Quick Cryptic 3080 by Cheeko

Author   CuraristPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

This was a slightly above par time for me, but an enjoyable solve nonetheless. It contains one wordplay trick that I don’t think I’ve come across before, and I will be interested to see if it causes any problems.

Across
1 Evil sort of long-term prisoner holding copper back (7)
LUCIFER – LIFER with CU backwards inserted
5 Nine divine sisters, married, with needs (5)
MUSES – M + USES
8 Combatant’s violent alarmist trait (7,6)
MARTIAL ARTIST – anagram (‘violent’) of ALARMIST TRAIT
9 Very strict role in Sid and Nancy to begin with (7)
SPARTAN – PART inside S[id] & N[ancy]
10 Grand young woman, one that can hold a drink (5)
GLASS – G + LASS
11 Scandinavian article about depression? On the contrary (6)
DANISH – DISH outside AN. Slightly obscure definition of dish, but acceptable.
13 Heavy old dog disheartened in pen (6)
STODGY – O + D[o]G inside STY
15 Gain knowledge from, off and on, illegal service (5)
LEARN – alternate letters of iLlEgAl + RN (Royal Navy, a service)
16 Spend a lot on French version of The Scream (4,3)
LASH OUT – LA SHOUT. ‘Splash out’ surely? ‘Lash out’ means attack unexpectedly, doesn’t it?
19 Inert sort unexpectedly bitten by Dutch South African dog (6,7)
BOSTON TERRIER – anagram (‘unexpectedly’) of INERT SORT inside BOER
20 Starts to spray crowd with drink, causing disorderly struggle (5)
SCRUM – S + C + RUM
21 Mild rebuke, not when partly backtracking (3,4)
NOW THEN – Now then, now then: this is the new device that I don’t think I’ve seen before: NOT WHEN only partly (i.e just the TW) reversed. Not the hardest clue to biff, but may trip up some.
Down
1 Large doctor breaking one’s legs? (5)
LIMBS – L + MB (doctor) inside (‘breaking’) IS (one’s)
2 Arian is cast in more concise preliminary dramatic piece (7-6)
CURTAIN-RAISER – anagram (‘is cast’) of ARIAN put inside CURTER (more concise)
3 Female is not commonly dim (5)
FAINT – F + AIN’T (how you say ‘is not’ if you’re common)
4 Concerning fast, give in (6)
RELENT – RE + LENT. Curarist’s top tip: FAST always = LENT
5 Ideal man’s power to accommodate bishop (2,5)
MR RIGHT – MIGHT (power) taking in RR, for Right Reverend, the title of a bishop. Compare with VEN (venerable) which is what you call an archdeacon.
6 Slipshod head of programming ain’t developing attention to neatness (4,3,6)
SPIT AND POLISH – anagram (‘developing’) of SLIPSHOD + P + AINT
7 Convince Express about The Independent’s sports features, primarily (7)
SATISFY – SAY (express) around T[he] I[ndependent’s] S[ports] F[eatures]
11 British dame hosting priest and southern composer (7)
DELIBES – DBE is Dame of the British Empire with ELI (priest from the Bible) inserted, + S. Curarist’s top tip: PRIEST always = ELI.
12 Tabloid space that could offer a bright perspective (7)
SUNROOM – SUN (tabloid newspaper) + ROOM (space). ‘Space’ arguably doing double duty
14 Adhesive containing trace of this new protein (6)
GLUTEN – GLUE containing T for trace + N
17 Small mammal, quiet, on top of woodpile (5)
SHREW – SH (quiet!) + RE (on) + W (top of ‘woodpile’)
18 Mathematician almost finds Italian city (5)
TURIN – Short for (Alan) TURING. Bletchley Park mathematician, who famously committed suicide by eating an apple laced with cyanide. Someone once told me that this was the inspiration for the Apple Computer logo, but like all the best stories it isn’t true.

99 comments on “Quick Cryptic 3080 by Cheeko”

  1. 13 minutes, but after a run of slow times (for me) I decided to leave any parsing that didn’t jump out at me until after I had completed the grid. There were 3 or 4 of these.

    I enjoyed the puzzle but noted, as has our blogger, that 21ac NOW THEN uses a new device, or perhaps it’s just indicated in a way that makes it seem new. I suspect those who don’t like ‘cycling’ will like this even less.

  2. I had heard of neither the BOSTON TERRIER nor DELIBES nor LASH OUT in that sense and it turns out I can’t spell GLUTEN even when parsed if I have to write it vetically – E and O aren’t even close on the keyboard so I can’t claim a typo. 25 mins of enjoyable toil only to be greeted with my third not all green of the week.

