Times 27949 – Chestnut Season

90 comments on “Times 27949 – Chestnut Season”

1. but I was rather pleased to finish in under 10 minutes, for the first time. Only 8 seconds under, but it was still gratifying (until I looked at the times recorded at the top of the table – I don’t know how they do it).
   1. I believe the speedsters write in one clue while they are reading another (and for all I know, solving a third). It’s a skill beyond my understanding, never mind my capability.
2. Thank heavens for an easy start to the week.
   Plenty of TREE FERNS where I live.
3. Easy stuff — just wished my brain could read twice as fast and I could type twice as fast on my ‘phone at 1am this morning.
   1. Of the fastest genuine solvers, Mohn and Jason are indeed in the UK, but Verlaine is now in California and Aphis99 is in Australia, so only some of them are solving after midnight.
      1. It would be enlightening, if one of them would post on here about the process. I experimented once by solving on paper, and then typing the answers in as quickly as I could; I think it took me about 4 and a half minutes!
         1. You could watch some of the old Mark Goodliffe videos on YouTube, where he does live solves. Unfortunately, he has gone on to Sudoku.
            1. Yes I do watch Cracking the Cryptic, I’ll see if I can find the older ones.
         2. I would say that the two crucial skills for fast solving are pattern-matching (i.e. seeing some letters in the grid and being able to think of words that might fit) and spotting where the definition is in a clue. When combined, these two skills mean you can see a potential answer without even needing to crack the wordplay element of the clue, thus reducing the puzzle to essentially a Concise crossword. Unfortunately developing these skills requires doing thousands and thousands of puzzles over tens of years.

            Today’s puzzle started something like this for me. 1A “Work unit” = ERG, reverse it, I only know one French city of the form GRE????? and “illustrious” fits the last five letters. 1D “too much” usually equals OTT and the definition is apparently “dance”, already have the initial G, can think of an answer that fits and the bit outside the OTT means “Handed over”. 3D is long hence worth a shot in order to get some crossing letters for other answers – already have the initial O, which in all likelihood corresponds to “Ring”, and “lecturer” generally equals DON. I know that words beginning ODONT are usually something to do with teeth, and TOLOGY fits the rest of the wordplay. 10A is another potentially helpful long one and the “Canada” bit, when combined with the initial V, suggests VANCOUVER something. Etc. Progress generally made use of previous answers, preferably where they had given an initial letter to an unanswered clue. The only hold-up was 20D RAMADAN, where the artist (often RA) and what appeared to be the definition (“fast”) suggested RAPIDLY, which I filled in but then deleted as I had spotted the “publicity” in the clue and couldn’t see how that could possibly be represented as part of PIDLY. I then moved on to another clue as nothing else came to mind, and by the time I came to 20D again I already had all the crossing letters. I think in this entire puzzle, the only bit of “cold solving” (i.e. where there were no letters already in the grid for a particular answer) was 1A.

            With regards to online solving, typing speed is critical (I solve much faster online than on paper). I can fill in a grid in 45s if I already know the answers. If it takes you 4m30s to do something similar, then your typing speed is one barrier to getting fast times online. The good news is that you can get better at typing in mere weeks.

            Note that solving quickly is only really of any use at the Championships (which are done on paper, not online). Enjoying a puzzle and savouring the clues is best done at a more gentle pace.

            John (mohn/mohn2)

