations.

  20. Off the wavelength today. After WINO, I was slow to get moving and after several passes still had 15a, 16d and 3 down left. CHARGE came first, INACTION next and LIBRETTI was last after eventually spotting the anagrist. 9:29. Thanks Orpheus and BR.

  21. Ok, relatively easy for an Orpheus, I thought, but stuck on last three. Finally worked out LIBRETTI from the parsing, then INACTION and (why didn’t I see it sooner) LOI CHARGE.
    Liked TEARAWAY, TEMPLATE, TIMBER, MONUMENT, STAG.
    Thank, BR, for all the great blogs.
    Happy NY again to all.

  22. 10:16, close to my average and a lot of fun.

    There seem to be two copies of the Quick Cryptic today – an occasional aberration. Alas, the SNITCH only looks for one, so apologies if your results haven’t been picked up. But it can read your time off this site if you post in a comment similar to this one.

    1. I have meant to ask for a long time, but never have, and today seems as good a time as any. Whose scores get read into the SNITCH and how (I do the puzzle nearly every day but I’m not sure I’ve ever been included), how does one qualify / apply to be a reference solver and what obligation is there if one is to never miss a day?

      Many thanks
      Cedric

      1. Thanks for the question, Cedric.

        In the spirit of new-year good cheer, we might let you off the hazing ritual. (Besides, I only get the Guardian online these days, and rolling up an iPad is a bit tricky.)

        I will mark you as a Blog Solver so that the time entries you make in the TfTT blog will be registered.* I’ll just need to calculate and initial average for you and change your status on the site.

        (*Note: the Blog Solver option is strictly opt-in, as some blog commenters don’t want their times tracked. Those that solve on the club site and allow their scores on the leaderboard get automatically recorded.)

        1. Thank you. New year, new responsibility!! I shall start recording my time to the second, but is there any preferred way to show it (ie in the first line, as a standalone paragraph?) or can the SNITCH-machine scrape it from anywhere in a post?

  23. LOI LIBRETTI, of course, which I had to write horizontally with spaces to see. Not at all unknown, but unexpected, and initially confused by ‘cracking’, which generally means ‘going in the middle of’. The rest of the puzzle polished off quickly, with only TIMBER and WOBBLY causing a hiaitus. CsOD to TIMBER and BIRD, for their misdirections.

  24. Is it a coincidence or does Orpheus moonlight at Country Life or the
    Country Life setter moonlight as Orpheus in The Times? Clue 17 down in Country Life 1st January 2025 is ‘ Getting up insurrection’ as it is in the Times today

  25. 13m
    Quite tough for Orpheus. Struggled with charge, unfair, monument (not monolith), initiate, and LOI Libretti, not fully parsed but it had to be.

    COD unfair or initiate.
    Happy New Year! 🍾

  26. Any remaining hopes of a sub-20 were dashed by the returning bite (nip?) of a mid-solve Crabby at 3d, which instantly made a previously missed Wino write-in more than a tad difficult. In truth, time lost dealing with the tricky Libretti had already made that target a forlorn one.
    On a more enthusiastic (con brio) note, I thought CoD 23ac, Noah, was a great clue, and (for once) enjoyed the obligatory London postal district reference, which was familiar only from following Tim Dowling’s weekly slot in the Guardian. Invariant

  27. 19 minutes but had to resort to aids for my LOI tearaway. I biffed libretti but in my haste entered ‘lipretti’ (an alternative spelling perhaps!). COD to Noah.

  28. Something over 40 minutes for me, so not really a QC, IMO. I struggled to get started, with only two Across clues and four Down clues going in during my first pass and very few more going in during my second.

    I did eventually get there and my favourite clue was NOAH (very clever), but only after a few lucky guesses (incl. the NHO MISSAL, REAL, RUTH and TIMBER) and a long struggle with my final four clues – MONUMENT, INACTION, LIBRETTI and TINSEL. The required GK was not very general today. Neither was the required vocabulary.

    Thanks to BR and Orpheus, and a happy new year to all!

  29. 7:58

    I thought it quite tough and was pleased to come in under 8’.

    COD LIBRETTI
    LOI WINO which would amuse Mrs Oompah.

  30. 21:02

    Some tricky stuff here. Struggled with TIMBER, still don’t see it as a synonym for deal, but the wordplay and checkers left no alternative. Also stuck on LIBRETTI and really don’t like the wordplay. Only once they were all in did I turn my attention to LOI TEARAWAY.

  31. Working our way around the grid, without regard to across or down, we spent too much time too early on trying to make something including ITRIL (“bitter pills” regularly) then gave up and came back to LIBRETTI late on once we’d got the final I. Even then, though we knew the word it didn’t immediately sing ‘books’ so it went in with fingers crossed. LOI TEARAWAY took quite some staring before the penny dropped. The rest were more or less OK though the AIRY homophone raised an eyebrow each. Timewise, I’m sure we were helped to some degree by doing it on a PC for the first time today, rather than my phone. It certainly helps avoid retyping of fat finger errors. 8:55 all in

  32. Having had a break over Christmas I resumed today and found myself…floundering. 40 minutes to grind out a completed grid – phew. Liked the franglais clue: UN FAIR. And STAG. All fairly clued and good fun – thanks to blogger and setter.
    NY resolution: aim for 10 minute solves. Some work required!
    Happy New Year to all!

