Times Quick Cryptic 1131 by Joker

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
This initially seemed hard but I got underway quite quickly with 1dn (despite not being familiar with the university), got used to what seemed to me to be an unusual amount of verbiage in the clues and ended up completing with 14ac in 7:49. That would indicate on the easy side but not, I suspect, for less experienced solvers who may struggle to work out which parts of the clues are fillers/positioners and which require synonyms. There are a lot of initials going on as well. If you work your way through then do let us know how you got on.
I rather enjoyed 18dn but COD to 16dn for the surface and the organ.

ACROSS

1. ARCHITECTURE – complex structure. Anagram (about) of TEACH RECRUIT.
8. TIMES – occasions. Male (M) in neckwear (TIES).
9. TORNADO – high winds. Ripped (TORN), advert (AD), (O)ff.
10. NUCLEAR – involved in fission or fusion. New (N), Uranium (U), crystal (CLEAR).
11. NAILS – fixes. Northern (N), troubles (AILS).
12. SWEETS – puddings. Take little and time (WEE T) and fit them inside small and son (S S).
14. INTEND – mean. Finish (END) follows one (I) and [see comment below – on edit – one] no trumps (NT) – I presume this is score notation in Bridge.
17. MASKS – conceals. King (K) in large group of people (MASS).
19. OUTDOOR – in the garden. Not in (OUT), party (DO), or (OR).
21. NEEDING – requiring. Days (D) with an anagram (working) of ENGINE outside.
22. CLIMB – gain altitude. Carbon (C), wing perhaps (LIMB – of a bird).
23. INDEPENDENCE – autonomy. I (I) must get new (N) deputy (DEP) to finish (END) hence not beginning h(ENCE).

DOWN

1. ASTONISHMENT – great surprise. University (ASTON – Aston University is a public research university situated at Gosta Green, in the city centre of Birmingham, England), is (IS), hard (H) with fellows (MEN), beginning to (T)ire.
2. COMIC – children’s magazine. Company (CO) has Mike (M) in charge (IC).
3. INSPECT – look at. Creepy crawly (INSECT) running across piano (P).
4. ENTERS – breaks in. Tenants possibly are renters – take off the R (run off) to get r(ENTERS).
5. TURIN – Italian city. Go round (TURN), one (I).
6. REALISE – come to see. Genuine (REAL), increase in wages not starting r(ISE).
7. CONSIDERABLE – substantial. Anagram (mixed) of CARBON and DIESEL.
13. EASTERN – Chinese perhaps. English (E) getting behind (ASTERN).
15. NOTICED – saw. How a cake was left undecorated (NOT ICED).
16. TONGUE – mouth organ. Anagram (go wrong) of TUNE GO.
18. SLIME – goo. Sulphur (S) linked to yellowish-green (LIME).
20. ONION – plant. Portrayed by Ant(ONION)i.

29 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1131 by Joker”

  1. NHO Aston U, but figured there had to be one. Biffed INEPENDENCE, I think my LOI. I didn’t notice at the time (I don’t notice much of anything at the time), but I agree with Chris that the clues tended to run on. 5:38.
  2. A very similar experience to our blogger except that I wasn’t able to solve the long words until I had several checkers in place to give me some idea of the possible structure of the answers. In the end I scraped home in a few seconds over 9 minutes but felt I was very lucky to achieve my target 10. I suspect this is may be the wordiest set of clues ever in a QC.

    Edited at 2018-07-10 04:08 am (UTC)

  3. An average solve in 13:48 with the LOI 1ac ARCHITECTURE despite knowing it to be an anagram but wanting it to start with U. Penultimate solve needless to say was 1dn. I always struggle with the long clues. Biffed 23ac INDEPENDENCE so thank you Chris for the parsing.
  4. … it’s been a while since I’ve posted, but been plugging away to post a PB of approx 16 mins (all parsed correctly too!)!
    it’s probably been about 11 months to get here …
    thanks to all who help daily esp. the bloggers who explain the parsing on a daily basis.
    Carl
  5. Back to solving on paper, but I didn’t help myself by writing in NUCLEAR at 9a initially. Fortunately the crossing downs went straight in and the TORNADO emerged quickly from the scribbled-on cells. No problem with the long words for once helping me to a 0.7 kevin finish. I liked SLIME and TONGUE too, but never noticed the wordiness of the clues. Thanks Chris and Joker.
  6. A minor quibble here… the bid is actually One No Trump not One No Trumps, and can have quite a range of meanings depending on what system you play, as described here.