  3. I thought that this was an excellent Friday offering but definitely on the tricky side.

    I had a bit of a MER at LASH OUT and my ignorance held me back in the SW, where I couldn’t make head or tail of DANISH and hadn’t realised that DBE’s were a thing (I assumed the male and female awards were the same) and had only very vaguely heard of DELIBES.

    Started with MUSES and finished with DELIBES in 14.32 with COD to MR RIGHT but with NOW THEN unparsed.

    Thanks to Cheeko and Curarist

  4. 9:27 with BOSTON TERRIOR and DELIBES eluding me. After taking over a month off, I’m not too unhappy. Think this was on the harder side.

  5. 11 minutes. STODGY describes how I went to a tee. I was looking for a ‘South African dog’ at 19a and just couldn’t spot the crossing SPIT AND POLISH anagram till I had all the crossers. I put in NOW AND THEN without too much thinking, but now you’ve pointed it out I don’t recall having seen a “partial reversal” before.

    I put in LASH OUT with a shrug but it is in Collins as Brit, informal for ‘to be extravagant, as in spending’ (sorry!). Good to see Leo DELIBES cracking a mention.

    Thanks to Curarist and Cheeko

  6. An interesting puzzle. I started very quickly and thought I was on for a quick solve but BOSTON TERRIER and the SE corner slowed me to a crawl. LASH OUT didn’t help; I was fixated by the ‘obvious’ SPLASH OUT and wondered if the setter had got the wrong expression. However LA and SHOUT could not be ignored so I entered LASH and the rest followed. Didn’t know my terriers so 19a was my LOI.
    In the end, I parsed nearly all (I will now see what Curarist made of a couple of missing parsings – DANISH and NOW THEN). I just about avoided the SCC but I was depressingly close after it had all begun so smoothly.
    My previous CHEEKO times were between 22 and 30 mins so a definite improvement……
    Thanks to both.

  7. DNF after 50 minutes. Just not on the same wavelength as the setter today, but on review was no chance i was getting DELIBES having NHO of the composer nor DBE as an initialism.

    Biffed LASH OUT but NHO it meaning ‘spend a lot’. I suppose i should invest in a Chambers dictionary. Same with DANISH – still cannot understand the parsing. Would appreciate anyone who cares to explain!

    1. Surely it’s AN (= article) inside DISH (= a depression – well, it is …) = a Scandinavian. But as I’ve said below, I’m flummoxed by the (superfluous?) “on the contrary”. But maybe that doesn’t satisfy you, on the grounds that the article should be “about” i.e. *outside* the DISH. Over to others.

      1. Thank you. I’m still slightly perplexed at how DISH = a depression, unless i’m missing something totally obvious. And yes, “on the contrary” is equally baffling.

        Glad i’m not the only one who struggled

        1. Well … a dish “goes down in the middle”, doesn’t it! And as for the contrary, Alanw (below) has the answer for us.

          1. I’ll begrudgingly accept that! And well done Alanw!

            Thanks for your help on both counts

          2. Given dish = bowl, it’s worth pointing out many American stadia are “bowls” – easily constructed by excavating the earth and heaping it up around so that the field is lower than the surrounding area.

            Acknowledging that American stuff is not Martinů’s forte I will point to a British example- the Milton Keynes Bowl or National Bowl as it is known.

            1. How kind of you to remember – no, actually I didn’t have a problem equating depression with dish – just thought of the shape of the thing in the kitchen. But thank you anyway!

      2. The clue says ‘article about depression’ so I think ‘on the contrary’ means you have to put the depression outside the article to get DANISH.
        I must say it had me confused too.

  8. I found this pretty tough, but I got there in the end (36m) with a few MERs and NHOs.

    I parsed 14d differently, Curarist. You have “GLUTEN – GLUE containing T for trace + N” whereas I took “trace” to mean the initial letter of “this” to provide the letter T.

    In any case, I needed the blog today to parse things like CURTER in CURTAIN-RAISER etc, so thank you.

    Pi ❤️

  9. I enjoyed this so thanks all #, but I agree that the clue for lash out is wrong. Also I can imagine ‘now then ‘ being a mild rebuke but it’s not very convincing. Just under 10 mins

  10. Tough one. Couldn’t parse several and biffed the answers when enough letters in to enable a stab at an answer. Don’t like LASH OUT as “spend a lot”. Took 25:07 to work it all out. I suspect a few DNFs today.

