Time Quick Cryptic 1016 by Breadman

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A thoroughly enjoyable slice of crossword fare here in this far from bread and butter puzzle. Our setter obviously used their loaf to cook up 4dn, 5dn and possibly 1ac – I hope you rise to the challenge.

I relish the different styles of blogging on this site – life would be dull if everyone were the same. Mine attempts brevity (although I do go on a bit sometimes) on the basis that this is usually sufficient to explain the clues and leaves the door open, hopefully, to people coming forward with any questions. The only thing we like here more than rattling through a QC in sub ten minutes (as in today’s) is to get comments/feedback/questions. So please do ask away.

ACROSS

1. A bit on the side – mistress. Given our setter’s name the additional item of food could be a roll.
8. Barmen – pub staff. Prepare for conflict (ARM) during peak (BEN – as in Nevis).
9. Maoist – political adherent. Anagram (new) of IS TOM A.
10. Stye – swelling. Seen in che(ST YE)sterday.
11. Laughter – sign of enjoyment. Afterwards (LATER) overwhelms cry of disgust (UGH).
12. Totem – symbol. Child (TOT) starts to (E)ncounter and (M)aths. Cleverly disguised separation of maths and symbol.
13. Gilet – jacket. For my fellow non-fashionistas out there it’s a a waist- or hip-length garment, usually sleeveless, fastening up the front; sometimes made from a quilted fabric, and designed to be worn over a blouse, shirt, etc. American soldier (GI), allowed (LET).
15. Proposer – one hoping to marry. Working girl (PRO), problem (POSER).
17. Bear – double definition.
19. Lean-to – shed. Group of starts (LEO) surrounding worker (ANT).
20. Rookie – beginner. Man on (chess) board (ROOK), that is (IE).
21. Consternation – dismay. A deviously clued word play – people (NATION) after company (CO) and an anagram (altered) of RENTS.

DOWN

2. Blast – mild oath. British (B), at the end (LAST).
3. Tempest – storm. Gathered (MET) to the north (upwards = TEM), a destructive thing (PEST).
4. Nan – double definition – the grandmother and then Indian bread.
5. Hamburger – meaty sandwich. German city (HAMBURG), over half gone ov(ER).
6. Sloth – laziness. Unwilling (LOTH) to support son (S).
7. Dessert – pudding. Homophone (when talking) of desert.
11. Limestone – rock. Anagram (playing) of MEN LOSE IT. I liked the surface.
12. Torpedo – weapon. Training (PE) and event (DO) below hill (TOR). LOI as I took a while to separate training from event.
14. Lab coat – what scientist may wear. Anagram (strangely) of A LOT penning first three letters – of the alphabet – (ABC). COD for a new-to-me device for a QC in this generously defined clue.
16. Pants – a you-say-tomato double definition straddling the UK/US language divide.
18. Amigo – friend. Earlier (AGO) seen around our favourite crossword-land motorway (M1).
20. Ran – organised. Gunners (RA – Royal Artillery), name (N).

47 comments on “Time Quick Cryptic 1016 by Breadman”

  1. DNK GILET, but the cluing was generous. It took me a while to remember 1ac; something about ‘your father’ popped into mind first, though it was obviously a non-starter. PANTS hasn’t reached the US, to the best of my knowledge, but it’s shown up several times as the anagram indicator in 15x15s. 6:37.

  2. 13:20

    Wasted a bit of time on 21a, not counting letters, and thinking anagrist was ‘company rents’ as checkers fitted.

    Only unparsed clue was 14d. Agree with blogger: good to see a new clue type.

    Did not like PRO=’working girl’ : two ugly terms for prostitution

    1. Agree with you about ‘Pro’. Bit of a giggly schoolboy term in my day (my ‘day’ was many decades ago though 😉).
  3. ↑ Merlin you are flying with your times!

    19 mins, was weary of typos today so checked bear, maoist etc.

    Only holdups were proposer, limestone and LOI consternation.

    Liked torpedo, proposer,and COD laughter.

    Edited at 2018-01-30 04:42 am (UTC)

  4. 6 minutes for this offering from Breadman, a rare visitor to these parts as setter with this being only his fifth puzzle since September 2015 and yet three of his five (the 1st, 3rd & 5th) have been blogged by Chris. His true identity seems to be shrouded in mystery although I think I did know it at one time but failed to make a note of it.