    Edited at 2018-07-10 07:12 am (UTC)

      1. It was Joker I was correcting for the erroneous plural, not you, Chris. 🙂
        1. References differ: Chambers “no trumps”; Collins “no trump”; COD “no trump(s)”. I think therefore Joker’s usage is within the rules of crosswords even if you can perhaps argue Chambers and COD are wrong, though presumably recording common usage?
          1. My point is specific to the bid at the one level. Just as the bidding goes, say, 1 Club, 2 Clubs, 3 Clubs (etc), In No Trumps it goes 1 No Trump, 2 No Trumps, 3 No Trumps (etc).
            1. But you are assuming Joker is cluing INT by “one no trumps” when in fact he is surely cluing I by “one” and NT by “no trumps” as separate cryptic elements, in which case I think your objection fails?
              1. I get your point. But then the surface reading makes no sense… without the extra ‘s’ it works fine both as a surface and a clue.
  7. Back-to-back sub-2 scores on the Kevometer! (1.7 Kevins today). It can’t last. Long anagrams suit me.

    I didn’t notice the clues being longer or wordier than normal (except maybe 23ac, which seemed a bit elaborate). In fact I thought they added up to a wonderful puzzle, with several real chuckles in there – SWEETS, TONGUE and my COD NOT-ICED. Very good, Joker, thank you.

    Did anyone else put OUTSIDE first, instead of OUTDOOR? I thought that “side” was being used for “party”. No? Just me then.

    Thanks for the blog, Chris.

    Templar

  8. I did notice the clues were a bit verbose today. In fact I steered away from 1a until I had some crossers, although I constructed 1d from the bottom up, stating with MENT adding ISH and then seeing ASTON. 1a went in fairly soon afterwards. No major problems otherwise and finished in 6:06. FOI, TIMES, LOI, INDEPENDENCE. Thanks Joker and Chris.
  9. The long anagrams seemed to just fall into place today but still 2.1 on the kevometer. COD 16d / LOI 12a.
    Nice puzzle, good blog. Thanks. John
  10. Took me an age to see 1a but otherwise all pretty straightforward. I also toyed with OUTSIDE but 20d put me on the right track.
    5’30”
  11. 12 minutes, so on the easier side. 1a and 1d went straight in, which gave me a good start.
  12. A typically elegant Joker puzzle, I thought. I was on his wavelength today, starting with 11a and ending with Sweets. Time was between 9 and 10 minutes, so very quick for me.COD to 16d. David
  13. Slightly on the easier side I thought. I found the longer clues helpful as I was able to build up the answers (eg 1dn, 23ac) and they led to some rather good surfaces. Enjoyed NOTICED, the sort of clue I always enjoy (my COD). 1dn my LOI, with all the checkers found it easy to build the answer.
    Thanks for the update on the use of 1NT. My usage is described as “generally obsolete”. Sums up my bridge I’m afraid.
    PlayUpPompey
  14. Another PB at 3:45 so by definition a very easy one for me. Having two long write-ins at 1a/1d got me off to a flying start.
  15. 27 mins here, which is about my average these days. I had a school friend who went to Aston, so I was able to parse 1d without too much trouble and that gave me a good start. Lost time over the 17ac/18d combination – probably two of the easiest clues on the grid, but that’s never stopped me from over-complicating things. Overall, I thought this was a good QC from Joker, with some nice clues. Invariant
  17. An unhurried solve in 8 minutes: nice to welcome the TORNADO on RAF 100 day: watched them fly by (at some distance) from my front door. Perhaps NUCLEAR, CLIMB, INDEPENDENCE and ASTONISHMENT can be woven into the narrative, too!
  18. This was a relatively quick solve for me, but I wonder if 12a is problematic. I was always told that a pudding was a ‘suite’ – as in follows the main course, not a sweet. Not true?
  19. Nothing too tricky today, although I was inexplicably held up by my LOI 13d (and I’m sure something very similar has appeared before). 16d made me laugh when I realised I wasn’t looking for some obscure musical instrument. Completed in 14.09
  20. Been doing these for sometime now and although never particularly good at completing them at one sitting do still enjoy the overall experience of attempting to solve the crossword. First time time today that I have gone through all the clues start to finish to complete the grid at one attempt. Getting 1a &1d
    quickly helped. Admit this one was on the easy side and I seem attuned to Jokers style but very enjoyable and very smug nevertheless. Didn’t time it – see above ! – but under 30mins.

Comments are closed.