  11. 10.58, an orderly solve that finished as it should in the SE with SHREW and NOW THEN (wasn’t sure until now how that worked). That’s several days in a row of enjoyable puzzles for me, thanks Cheeko and Curarist.

  12. DNF
    NHO BOSTON TERRIER. I biffed BASSET TERRIER, and then put SUNBEAM for 12d, despite not being convinced that beam could mean space.

    Thanks Curarist and Cheeko

    1. I too was basking in the sunbeam trap for a mo. Also NHO Boston Terrier but dragged up Delibes and saw Boer.

  13. Definitely on the tricky side. From LIMBS to DELIBES and finally BOSTON TERRIER in 12:44. Biffed NOW THEN. Thanks Cheeko and Curarist.

  14. As an owl I normally do these late at night, but in an attempt to unearth an inner lark I’m trying morning solves and blimey such a difference! My first reaction is “What?! Can’t do this. Too hard.” A brief huff ensues, reminding myself I haven’t lost that many brain cells overnight I then knuckle down. Consequently it’s been a funny old week, yes I’m a bit slower but it’s maybe more satisfying to reach completion having had to work that bit harder. Anyhoo I enjoyed this, time taken (including said huff) 22 minutes. Thanks Cheeko and especially Curarist as I needed help with a couple of parsings.

  15. 17:50. Another one bitten on the bum by Delibes Boston Terrier. Ouch! Should have spotted the Boer sooner.
    Clever puzzle (and QTPi)
    Ta C&C

  16. 17.47. Trickiest of the lot this week. Several not parsed, including the terrier and NOW THEN, so thanks, Curarist. SUNBEAM led to long delay before revising. LASH OUT okay by me

  17. Cheeko’s was my all-time worst (16 to the bad) – not readily on his wavelength – so was ready for another fiasco and indeed it was hard to get going, FOI TURIN. After a long time only one better than his last (15 to the bad) but after a determined effort all went in, SE corner last, LOI GLUTEN. Agree MER at LASH OUT which as you say = randomly hitting.
    Two parsing queries: thank you for your blog, Curarist, but (1) why is DANISH “on the contrary”, please? and (2) in GLUTEN, how can trace = T ? – any context for that abbreviation? Ah, now I see, Pi-curious has the answer to that, thank you.

    1. On the contrary turns “article about depression” into “depression about article”.

  18. Tricky and a DNF for me,

    I had MASKS for MUSES – I identified a GK gap but couldnt plug it with wordplay
    I also had WESTON TERRIER. I was very close to dragging BOER out of my memory but when I saw weston I thought a “Westie” is a dog right… must be this. Dog breeds are a blindspot of mine

    Overall thought this was a great challenge but definitely on the hard side

  19. 7:46. Agree with MajER at ‘lash out’. Always interesting to see a potentially new device! DELIBES thankfully just about in memory recesses after discarding DEBUSSY and DELIUS. DNK DBE, so that’s a nice pickup.

    Thanks Cheeko and Curarist!

  20. 17:41 for the solve. The SW corner the main hold-up where no idea who DELIBES is if I’ve ever heard of them, DANISH for Scandinavian and SUNROOM (seems like green paint) went in fingers crossed.

    A few uncertain bits e.g. DBE, dish=depression where I could come up with a justification but unsure. For contrast, GLUTEN was a somewhat complicated construction but each part was clear.

    Re: NOW THEN – not sure it’ll cause that many problems. My initial instinct was that “partly backtracking” was just a poor anagrind but post-solve could see what it actually meant, as detailed in blog. Crossword grammar aside, I consider NOW THEN to be a fantastic mild rebuke – great way of saying “that’s enough” without having to get authoritarian. But COD to MR RIGHT.

    1hr18 for the week feels slow but is in line with my current mean time and, at least, it was 5 solves out of 5 after three DNFs last week and two the week before.

    Thanks to Curarist and Cheeko. Now off to find out who Delibes is …

    1. In my world SUNROOM is certainly not green paint. I spent many a night sleeping in my grandmother’s. It’s a thing in the southern US.

      1. Ah well, I knew it must exist and that’s why I said “seems like” but during my solve I had doubts until BOSTON and SCRUM confirmed.

        I bet you never saw much sun in there at nighttime 😄

    2. ‘Sunroom’ is a word, and thus not green paint; no single word is green paint. ‘Green paint’ refers to phrases that are not lexical items: e.g. green chair or green pencil, as opposed to e.g. green room or green thumb. (As someone here pointed out, ‘green paint’ is, by virtue of its meaning, not green paint.)

