As we begin the week that will see the 100th Quick Cryptic, it is mind-boggling that simply making the puzzle available to punters is proving such an IT conundrum (in other technology news, today marks the 45th anniversary of the first human walking on the moon). There have been at least 20 occasions (principally Mondays) in the life of the Quick Cryptic so far where the link provided on the Times website has not pointed to the correct puzzle, with today being the latest. As has been mentioned in the forum, these persistent IT glitches are doing their part to undermine the whole point of these puzzles, namely to attract new solvers to the world of cryptic crosswords.
Today’s puzzle can be found at: http://feeds.thetimes.co.uk/timescrossword/20140721/219/
This is an unusual grid in that it doesn’t possess half-turn symmetry and is instead symmetrical about the minor diagonal. I must admit that this isn’t something that I normally pay attention to, and hence I can’t swear it hasn’t happened before, but it did jump out at me.
The puzzle itself doesn’t appear to have any pitfalls, other than perhaps 18D, but feel free to ask for any clarification in the comments.
Definitions are underlined.
| Across | |
| 1 | Courteous American train driver, one good at building bridges (5,8) |
| CIVIL ENGINEER – CIVIL (Courteous) + ENGINEER (American train driver) | |
| 8 | Granny’s first attempt to digest a French report (7) |
| GUNSHOT – G (Granny’s first, i.e. first letter of Granny) + SHOT (attempt), all around (to digest) UN (a French, i.e. the word “a” in French) | |
| 9 | Fertile spot originally on a small island (5) |
| OASIS – O (originally on, i.e. first letter of on) + A + S (small) + IS (island) | |
| 10 | Stubborn general being conveyed around (12) |
| INTRANSIGENT – GEN (general) with IN TRANSIT (being conveyed) around | |
| 12 | Eavesdrop, seeing English king carrying a toupee (6) |
| EARWIG – E (English) plus R (king, i.e. Rex) inside (carrying) A WIG (toupee). Note that “carrying” can be used in wordplay to indicate either putting something inside or outside something else, though “wearing” might have produced a better surface here | |
| 14 | Content of handbag has thief horrified (6) |
| AGHAST – hidden inside (Content of) handbAG HAS Thief | |
| 17 | Trouble engulfing Republican family member (7) |
| BROTHER – BOTHER (Trouble) around (engulfing) R (Republican) | |
| 19 | Elderly person regularly appearing in soiled linen? (5) |
| OLDIE – alternate letters (regularly appearing) of sOiLeD lInEn. Not, perhaps, the most uplifting of surface readings, though arguably topical given the grim stories emerging from certain nursing homes in recent times | |
| 20 | Received by the ear, or spoken by the mouth, say (5) |
| AURAL – homophone (say) of oral (spoken by the mouth) | |
| 21 | Retired vicar with a partly enclosed portico (7) |
| VERANDA – REV (vicar, i.e. reverend) reversed (Retired) AND (with) A | |
| 22 | Anguish produced by a girl’s lock of hair (8) |
| DISTRESS – DI‘S (a girl’s, i.e. belonging to Di) + TRESS (lock of hair) | |
| 23 | Considered suitable material for a hat (4) |
| FELT – double definition | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Barred enclosure requiring four different keys (4) |
| CAGE – the wordplay is telling you to pick four different letters from the musical keys A, B, C, D, E, F, G, which some might not consider as being particularly helpful. Given that the definition is precise and the surface reading makes pleasing use of a different meaning of key, I don’t think anyone will quibble too vehemently about it though | |
| 2 | Merchant who’s very new in Bury? (7) |
| VINTNER – V (very) plus N (new) inside INTER (Bury). A vintner sells wine, and Chambers tells me that the shop (s)he sells it from is a vintry | |
| 3 | Composer‘s husband entertained by tragic king (5) |
| LEHAR – H (husband) inside (entertained by) LEAR (tragic king). The composer in this case is Franz Lehar, perhaps best known for his operetta The Merry Widow. Lear is a common crossword king in the main cryptic, where his daughters Regan, Goneril, and (less often) Cordelia can also be encountered | |
| 4 | Observing what a symphony in F is, say? (6) |
| NOTING – a quirky bit of wordplay, suggesting that a symphony in F is NOT IN G | |
| 5 | Support for decreasing activity? (7-5) |