    Anyway this in my view was everything a QC should be in that it’s mostly straightforward and its one slightly unusual word (GILET) was getable from wordplay. The other tricky clue was 21ac consisting of quite complex wordplay, presenting a little extra challenge for those whose aim is to graduate to the 15×15 where it would not have been out of place.

    Edited at 2018-01-30 06:12 am (UTC)

    1. I wondered if this might be another pseudonym for Don (Bradman, Quixote, Pascale, etc.), with a bit of a play on the Bradman version, and all related to Don or Donald. It would be interesting to know if Breadman’s other submissions included references to bread, but I don’t have time to look them up.
  5. About 25 mins largely due to trying to solve in sequence (all the across in order first, then all the downs,also in order) didn’t quite make it due to 12a and 21a. Incidentally limestone is 11d not 8.
  6. Mercifully accompanied this time by a fast train.

    Agree with Merlin about the ugliness of “pro”/“working girl”, did not like that.

    Thanks for the blog, Chris.

    Templar

  8. Fairly straightforward today. I had vaguely heard of a GILET. Like others, did not like that use of PRO very much. Hadn’t come across ABC for the “first three” before. A new formulation is always good so my COD too. Enjoyed 1ac. Very risqué.
    PlayUpPompey
  9. What dirty minds you all have – lol. What’s wrong with working girl = pro = professional?

    Like others, I found this relatively easy, completing before the rattler got to Surbiton. Very enjoyable nonetheless.

    1. Nothing wrong with ‘working girl=pro=professional’; the problem is with ‘working girl=pro=professional [snicker, snicker]’. ‘working man’ does not mean professional, nor does ‘working woman’; ‘working boy’ I’ve never come across, certainly not with the meaning ‘rent boy’; why should ‘working girl’ have its proprietary meaning?
  10. Easier than usual, I thought, enabling me to record a Quickie PB of 5:54 (which is still more than Verlaine X 3!). But still good fun. I took longer to do today’s Concise.
  11. Like Vinyl, I biffed TORNADO at 3d and had to revisit it. 1a went straight in, and I ploughed through from top to bottom with only LIMESTONE holding out for pen and paper at the end. HAMBURGER also needed the checkers before the penny dropped. 7:45. Nice puzzle. Thanks Breadman and Chris.
  12. Chris, nothing to do with the puzzle or blog, but what can we expect from young James in Pyeongchang next month?
    1. Thanks for your interest. He’ll be there and is fit and skiing really well. The many variables with course and weather in the mountains make predictions impossible but he’s in the mix. What you can definitely expect is real enthusiasm and commitment.
      1. The enthusiasm and commitment is taken as read. Is he doing just the slopestyle? If I’ve understood correctly the Big Air stuff he’s been doing well at only appears to be in the Olympics in its board version.
  13. My solving time was disrupted by the 20 week scan: I was expecting the NHS to give me at least 20 minutes. Started well but limped home with some unparsed until reading the blog. LOI 20ac, COD 21ac. Thanks Chris and Breadman.
      1. I suspect some time around the arrival of no3 there will be an NHS cut I will be limping home from.
    2. Hmm – that opens up a whole new line of thought – unusual places/activities whilst solving a cryptic crossword. Congratulations by the way.
      2. I wonder if ‘extreme solving’ would catch on as much as ‘extreme ironing’ has? Do google images of the latter if you have never seen the various locations.
  14. Well, got off on the wrong foot being a relative novice 1ac – a bun in the oven. Even though it still sort of fits and caused me some amusement.
    Comeonuirons
  15. At 20 mins, my fastest solve so far this year, and a relief after yesterday’s struggle. I am sure I would have taken over twice as long 12 months ago, but some clue conventions are slowly beginning to stick in the mind, for example nation/people. I hope that anyone new to this takes some encouragement from knowing that it does (eventually) get easier. Invariant
  16. This was a strange solving experience for me. The first few clues starting with 1a seemed so easy that I thought this was a starter puzzle for new solvers. The bottom half proved much more difficult. And I fell into the trap of carelessly putting Tornado for 3d (did the setter intend this?).
    21a was tricky inter alia and at 12a I thought it started TE..
    After correcting Tornado I finished in 19 minutes having struggled to parse Tempest. Good puzzle. COD to 21a. David
  18. The top half went in very easily but I got completely bogged down trying to make an anagram out of company rents in 21a, before eventually noticing there weren’t enough letters. The parsing of 12d (LOI) also took a while to figure out. I completed it in 14 minutes with my COD going to 12a.

