Time: 10.29
I’m standing in for Cedric today. Many of you will know that I have started blogging the 15×15 every other Wednesday but I am very pleased to have this chance to do the much beloved Quickie.
This seemed* reasonably gentle from Hurley, though I was rather sleepy when doing it, so much so that I struggled over one of the easiest clues – HALT – as my LOI and the chestnutty TOGETHER.
My favourite clue was BUTTONHOLE.
*On edit: It seems this was not quite as gentle as I thought others would find it, so maybe not just tough at the end!
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Annoying satire somewhat trimmed (8) |
| TIRESOME – Hidden. | |
| 5 | Stop home at last, thankful first of all (4) |
| HALT – First letters of HOME AT LAST and THANKFUL.
I wanted home to be IN; thankful to be TA; the last E from HOME, and goodness knows what else when the answer was right in front of me. |
|
| 8 | Current agreement is magic initially, utopian view perhaps (8) |
| IDEALISM – I + DEAL + IS + M. | |
| 9 | Good article — good group? (4) |
| GANG – G + AN + G. | |
| 11 | Unexpected turn — fuel ad is phoney (10) |
| FRAUDULENT – Anagram [unexpected] of TURN FUEL and AD. | |
| 14 | Deduce cause (6) |
| REASON – Double definition. | |
| 15 | Band in street, ready to eat (6) |
| STRIPE – ST + RIPE. | |
| 17 | Religious building keeping name that is suitable (10) |
| CONVENIENT – CONVENT around N + IE. | |
| 20 | Staff cut back energy (4) |
| POLE – Reversal of LOP [a word for cut, backwards] + E. | |
| 21 | Recommend a revised VAT code (8) |
| ADVOCATE – A [in plain sight] plus an anagram [revised] of VAT CODE. | |
| 22 | Carriage deception (4) |
| TRAP – Double definition. | |
| 23 | Unusually pleased about conclusion of client base (8) |
| PEDESTAL – Anagram [unusually] of PLEASED around T [last letter of CLIENT]. | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Follow story reportedly (4) |
| TAIL – Homophone of TALE. | |
| 2 | Part of film dance (4) |
| REEL – Another double definition. | |
| 3 | Heat radiation role pro saw differently (5,5) |
| SOLAR POWER – Anagram [differently] of ROLE PRO SAW. | |
| 4 | Silent about practice in heritage centre (6) |
| MUSEUM – MUM around USE. | |
| 6 | Fellow, maybe, not practical (8) |
| ACADEMIC – And yet another double definition. | |
| 7 | Well-organised to receive the woman (8) |
| TOGETHER – TO + GET [receive] + HER.
I must have seen this clue in different forms dozens of times but didn’t recognise it here, wanting a word for “well-organised’ around THE meaning “woman’. No such luck. |
|
| 10 | Wedding-day flower maybe, but no hotel unfortunately (10) |
| BUTTONHOLE – Anagram [UNFORTUNATELY] of BUT NO HOTEL.
Nice. |
|
| 12 | Drug after drug — crazy (8) |
| CRACKPOT – CRACK and POT are two different types of drug.
This came up in a recent puzzle (a 15×15 I think) which helped. |
|
| 13 | Main goal is to change shrub (8) |
| MAGNOLIA – Anagram [is to change] of MAIN GOAL.
Plants not really my thing and I feared I was looking for something less well known. |
|
| 16 | Sort the French reading device (6) |
| KINDLE – KIND + LE.
Some eyebrows are raised at references to brand names but I think we see them reasonably regularly now. |
|
| 18 | Dad’s time is over (4) |
| PAST – PA’S + T. | |
| 19 | Enthusiasm displayed by Bronze, a Lioness (4) |
| ZEAL – Another hidden.
Clever as Lucy Bronze is one of the stars of the Lionesses, playing the Euros final with a fractured tibia. Remarkably it appears that one of her middle names is TOUGH (a Portuguese name). |
|
16:28
Slower than it should have been, I had CRACKERS=crazy, thinking that ers could well be some drug slang I didn’t know.
