I have been nervous all week about having to fill an entire grid with fully parsed clues, and I think that the pressure didn’t help my solving time (I wonder how long I can use that excuse!). You really come to appreciate TftT when you realise that, no matter how often you refresh the page, those explanations aren’t going to appear until you write them! So thanks from a long-time lurker to bloggers old and new. Hopefully I won’t let the side down.
Looking back over the first week of Quick Cryptics, I’m very grateful for this addition to the usual Times collection. Knowing how long it takes me to (partially) solve the main crossword, I sometimes only attempt it once or twice a week. So it’s really useful and encouraging (not to mention, fun!) to have a puzzle that I can complete on my way to work. Having said that, I found today’s offering quite difficult: after about 20 minutes I had 4 answers, most of the rest came in the next 20 minutes, and I then spent ages chewing over the final few. Total solving time: 1h15m.
Across |
1 |
PASTRAMI – “Prepared beef” from PAST (finished) with RAM (male sheep) and I. It took me a while after seeing “prepared” to stop desperately seeking anagram fodder. |
5 |
ACTS – Double definition. A book of the bible; parts of a play. edit: “theatre turns” is better explained by ACTS = turns on stage. Hat tip to ulaca.
|
9 |
STILL – “Photograph” from ST + ILL. |
10 |
NATURAL – Another double definition. If a note’s neither flat nor sharp, it’s natural; unbleached in colour. |
11 |
CLOTTED CREAM – “Rich dish” given by CLOTTED (set) and CREAM (elite). The term dish threw me a bit here – I was thinking of meals/puddings rather than individual ingredients. |
13 |
RAPTOR – “Bird” is the definition. Anagram of PART (indicated by “hybrid of”) + OR (yellow or gold in heraldry). |
15 |
TINTED – “Coloured” from TIN (can) + TIED (bound) excluding I (one). |
17 |
CROSS SECTION – “Annoyed” gives CROSS and “group in the orchestra” is SECTION, revealing what one would see on cutting. On first glance, I thought this might be “brass section” before realising that the definition was at the other end of the clue! |
20 |
AMERICA – Although often indicating the letters US, “United States” is the definition here. MA (mother) is taken backwards + ERICA (girl). |
21 |
ASIDE – Double definition. A disc’s A-side was the feature recording in ye olde days (or so I’m told). |
22 |
MINE – MAINE lacking A gives the “source of coal”. I’m not sure what ambiguity “perhaps” is supposed to cover – would the clue be unfair without it? |
23 |
VEHEMENT – HE-MEN (muscular chaps) in VET (make an inspection) provides the synonym of “forceful”. My LOI, and I ended up googling “hemen” thinking it might be a people known for their physical strength! In my mind, there’s only one He-Man. |
Down |
1 |
PEST – PESTO without the last letter (runs out before the end). |
2 |
SWILL – S (first letter of sickness) with WILL (fixed desire, as in “against one’s will”) for “inferior alcohol”. I didn’t know the definition as specific for alcohol. |
3 |
RELATIONSHIP – “Broken” indicates an anagram of R (right) + ETHIOPIANS + L (left) to give an “alliance”. |
4 |
MONKEY – The definition is “mischief-maker”, which is also M (the origin, or first letter, of mayhem) + ON + KEY (an island of the Florida archipelago). |
6 |
CURRENT – The definition is “now”. A RENT is a tear or rip in fabric, after CUR (mongrel). This went in à la nic_the_novice, but I had to look up rent=tear before blogging. |
7 |
SELF MADE – “Upset” indicates an anagram of FEMALE’S, which needs to be put about D (for diamonds) to give a phrase for “personally successful”. I’m sure I’ve seen “diamonds” to indicate DD as well, and already having one D from 15ac, I managed to talk myself out of writing this answer in straight away. I guess that the plural has been used to aid the surface meaning in this case. |
8 |
STOCK IN TRADE – Hosiery business is STOCKING TRADE, minus the G (no good) gives us a “professional commodity” – something used regularly by someone of a particular profession. |
12 |
PROCLAIM – PRO (in favour of) + CLAIM (to the right to mine a piece of land). I’m not sure I’d use this to mean “make a decision” unless I’m missing something? |
14 |
PROTEIN – An anagram of NOT RIPE (indicated by “unfortunately”) gives “good source of nourishment”. |
16 |
SENATE – SEE (view) surrounding (about) NAT (national) for a governmental assembly. |
18 |
OLIVE – “Tree” is the definition. O (ring) + LIVE (as it happens). |
20 |
WENT – “Travelled” is N (north) in WET (rainy environment). |
I took 20 minutes to solve and parse this and did not rate it at all easy in a few places.