  19. Posting late as I have been away today however, completed this QC before leaving. And have been troubled by it all day.
    Much to enjoy in this QC however, in this time of furore re:Weintstein/Trump/BBC pay et al, think you really need to ‘up your game’ Breadman (and, poss., Ed. too).
    1a ‘mistress’ = ‘A bit on the side’, and 15a working “girl”= ‘Pro’. Oh, please, NO!
    And I say this because I really care about the continuing quality of The Times crosswords.
    1. Agree! Have to say “pro” left a nasty taste (so to speak). Why not just use “expert”? Otherwise, a great test of my gradually increasing skills and once again it was finished with the aid of alcohol!
      Just out of interest, are cryptic solvers skewed towards the male persuasion? Obviously I don’t know the setters’ gender, but most bloggers/commenters seem to be men. Or maybe all the anonymouses (anonymi?!) are women?
      1. Hi, I’m a female solver and enjoy the QC and comments each weekday. However, the number of minutes taken, ‘personal best’, etc, normally deters me from commenting. I’m not competitive and I don’t particularly want to get faster finish times. Just love the challenge, the wordplay and parsing. Sal
        1. Hello! Definitely with you on the timing thing (I tend to do it in two goes anyway, a bit in my lunch hour and the rest after work). I don’t think it’s a particularly useful way of measuring my progress…although a ten minuter would be nice 🙂
          1. When I started doing cryptic crosswords I could use a calendar rather than a clock to measure progress. As you say – a ten minuter is nice – and when it gets down to those sort of times it’s relatively interesting to others in that bracket. It can also be a general indicator to beginners to see if they’re struggling (or zooming through) a puzzle found to be more or less difficult by more experienced solvers.

      2. Thank you Lucy. I have no problem with Times Cryptics being male dominated and enjoy learning new words related to cricket and golf etc. because, along the way, I learn so much more.
        Where I draw the line is overt misogyny vis: my commnets above.
        The Times editors may want to consider the fact that many of their (needed) subscribers are women and ,as you say, may be some of the ‘Annony-mouses’
        1. It’s really good to get your comments here. In the 15×15 blog the females have been posting for longer so I know it’s a pretty even split. Lots more ‘anonymous’ on the QC but I think there’s a good mix. There is certainly a mix of male and female setters.
          1. Really? I have no information on the 15×15 setters but I know real names of 14 QC setters plus one now deceased, and they are all men.
        2. It’s really good to get your comments here. In the 15×15 blog the females have been posting for longer so I know it’s a pretty even split. Lots more ‘anonymous’ on the QC but I think there’s a good mix. There is certainly a mix of male and female setters.
    2. Agree! Have to say “pro” left a nasty taste (so to speak). Why not just use “expert”? Otherwise, a great test of my gradually increasing skills and once again it was finished with the aid of alcohol!
      Just out of interest, are cryptic solvers skewed towards the male persuasion? Obviously I don’t know the setters’ gender, but most bloggers/commenters seem to be men. Or maybe all the anonymouses (anonymi?!) are women?
  20. Had typhoon and tornado ready until 10ac stye made me think torrent. Once 8ac sorted then obviously tempest. Not often 4 solutions seem plausible.
    Sub 20 so chuffed.
    PS. Happy with Pro. Maybe need to use Rent one day. To be totally inclusive would love to see how ladyboy could be parsed. Beyond me.
  21. Another PB here (by quite some way) at 8:15.

    Faltered slightly at LOI ROOKIE until I remembered that references to men and boards usually mean chess pieces.

    COD 21a which had me trying to come up with anagrams of “company rents” for a while (until I counted the letters!).

    Thanks Chris and Breadman.

    Edited at 2018-01-30 08:30 pm (UTC)

  22. A very late post as this had to wait until well after supper. Managed to innocently avoid the proper parsing of 15a but tend towards agreeing with the harrumphing – not a big deal I hope, but there are alternative cluings readily available. Some nice misdirection and good to get to grips with an infrequent setter. Helpful blog.
  23. Ten minutes for a straight sweep across, then down. Held up for a minute at the end of the first half by 21 CONSTERNATION (great word!) but I persevered and once I’d got there all the downs just flowed in.

    Luckily I knew GILET, though when I were a lad they were just bodywarmers, and my strategy meant I couldn’t mis-biff TORNADO for 3D as I already had the crossers!

    Thanks to setter and blogger.

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