  33. 11.58 Started quick but slow for the last 25%. I knew MISSAL and biffed LIBRETTI from the checkers. LOI TEARAWAY. Thanks BR and Orpheus.

  34. Sub 20 mins despite several interruptions and writing in Monolith instead of Monument. Fortunately the checkers from Inaction, Missal & Brighton showed me my error. Thanks all.

  35. How fitting that my final QC of the year should be another nightmare time.

    I took 39 minutes and was no better than an absolute beginner.

    I am totally lost with this. The harder I try, the worse I get.

    This year has been dreadful. I achieved my target (5 solves in under 2 hours) just once!

    I have made a real attempt to get to grips with the 15 x 15, but have got nowhere.

    My mind is scrambled by cryptics. 🤔🤔
    How is it possible to go backwards when I make such an effort?

    I appreciate the advice I have received but I cannot relax and enjoy this if I am not improving. All I have taken from today is frustration and disappointment. I wish I’d never started this infuriating competition.

    1. I think the clue to your disappointment lies in your last sentence – it’s not actually a ‘competition’; it’s a hobby. Life is too short to feel persistently frustrated. Let’s hear it for smelling the roses in 2025! 🥂

  36. Interesting how some found this straightforward and others didn’t. This permanent resident of the SCC thought this was very friendly. TIMBER came very quickly because row = tier is common. And correctly identifying the anagram letters for LIBRETTI (And having the crossers) meant that this NHO went in with a “I suppose it has to be”. Thank you Orpheus for giving me a good end to 2024.

  37. Found this a little tricky. Couldn’t get LOI TEARAWAY and hit the reveal button, maybe a little too quickly in retrospect. Struggled for ages on LIBRETTI which was a rather unexpected PDM in the end. Wondered whether I’d always been pronouncing the bird’s nest incorrectly until I read the blog and comments. Favourite clue was NOAH – brilliant! Many thanks Orpheus and BR, and a Happy New Year to you all!

  38. There seemed to be a mixture of write-ins and head-scratchers in this one, which I eventually finished in 18:05. Biffed LIBRETTI unparsed, and took a speculative guess at MISSAL without any great confidence.

    Thank you for the blog!

  39. When MISSAL and NOAH went in I was sure this was going to be an Izetti … very surprised on coming here!

    Thanks Orpheus and thanks explaining NOAH, Bletchers – glad I wasn’t blogging this one because I was nowhere near understanding that!

    All done in reggo 08:06 for 1.1K and a Good Day. See you all in 2025.

  40. 11:05 here. Almost a clean sweep of the acrosses on my first pass, missing only INACTION and NOAH, but then I found the downs much harder. LOI LIBRETTI.

    Thanks to Orpheus and BR.

  41. On Orpheus’ wavelength today. Just guessed that in some parts of the country the eagles’ nest rhymes with AIRY and not ‘weary’!
    COD – NOAH
    Thanks Orpheus and BR

  42. Beat the 2024 deadline to finish this! Enjoyed this, no MERs from me.
    Year overall: could do better, but don’t care so I probably won’t in 2025.
    Applied to renew my SCC gold membership, looking forward to meeting fellow laggards, lazybones and learners as they pass through those hallowed portals.
    And if anyone has a spare, effective, inexpensive football team manager, Plymouth is a lovely place when it’s not raining…

  43. Spent something like 2.5 hours on 15 x 15 today. 😩😩😩

    When I return to work on Thursday, I may be forced to curtail my attempt to crack the 15 x 15 as I simply won’t have the time!

    If anyone is wondering, the picture I have added next to my name is of the path from Craster to Dunstanburgh Castle in Northumberland. Worth a visit if you’ve never been (but don’t tell anyone else, it’s a bit of a hidden gem).

    1. I think the Jolly Fisherman at Craster is probably more well known than you think – although I prefer the Ship Inn at Low Newton up the coast. The walk is lovely though.

      1. I suspect you’re right. I usually stay at the Cottage Inn in Dunstan, although The Ship is a favourite watering hole.

  44. Dnf…

    Thought this was a toughie to end the year with. Quite a few I didn’t get, including the above mentioned 3dn “Libretti” and 21ac “Missal”. A bit of a meh with 23ac “Noah” if I’m being honest.

    Will be interesting to see how this final week affects the stats…

    FOI – 6dn “Stag”
    LOI – Dnf
    COD – 9ac “Timber”

    Thanks as usual!

  45. 4:45

    Pretty relaxed fare for the final puzzle of the year – not really foxed by anything, built up a decent number of acrosses to ease the downs. Some mopping up required at the end.

    Thanks BR and Orpheus

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