            1. Thanks for that fascinating insight. I agree that it’s better to enjoy the solve at a steady pace; I only asked out of curiosity, as it astonishes me to see these times each day.
4. so perhaps a little ponderous compared to some of you. I found myself jumping to another clue if I didn’t see the answer immediately.
   LOI CRIB as I has no idea of cribbage, having never played it. In fact, I didn’t realise it was a card game.
5. Pointed here by Jackkt’s recommendation over on the QC, this was one of my faster solves for the 15 x 15, at just under 25 minutes, so thanks Jackkt. I knew GAUCHO, but just couldn’t recall the word for ages, and I enjoyed solving the two longest clues from wordplay. Thanks both.
6. A gentle stroll in 11 minutes with the solutions coming as fast as I could write them in — the sort of puzzle that makes me wonder, as per previous comments today, what physical and mental characteristics are required to complete the same puzzle in less than half the time.
7. The low SNITCH score encouraged me to venture from the security of the QC to one of my less frequent ventures into the comparative uncertainty of the 15×15, and I was rewarded by a straightforward, encouraging solve. Thank-you, setter.
8. I managed to complete this in 25 minutes, which is fast for me, confirming the general view that this was an easier than usual Monday Cryptic. Could have been faster if I hadn’t taken longer than I should have done to get SLIPSTREAM (22Ac) and RAMADAN (20D), my LOIs. Not surprised that the Leaderboard shows a clutch of sub-4 min times. The board is led by Mohn with an incredible 2.50 minutes. I’d have difficulty matching that even if I knew all the solutions in advance.
9. Nice and gentle which suited me fine. Had my first AstraZeneca jab on Friday (we’re a fair way behind the UK here) and was a little surprised to be completely knackered on Saturday. More or less back to normal yesterday, so no great harm done.
   1. I had my second on Saturday. No side effects at all, though the first one did put me out of sorts for a few hours. Hope your second jab is as easy as mine.
   2. I had my first jab at the beginning of February and had a slight headache next day, and felt very lethargic for a few days, but that was it. Second jab due 2 weeks from Wednesday.
   3. I too had a bad reaction to my first AZ jab, but as you say, after 48 hours all was well. I’m now ‘looking forwards’ to my booster (no date yet) with some trepidation.
   4. Just to balance things, I had my first AZ jab in February with no after-effects at all.
10. Like many above, I think this must have been unusually straightforward. A PB for me by quite some time – about six minutes, in fact.
11. Easy, no issues, 11 minutes, FOI GAUCHO LOI CRIB.
12. My best time for quite a while. Easily broke the Ten Minute Barrier.

    COD:SLIPSTREAM.

13. My second ever time under 10 minutes, and it was around 8, so my fastest ever. More time was spent writing than solving.
14. And yet another happy QC visitor.
15. I figured everybody would find this pretty easy, as I filled in almost all of the down answers (starting at the bottom) before doing any acrosses. Was glad, as I didn’t get around to it until I was almost ready to sleep. Like Kevin, I was was assuming DRUDGES was a somewhat unpleasant Brit term for undergarments, but I had heard of Barnaby.

    Edited at 2021-04-12 03:07 pm (UTC)

16. Another QCer to complete. LOI TREE FERN. It still took me a while but I shall blame the support I gave at lunchtime to the reopening pubs. Bracing to sit outside-in London, not Skegness.
    David
17. How does one make a banana last 13 minutes ?
    1. You don’t wanna know… :))
18. ….Di gifted at 14D ? The word seems superfluous. I found nothing of any note otherwise.

    FOI GRENOBLE
    LOI VANCOUVER ISLAND
    COD SLIPSTREAM
    TIME 6:50

    1. “Gifted” clues the “able” part. Di’s + put is on top of it.
       1. Ah, right. Brain not fully in gear today — thank you.
19. Very Mondayish, but Mondays have as much right to exist as any other day, I guess. Nothing wrong with a pleasant but easy solve.

    I am back on the TV tonight, for those that enjoy such things. Tonight, I shall be tested on my knowledge of the popular beat combo R.E.M. in an exciting semi-final…

    1. Rather like my effort way back when — did well on the GK, but didn’t capitalize on the specialist subject. At least it’s not “The End of the World As We Know It”. Are you going to try again ? 15 points in the GK round is a really good showing (I would have scored 12 on your questions).
       1. Cheers, Phil, yes, music can be a tricky specialism, can’t it…lesson learned, anyway. And yes, I very much expect I’ll have another crack, but not for a year or two – having to learn something in the required depth takes a lot of commitment. I even did a third subject, as I was a reserve for the final, and by the end of that I thought I’d just stick to my normal quizzes for a while!
20. Lots of comments on the QC blog that this was a gift, so I went to the trouble of noting start and finish times. A touch under 40 mins (sorry Merlin) in total, including parsing, which makes it a new PB (unfortunately by a country mile.) Wouldn’t mind the odd one like this every couple of weeks, if only to make up for the tough ones in between — last Friday’s being a good example. Invariant
21. ….Looking at the SNITCH, I’m glad I missed last Friday’s!
22. DNF and a real sense of an opportunity missed. This would have been an 8 minute solve and a PB by about 25 secs were it not for my insouciant approach to the spelling of insouciance which I chose to spell with one C and two Ss, or incorrectly as it might otherwise be described. Kicking myself.
23. Finally, one I completed without assistance. 29 mins but so, so satisfying. Easy for some but a super training exercise and confidence boost for we beginners. Thank you.

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