| IRONING-BOARD – cryptic definition, made clear if you read decreasing as de-creasing, i.e. removing creases | |
| 6 | Woman one’s embraced by otherwise (5) |
| ELSIE – I (one) inside (embraced by) ELSE (otherwise). Maybe not the first woman’s name to spring to mind, unless you’re a fan of Coronation Street | |
| 7 | React as intended: some swimmers do (4,2,3,4) |
| RISE TO THE BAIT – the wordplay alludes to the fact that some fish will come to the surface for bait | |
| 11 | Important poet carrying round electronic instrument (8) |
| KEYBOARD – KEY (Important) + BARD (poet), around (carrying) O (round) | |
| 13 | Fitter holding up fashionable breathing aid (7) |
| INHALER – HALER (fitter – think hale and hearty) beneath (holding up) IN (fashionable) | |
| 15 | An Italian poet moving at a gentle pace (7) |
| ANDANTE – AN + DANTE (Italian poet), for the musical tempo that I also blogged in Quick Cryptic 36 | |
| 16 | Roam in borders of gorgeous spinneys (6) |
| GROVES – ROVE (Roam) inside GS (borders of gorgeous, i.e. the outside letters of GorgeouS) | |
| 18 | Plant Rumpole talked of in East London? (5) |
| ORRIS – homophone (talked of) of ‘Orace, or how someone from the East End of London would supposedly pronounce Horace, the first name of Rumpole of the Bailey (from the TV series written by John Mortimer). The root of the orris is used in perfumery and smells of violets | |
Orpheus was responsible last time out for my worst Quickie solving time ever, but today’s offering was straightforward and I completed it in only 8 minutes. I’d agree that 18 could present some problems as both parts of the clue are a little obscure so if you don’t happen know either you could be stuck.
Edited at 2014-07-20 11:45 pm (UTC)
I feel with its tricky vocab and cunning clueing this represents a very decent approach to a daily cryptic, so any newer solver who got more than half should not feel too downhearted.
Looking at the times on the Crossword Club leaderboard, I would say that today’s main puzzle was harder than average, with 1 across (i.e. the first clue you’re likely to have looked at) causing problems for many solvers. There’s also the nebulous concept of wavelength to consider, where two solvers of generally similar ability can have solving times wildly different for certain puzzles because one of the solvers “gets” the setter’s wavelength but the other doesn’t – it may be that you weren’t on today’s setter’s wavelength. So don’t be deterred!
Edited at 2014-07-21 08:57 pm (UTC)
If I had a guiding principle for ‘cheating’, it would be whatever is likely to help me remember the item for the next time. Usually – but not always – that means grinding it out for ten minutes or so (perhaps writing out all the alphabetical options if the first letter is missing). But, as mohn also says, it gets easier with practice.
Held up on 2d by the capital B in Bury too and only got 5d due to the cross letters.
Excellent blog mohn2. I particularly like the way you explained related bits of GK and wordplay often found in the main puzzle. That is very helpful for me.
One to highlight for the beginners is 2d where the clue is worded in such a way that even if you’ve figured out that the wordplay elements are N for new, V for very and a word meaning bury, there are two ways to put them together. Is it VN together in bury or V, then N in bury? Where this sort of ambiguity exists my brain invariably tells me that the V and N go together and at times I find it hard to spot the possible alternative.
Although I don’t normally notice surface readings I enjoyed the handbag story at 14. Maybe the lady had just walked her dog and couldn’t find a bin, or was on her way to the doctor’s with a sample.
Edited at 2014-07-21 12:00 pm (UTC)
The unusual symmetry jumped out at me too. Quick Cryptic No 50 was also set on this grid – and No 55 had symmetry
which worked on the horizontal axis. Skeleton Crosswords sometimes use a variety of symmetry types but I haven’t seen
this happening before in any other non-specialist daily or Sunday newspaper puzzles.
Perhaps other solvers may have come across them?
Stronon
Stronon
I tend to take this as a reminder that I’m not in the top league and never will be and I enjoy each puzzle in my own way. If I ever feel competitive I find another regular whose solving times are more attainable and measure myself against those.