FRAUDULENT confused me as I had “is phoney” as an anagram indicator, then expecting UN- for something unexpected.
Good fact on Lucy Bronze, strapped her own thigh in the match, and certainly lives up to her names.
LOI ACADEMIC
COD KINDLE
Yeah, but TOUGH is clearly not a Portuguese word/name! It’s her British mother’s maiden name.
9:22
Like our blogger, I had trouble with HALT (LOI) & TOGETHER, where I took ‘receive the woman’ to mean HER inside something.
I would say this one is a bit on the hard side. There are some easy clues, but buttonhole and fraudulent were tough, and I couldn’t see the second element of solar power and had to write down the anagram letters. Crackpot is a chestnut, but I must have forgotten it. Academic was my LOI, and I needed all the checkers. The only good thing is that I dodged the SCC.
Time: 15:11
A really bad 25 minutes here, with at least the last 10 of them spent on two intersecting answers. I wasn’t planning to admit to how I struggled with HALT and ACADEMIC, but having read the blog and the three comments published so far, I see that other seasoned solvers also had difficulties with them and I don’t feel quite so bad now.
24 mins…
An early morning solve, and I think it showed. Quite a few tricky double definitions and the SW area of the grid had me stumped for a while. Thankfully, 12dn “Crackpot” eventually came and opened up 17ac “Convenient” and 14ac “Reason”. Main hold up at the end was 6dn “Academic”.
FOI – 5ac “Halt”
LOI – 6dn “Academic”
COD – 6dn “Academic”
Thanks as usual!
All done in 14, except academic, which took us to 21, and only then after giving up and guessing letters with reveal. At least it wasn’t a hidden!
Thanks Hurley, and welcome to you Dvynys as a blogger.
After a brisk start in the NW I found this decidedly chewy in places with my main hold ups being TRAP, BUTTONHOLE (where I was looking for a particular type of plant, which always fills me with dread) and ACADEMIC.
Some top quality clueing but my favourite today was ADVOCATE for the surface.
Finished in 9.46.
Thanks to Hurley the work out and Dvynys for the excellent blog.
7:24. My slowest for over 3 weeks. Held up mostly by HALT and TRAP, my LOI which needed an alphabet trawl. I liked the nod to the footballer Lucy. Thanks Hurley and Dvynys.
A good puzzle but tough. Most went in quite well but the NW corner was my undoing: HALT, TOGETHER, STRIPE, ACADEMIC. As a lifelong research scientist and academic I bristled at the last one; practical laboratory work at the bench using sophisticated apparatus and instruments is far from impractical. A word that is often, and carelessly, used to malign the wrong people in my experience.
There were some great clues, though – KINDLE, CONVENIENT, PEDESTAL, ADVOCATE…… plus some fine anagrams.
Oh, and I missed the SCC by the skin of my teeth, not helped by a careless RFEL which took a little time to see.
Thanks to Hurley and Dvynys.
About ACADEMIC, I take your point as a fellow one, but it’s common usage that governs us here, however wrongheaded it appears to the specialist point of view.
17:25. Super fast start then it was going to pot for no reason, I was caught by the trap, then managed to crack the SW corner.
Ta (I’ve been truly) HAD
It’s interesting how different minds work. HALT and ACADEMIC were immediate write-ins for me, but I struggled with the SW corner, taking far too long for the obvious CRACKPOT. Thanks Hurley and Dvynys.
Rather slow today. A technical DNF as I needed Chambers CD. Just could not get ACADEMIC, so annoying.
I was also slow in SW as, like others, I tried CRACKers instead of CRACKPOT. Eventually I got POLE but lazily looked up LOI TRAP.
1a and 1d easy but that was deceptive. I did like FRAUDULENT, PEDESTAL, KINDLE and GANG. Oh and BUTTONHOLE, an early solve.
Thanks vm, Dvynys.