  21. I found this tough but a very good puzzle and pleased to solve in 14.05 all fully parsed and no NHOs so thank you Cheeko and to Curarist – btw which was the new ‘device’?

  22. I found this quite hard going, but with nothing I didn’t know except the composer, which I constructed from the crossers and the wordplay easily enough.

    Thanks for the blog, Curarist. Re the parsing of SPARTAN, you need to include the initial letter of AND otherwise we would have SPARTN. So I think it should be “PART inside S[id] A[nd] N[ancy]”, instead of “PART inside S[id] & N[ancy]”.

    Re: the Apple logo, I think I’ve heard, or read, somewhere that it is a “visual pun” on the word BYTE as the Apple has a bite taken out of it. I’m not sure if the name of the company came from the logo or whether it was the other way round.

    1. I think there are a lots of theories – but the Apple name is supposed to have come about because Steve Jobs and the other founders liked apples. It’s well know he adopted a “fruitarian” diet later in his life, so this does kind of make sense. Another suggestion was that it was also earlier in the alphabet than Atari.

  23. 5.59

    Knew DELIBES which helped a lot. Hesitated over DANISH but what other Scandinavian could it be? Didn’t know the BOSTON bit but once all the other checkers were in place, it had to be.

    Loved LASH OUT

    Thanks Curarist/Cheeko

  24. DNF – (DELIBES) – tracking just out a few minutes out of the SCC.
    Interesting puzzle with a very slow start. Many were parsed only after the event. Didn’t help myself by biffing MY ROMEO …until clearly not correct.
    Am not yet clear on 5a MUSES how needs = uses? Grateful to be educated
    21a – NOW THEN – enjoyed that : )
    Thank you Cheeko and Curarist

      1. Excellent. I knew someone would come up with the appropriate phrase to link needs/uses

  25. 24 minutes which was faster than I expected. I did not expect to finish but a few inspired guesses got me there. Being unable to parse these made the QC not so satisfying.
    Thanks for the blog Curarist

  26. Found this one very tricky to get going – on my first run through had nothing except LEARN, SCRUM and SPIT AND POLISH – but gradually worked through it getting everything except DELIBES, not knowing either the composer or DBE, which was frustrating.

    Had particular trouble with CURTAIN RAISER – couldn’t figure it out from the definition, and while I could parse what it would be the ARIAN IS just seemed too generic for me to get any of it until I had almost all the crossers in. More positively, though, I did particularly enjoy the clues for DANISH and NOW THEN, which is a nice novelty. Thanks Curarist and Cheeko!

  27. Better than yesterday’s. Took a while to get going but got most. NHO Delibes but Eli is always the priest.

  28. All correct but took ages. Saw Boer so biffed Border TERRIER and SUNbeam – then, after CURTAIN-RAISER, had recheck the anagram to get the right dog.
    I saw DELIBES in another puzzle recently, it so happens. Doubts re DANISH but it had to be.
    Agree with the MERs about LASH OUT.
    Liked LUCIFER, MUSES, MR RIGHT, FAINT, but it was all a bit exhausting.
    Thanks vm, Curarist. Blog much needed.

  29. Quite a tricky week all round, and today’s puzzle followed that trend. I had to dart around the grid to finish this, but I eventually crossed the line in a reasonably decent time (for me) of 11.25, even though this was above my target time. Never heard of a BOSTON TERRIER, in fact I biffed BORDER TERRIER seeing BOER in the first word and this initially made me alter SUNROOM to SUNBEAM. As I couldn’t parse it I thankfully backtracked and the correct answer came. I also nearly came a cropper on 11dn and the composer, as I knew it began with D and that ELI certainly figured, so I started to biff DELIUS until I realised the answer required seven letters. No crossings out required however as DELIBES came almost instantly to mind.
    A pretty slow week for me, compounded by Tuesdays 27 minute horror show, and only one sub ten minute target solve. My total time for the week was 69.11, giving me a daily average of 13.50.

  30. 17:16, hard but fair. Couldn’t parse DANISH, so hesitated there, until remembered DELIBES. LOI SUNROOM, replacing SUNBEAM.

  31. Thanks to Cheeko and Curarist.
    Rather buffable I thought, as the anagrams were a bit obscure, as in not sure what substitutions had been made.
    2a Muses. Does needs=uses? Can do I suppose.
    16a Lash out OK with me. I think I have heard it used by people who are economising on letters when they want to splash out.
    21a Now then, I was foxed but not delayed.
    2d Curtain raiser half biffed half parsed.
    11d Delibes ditto.