I agree with your misgivings over 12dn. I can’t find any support for PROCLAIM = ‘make a decision’ and it’s perfectly possible to do that thing without proclaiming it.
On the need for ‘perhaps’ at 22, other things than coal can be mined could be one reason for having it but I would see it as optional. I’m not sure whether coal comes from anywhere other than a mine, in which case some indication of a query ought to be there.
I seem to remember a lot of garments were rent in the Bible.
I also didn’t know the alcohol reference at 2dn. A rare gap in my knowledge of the subject which I reckon is pretty comprehensive!
‘Aside’ was my last one in.
Edited at 2014-03-14 09:00 am (UTC)
23 minutes, with 5 at the end spent trying to justify ASIDE before the penny dropped.
Thanks for explaining the heraldic OR in 13. I had a vague recollection that a Raptor was some kind of bird of prey, and decided that made yellow plumage unlikely. But I was stumped for any alternative explanation.
Agree your comment (and jackkt) re. SWILL. I’ve drunk a lot of rough stuff in a lot of odd places (with even odder people), but never once have I heard this term. It was generally applied to school dinners which were, sadly, alcohol free.
On a friendly pedantic note, you might want to edit out the IS in your description of the anagram in 14 down.
PROCLAIM only went in because of the cryptic. I can’t find even a three point turn connection in the Thesaurus, though I wondered (a bit) about royal proclamations and such which were the equivalent of fixing the King’s decision: “so let it be written, so let it be done” Yul Brynner, the Ten Commandments.
I was bemused for a while by CROSS SECTION, since I only know of the four traditional orchestra sections and only “strings” fitted.
SWILL my LOI: probably Wodehousian?
Edited at 2014-03-14 09:57 am (UTC)
Another enjoyable solve today which has brought to an end a good week of Times puzzles, and a welcome addition to the crossword stable.
Wonder how long before the Saturday one sneaks in?
Edited at 2014-03-14 10:03 am (UTC)
Agree with everyone else on some of the definitions being a bit loose. 12d was a shocker. I had guessed the PROCLAIM and ASIDE from the wordplay but wasn’t confident.
I only knew OR from French for golden as in Côte-d’Or (the département not the Belgian chocolates honest ;). Didn’t know about the heraldic link and thought that yellow was a bit tenuous until you explained. I understand it comes from the Latin via French anyway.
I too was unaware of the inferior alcohol definition of SWILL, thought it only meant to guzzle. Again another guess for me.
RAPTOR took me ages, I only knew the dinosaur from Jurassic Park.
8d made me smile too.
This took me 9 minutes, with a couple at the end puzzling over SWILL, which I didn’t know, and CLOTTED CREAM, where the use of the word “dish” in the clue misled me into thinking that the answer would be some sort of dish.
I am enjoying these challenges and thanks to William for the blog.
I do enjoy a good omen myself (interesting how the superstitions of our forbears still resonate in our contemporary rationalist world…)
So, in Re. name, given you missed the first two, we are looking at Wednesday as the first one you did (one I am somewhat over-familiar with as it was my first blog)and where your name appeared: so, this punter’s analysis is
– Robin appears most likely
– Furze would be exotic but less likely
– Rake would be outstanding but improbable
– Minelayer would be downright unusual
Sorry, not intending to intrude on your privacy at all – just having a whimsical moment after a long week in the factory!
All the best
Nick
Edited at 2014-03-14 12:53 pm (UTC)
Z I believe BertieW went in for browsing and sluicing. I will join you on the tls later when I’ve a solid wedge of time. I’m curious to see what this week’s problem clue is.
Congratulations William on a fine job with a difficult puzzle.
Count me as another who entered PROCLAIM with a shrug. Not that it made a difference because the clue was one of the easier ones, but the enumeration of 4dn in the paper was an incorrect (7) rather than (6).
Now for some help – and apologies if this has been discussed and I missed it. I am still on a Crossword-Club subscription, and so don’t yet have a digital subscription. I have not been able to find the Quick puzzle on line. Is there a way to get it, or do I need to wait until I’m a full digital subscriber? Thx
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/puzzles/crossword/