24:28 to finish a challenging puzzle. HALT, POLE, TRAP, ACADEMIC amongst the hold ups. Isn’t MAGNOLIA a tree, not a shrub?
26.45 We started off rather well in the SW, but that was a long time ago. HALT brought us to a stop of some minutes. NW took time. STRIPE was a very late PDM (that kind of band). ACADEMIC eluded us until all else was in.
Exhausted.
Good puzzle.
Thank you Hurley and Dvynys.
7.26 I whipped through this only slowing down for CONVENIENT, POLE, CRACKPOT and TRAP at the end. Thanks Dvynys and Hurley.
16:18. Another who ground to a HALT in the NE corner. TOGETHER with ACADEMIC, GANG, and STRIPE. Kudos to Hurley for his setters skills.
Thanks both.
16:39 for the solve. I had a sticking point in the SW which resolved as ten mins ticked up and then spent the next seven minutes figuring out the unhelpfully checked ACADEMIC. Nice puzzle; felt like there were a lot of anagrams but fortunately they unravelled kindly.
End of November marks my 4th anniversary of doing the QC. Prior to that I was doing the Daily Mail Quick; as well as Sudokus which led me to watch one of the Cracking the Cryptic videos about the QC. I decided it would be a good challenge for the dark, winter December nights and often proceeded to spend over two hours trying to solve it. I found this blog over on Livesolve in the January and spent the next 2-3years complaining QCs were too difficult! Took me six months to break out of the SCC and almost two years to achieve a sub-10.
Consequently to have achieved a median time of 8:53 for November – 17 of 25 QCs sub-10; only one visit to the SCC and one mistake in the last two months – is a standard I’m not sure I ever expected to reach. It’s one I’m satisfied with whereas much of my early grumpiness was down to a feeling that my times weren’t reflective of my capabilities and that my improvement was frustratingly slow. need to attempt more 15x15s next year to continue to upskill.
Anyway thanks to Hurley for another good QC and to Dvynys for the blog – as well as to all the other bloggers who’ve contributed over the past four years and everyone commenting here.
Congratulations on the progress!
Great progress!
Great effort.
Excellent sustained progress, Mr Plates. Very well done!
Thanks Mr Random – you inspired me to keep those damn stats!
Great progress #50.
I started three years ago and have not missed a QC since. I doubt I will reach your level but there has been a great deal of enjoyment on the way.
L Plates to New Driver to … ???
Well done!
To ‘Advanced driver’, in due course.
Thank-you #5 – as long as you enjoy it and are happy with the level you reached that’s all which matters. I’m sure I’ve seen you reporting more sub-20s in recent times.
Congratulations! Your journey made for interesting reading. We were only saying this morning that we felt we had long plateaued – yet, the truth is when we started, getting more than 4 or 5 answers was quite pleasing. Now we nearly always finish, occasionally in a time below teens, more often than not keep clear of the SCC, yearn for sub 10 and Andy of Anagram Solver fame has long since left our social circle. We have had much merriment along the way – not the least of which has been reading the blog and commentary. Good, friendly fun. You have further inspired us! : )
Thank-you and well done on your own progress.
I went cold turkey and gave up the Check and Reveal buttons after a couple of months. I only made it out of the SCC 14 times in my first year out of 239 puzzles although Trelawney (who else?!) gave me a PB of 11:13.
In fact I only had five sub-15 solves that year and I distinctly recall thinking it was probably as best I could ever hope for.
I’ve done a lot of puzzles across a range of papers since I started so although my progress is excellent, it’s not just down to doing the QC.
Great progress, great report, well done! An inspiration to those of us following in your wake.
Thanks all.
I’m aware that my posts now usually start with a decent time – I do this to ensure it gets picked up by the Quitch rather than to show off.
But I will say that in my early days, I was always willing to give my time hoping it would encourage others to do so and break stigma around slower times – example of 57min report here on a Pedro … https://timesforthetimes.co.uk/times-quick-cryptic-2196-by-pedro#comments
Found you! L Plates…. searched for ND. Surely you are long past ND now…
I suspect one day we’ll see a photo of speeding fine : )
Not sure when we started. Doubtless JohnInterred would know. Whatever – I remember tentatively raising nose above parapet here, feeling a little out of my depth only to find the pond dwellers welcome all – regardless of swimming ability. A friendly start to our mornings.