  32. My FOI MUSES seemed very straight forward given what followed in the QC. I managed a lot of ‘loose’ parsing e.g. I thought BOSTON TERRIER was just an anagram, I could see AN was in DISH but couldn’t see how DISH = depression. It had to be LASH OUT but the definition doesn’t work for me. Thankfully I did solve the NHO DELIBES from checkers and wordplay. My LOI was MR RIGHT as I just couldn’t see what could follow the M other than a Y. 11:26 and happy to have jogged over the line. Thanks Curarist.

  33. 14:01. FOI LUCIFER then steady progress. No hesitation with LASH OUT and, even though I can now see it alongside SPLASH OUT, I think it is still what I would do if I felt extravagant. LOI BOSTON TERRIER – NHO, but not hard to construct. I liked STODGY, SATISFY and MR RIGHT.

    I felt a MER coming on at MARTIAL ARTIST. MARTIAL ARTS, yes. But MARTIAL ARTIST suggests something like a war artist, or Turner painting the Fighting Temeraire, rather than a practitioner of the martial arts. I’m wrong, of course. The dictionaries have it, so there we are. I still don’t think the same construction would work with, say, pop art, where a practitioner would be a pop art artist. Enough, kapietro, get a life.

    Many thanks to Cheeko for this fine puzzle and to Curarist for the blog

  34. Found this one to be on the tough side, but enjoyed it. I have no problem with LASH OUT. It’s a well enough expression meaning to spend extravagantly, isn’t it? Loved the clue for DANISH. Very neat!

    Thanks Cheeko and blogger

  35. I stopped the clock after 29 minutes; and then spent at least a minute more trying to find something better than DANISH.
    I did eventually see the DISH and AN being surrounded. Not my favourite clue.
    I knew Delius and he led me to DELIBES; my car radio is tuned to Classic FM and Delibes comes up a lot- a one-hit wonder possibly.
    Took ages to work out the dog, fully parsed in the end.
    But LOI was MUSES as I was searching for naiads or wood nymph types; MAIDS was considered.
    So, not my best day but all correct in the end.
    Some excellent clues; Glass and Martial Artist were my picks.
    David

  36. I got glass ..

    If that’s a QC then I’m from The Netherlands.

    Scandinavian on the contrary – on the contrary – no way – and I round an R from somewhere for Norway – they don’t even share a border.

  37. 23:45 for me, and I even parsed some of them! I found this one very difficult.

    Thank you for the blog!

  38. Well this felt a right old Friday workout. Exceedingly long lunch break required. Didn’t know DBE but knew DELIBES. Loved the wordplay for LASH OUT even though I wasn’t completely sure about the definition. The two that really held me up were MR RIGHT and LIMBS, neither of which I could parse initially. LOI DANISH – biffed, needed blog, ah ok, get it now. Many thanks C. Hard but ultimately satisfying.

  39. Time spent: 91 minutes
    Outcome: DNF (1 clue unsolved, 1 error)

    Par for the course for me with this setter, who has still to work out how to compile a QC for non-expert solvers, IMHO.
    No further comments.

    Many thanks to Curarist for the blog.

    1. I could identify the anagrist and indicator in two or three but they were 10+ letters. Very difficult without any crossers to give so help for a semi bifd.

  40. 9:06

    Faster than my average against Cheeko (10:23) so happy with that. Like Jack, there were several that I didn’t bother too much about fully parsing in flight as the answer seemed clear – CURTAIN RAISER, SPIT AND POLISH and MARTIAL ARTIST i.e. all three are longer answers. NHO BOSTON TERRIER but couldn’t be much else once I’d written out the letters. LOI SUNROOM (previously had SUNSPOT before SCRUM went in).

    Thanks Curarist and Cheeko

  41. Based on previous experience with Cheeko, I didn’t bother looking at my start time, so I was a bit annoyed with myself when things started dropping into place. I have no idea why Curtain Raiser would pop into my head, but it did with just a few crossers in place. A similar experience occurred with Spit and Polish.
    I’ve come across the ‘reverse’ trick in the 15×15, so Danish went in without difficulty. CoD Lash Out, on the other hand, took some time to see, but I suppose it’s a close enough cousin of Splash Out and Fork Out, so in it went.
    No real idea of time, but at least 25mins, most of which were enjoyable 😉. Invariant

  42. Amazingly easy for a Cheeko … until DELIBES and the BOSTON TERRIER (didn’t) hove into view. Had to resort to pen and paper for the dog, being more familiar with the Boston Whaler and indeed the Boston Strangler, and then trust the wordplay for the composer (whom I had completely forgotten despite only recently digging into the similarities between his Flower Duet and Bizet’s Pearl Fishers’ Duet! Durr.).