Long past the ND moniker but don’t want to confuse anyone with another name change.
I didn’t find this easy, but I certainly didn’t struggle either. From TIRESOME to TRAP, which did take some thinking, in 7:02. Thanks Hurley and Dvynys.
Off to a flying start when the first four across clues went straight in. Others quickly followed but then it was a long haul to solve the SW corner (guessing POLE unlocked it) and a final struggle with STRIPE and ACADEMIC.
32.34 to finish.
Thanks Hurley and welcome Dvynys as a QC blogger. Appreciated as always.
I had seven after 20 minutes but finished with 19 after about another hour on and off. Fraudulent and buttonhole were eight and nine.
Didn’t get 6d but that would be my CoD.
Didn’t get 17ac, 12d (I was looking for two four letter words for drugs, obviously I’m not familiar with the subculture), nor 22ac.
Not too pony today 🙂
Off to a great start with the top two Acrosses and first three Down clues going straight in (moreorless). ACADEMIC required all of its checkers and my L3I were CRACKPOT (I also had CRACKers for a while), POLE and TRAP.
Time = 21 minutes. A good day, despite not quite avoiding the clutches of the SCC.
Many thanks Dvynys and Hurley.
Pretty regulation I thought, though ACADEMIC and TRAP needed time to click. COD to CRACKPOT, very good!
Many thanks Hurley and the unspellable Dvynys.
Excellent. Thanks to Hurley and Dvynys. (Thanks Templar I was sure I must have mangled that) I was was about to write that it took me three times as long as it should have done in retrospect, but it seems (almost) everybody else was in the same boat. I have no idea why, the answers are all everyday words, and there is nothing even remotely unusual in the wordplay. I also dislike brand names as answers, but I think Kindle just about clears the line that everybody must have heard of them if they havn’t been living in a cave. Particularly with the stark “reading device” – name three others! I must be off now I have to Dyson the carpet.
20:14
Easy enough but just couldn’t see LOI ACADEMIC which added 5 minutes to the clock.
Nothing too obscure but still Crackpot, Trap, Academic and Convenient didn’t come quick. I just wasn’t in Hurley’s wavelength today.
15:02 for a bafflingly tricky straightforward puzzle. POI HALT, which took forever but then gave me LOI ACADEMIC. I enjoyed MUSEUM, CRACKPOT and CONVENIENT. Hats off to Hurley and many thanks to Dvynys (spelled Dvynys, OK, but pronounced…?)
11.01. Unaccountably slow.
16:09 and certainly the hardest of the week by far for me. TRAP was my biggest stumbling block, followed by the all-too-simple POLE, but there were many hesitations over things which, as usual, look obvious in retrospect. COD CRACKPOT. BUTTONHOLE also very good, and now I know that it can be used for the flower itself. I saw MAGNOLIA immediately, thank goodness, but around here they are generally trees, not shrubs.
Thanks Hurley and Dvynys, your narrative of the fumbling solve was very pleasing, so nice to know I have company. Also Lucy Bronze, wow, I had no idea.
13:02 here. Fast start, slow early-middle, fast late-middle, hard stop on MAGNOLIA and then a late rush to finish. As often happens, my COD is also my LOI: CONVENIENT.
Thanks to Hurley and Dvynys.
DNF. Gave up after 28 minutes, the last five or so staring blankly at what would turn out to be ACADEMIC. I’m not an enormous fan of that particular clue, and only partly due to failure and sour grapes.
Thank you for the blog!
Gave up with HALT and ACADEMIC unsolved, both of which I should have got. Also incredibly slow to get TRAP. Brain has been absent these last couple of weeks. Hopefully it will return next week! I did like CRACKPOT. Thanks all.