    Got there in a squeak under 10 at 09:56 for a Pretty Good Day. Terrific puzzle, I thought.

    I regularly LASH OUT on “ridiculous” (per my wife) purchases so that was well within vocabulary.

    Many thanks Cheeko and Curarist.

  44. I enjoyed this one and seem to have returned to the land of the living with a reasonable time of 15:27, in spite of the NHO LOI LASH OUT. Also dish=depression is more than slightly obscure and I simply biffed after a couple of long, long looks. MR RIGHT held me up much longer than it should have as I was playing with P and B to no avail. If I could only LEARN how to quickly see alternate letters in a word, accept that STODGY can mean “heavy”, and remember that RN can be “service”, life would be perfect.

    Loved the biting dog, the riotous crowd, and the unethical doctor. And I’m a fan of the NOW THEN clue.

    Thanks to Cheeko and Curarist.

  45. Another one on the trickier side though, at 13:48, we fared rather better than yesterday. We were others who wondered about needs = uses though it seemed clear what the answer needed to be. Didn’t fully parse NOW THEN. COD LASH OUT. Thanks, all.

  46. Like others, I didn’t really work out how “NOW THEN” parsed – didn’t really try; since all the required letters were together in the clue, that was enough for me.

  47. Very very slow, dnk the dog, the composer or the devices in 11a and 21a. Couldn’t parse a few. Lash out rang only the faintest of bells. I prefer ones a bit easier that this one, but none the less quite enjoyable, thanks to Cheeko and Curarist.
    (I also did yesterdays this morning, that was even harder)

  48. Hard work for this SCC resident. Really didn’t like “LASH OUT” for “spend a lot”. I’ve only ever heard the phrase in terms of a (violent?) physical reaction.

    Glad to have “on the contrary” in 11a explained. I wondered why it was there.

    And a grumble about a NHO dog. Though no doubt others will claim its obvious GK and Alan Turing is NHO and obscure (!!)

  49. 26 minutes of hell.

    Parsed very little and, despite all my time on 15 x 15, still unable to read clues correctly. When we are always being told to ‘lift and separate’, how am I supposed to realise that ‘Dutch South African’ is meant to be read as one thing? How do the good solvers know this and I don’t?

    A dreadful week. I can’t be bothered to add up my times, but they must closer to 2 hours than 1.

    My only consolation is that it hasn’t dented my confidence as I have none left to dent.

    1. I’m waving from further away from 1 hour than you seem to be. Take heart. Daily inconsistency is the norm on our part. Sometimes a crossword is nearly done, we’re heading for a PB, before the last few clues defeat us.
      We try to ‘do as we are told’ and in hindsight, with blog and comments, we can usually see the pathway with clarity. Ah! we say.
      Many report, ‘very slow today, 10 minutes(or less)’ or that their first one in was our last one in (or not in ..DNF). Yet, we know they, too, started where we are. Maybe we won’t get to where they are – but the goal is to ‘get the game’ and increasingly, we ARE ‘getting the game’. … so, we plod on, at variable speed AND we learn all sorts of obscure facts on the way. We see how some people find one puzzle easy when others don’t – even within the ‘road runner crew’.
      As a mental exercise, a challenge, it’s usually enjoyable. We started thinking 5-7 answers was good, now we usually finish. Even on ugly days, we have to concede that overall, we see more clearly than we did, and that it was just a bad day.
      I’m a little relieved to find there are others like us out there. So, if you’re having a tough session, know that we can usually be found waving from the mud : ).
      Plus, this site seems to be full of decent people – people I’ll never physically meet or know, yet, in a world of connections ‘out in the ether’, this seems to be pleasant link. Good luck!

      1. Thank you for your kind comments and words of encouragement. They are appreciated.

        Like you, I will persevere.
        😊

      2. I’m afraid I have a small thing about times which really don’t bother me. Long ago I tried to be quick but didn’t like it so I stopped. Now I do all the clues I can and if I’m fading I go to the wonderful blog to complete, on a not good day I go to the blog to keep going. The blog is very special, I couldn’t learn to do cryptic crosswords without it. The QC is more or less my level and I’m quite happy being there. Rings bells?

Comments are closed.