Times Quick Cryptic 1206 by Tracy

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A QC for the old hands to charge through and the newbies, I hope, to finish. That is if they don’t get all muddled, as I did, with 16dn which took the final minute of 7:28. There’s an unusual term in the definition of 3ac and a quibble at 6dn but I don’t think they should cause too much of a problem in this otherwise fun romp through a QC – thanks, Tracy. COD to 24ac for the clever surface.

ACROSS

1. UNDO – spoil. A in Parisian/French (UN), party (DO).
3. MINSTREL – jongleur – no, I didn’t know what this meant either but with the ST and the checkers it fell into place. FYI a jongleur was (in medieval France) an itinerant minstrel. Extremely (S)tou(T) surrounded by an anagram (somehow) of MERLIN.
9. TAVERNA – restaurant. Pub (TAVERN) with a (A).
10. INNER – exclusive – inner circle. Meal d(INNER) without the starting letter.
11. DARTS – game. Belonging to (inside) the clue – Havar(D ART S)tudent.
12. LEGION – very great number – a legion of friends. For example (EG) devoured by big cat (LION).
14. TEAR OFF A STRIP – carpet/tell off. Quickly remove (TEAR OFF) kit in sport is (STRIP).
17. STATUS – position. Briefly declare (STAT)e, American (US).
19. LIGHT – easy (eg duties). Trip by air without the first letter f(LIGHT).
22. OWNER – proprietor. Anagram (out) of WORN holding (locking) stor(E).
23. ISOLATE – cut off. Indeed (SO) and departed (LATE) after Island (I).
24. SWAN LAKE – ballet. Anagram (twisted) of ANKLE WAS.
25. KEGS – barrels. For example (EG) with (K)vas(S) around.

DOWN

1. UP-TO-DATE – contemporary. Anagram (dancing) of A TOP DUET.
2. DOVER – port. Daughter (D), extra (OVER).
4. IN A CLEFT STICK – facing a dilemma. Anagram (ruined) of CELTIC FANS KIT.
5. SWING – type of jazz. Southern (S), side (WING).
6. The version of this online is ‘Manage to attract endless resentment (7)’.
RANCOUR – resentment. Manage[d] (RAN), to attract (COUR)t – endless. I don’t think the clue quite works with the present tense of ‘manage’. I’m normally (reasonably) politely advised by posters that there is a good reason for something I disagree with or misunderstand – if not then perhaps this clue would qualify for the new term ‘golden raspberry’ (GR) as coined yesterday by louisajaney?
7. LARK – a bit of harmless fun. Poet (LARK)in – dropping ‘in’.
8. PRESTO – quickly. The last letter taken off an English city (PRESTO)n.
13. SPOTLESS – shining (very clean). Don’t see as many – SPOT LESS.
15. ANTENNA – dish (satellite dish). Social worker (ANT), girl (ANNE) served upwards.
16. SALMON – fish. Male (M) in shop (SALON). Tried to make shop=sell.
18. TYROL – mountainous region. Tracks (RY – railway) crossed by great number (LOT) all climbing – upwards.
20. GRACE (WG) – famous cricketer. Opening in (G)reat, competition – (RACE).
21. LOSS – deficit. In account(S SOL)icitor – raised/upwards.

32 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1206 by Tracy”

  1. I knew ‘jongleur’, but was quite surprised to find it here in a QC. I did not, on the other hand, know STRIP in the required sense, and barely knew the expression TEAR OFF A STRIP, so I had to wait for checkers and my memory to kick in. GRACE is the only cricketer I know. Liked 24ac. 6d has to be a typo; I don’t see any way to make ‘manage’ work. 5:10–actually, for the first time in recorded history, faster than the incredible Verlaine.
  2. 18 minutes which is almost my personal best. 6D would make more sense if the first word was ‘Managed’.
    Brian
  3. Whelp I wondered how on earth I’d managed to typo RUNCOUR. Thought I was losing it. Turns out I was blindly following the wordplay
  4. Impressive time there Kevin – it was one of those for me where I felt I was flying through but the clock said different.

    Knew Jongleur as a word (from the comedy club) but not specifically as a minstrel, so needed a few checkers for that.

    From what I can remember, GRACE is about the only cricketer’s name that ever comes up. I guess dead cricketers don’t have the same level of fame as dead footballists. or whatever they’re called – anyone want to play a game where you guess my sport of choice?

    6d was a biff so I didn’t even notice the typo, but it’s definitely there.

    5.35 so another rare “-Verlaine”, although a “+Kevin”, which niggles slightly (sorry, no offence intended)

    Tomorrow’s another day though, and having posted.sub-3-minutes last week I’m keen to repeat it….

    Edited at 2018-10-23 06:56 am (UTC)

  5. 25 but with tirol for 18d 🤬
    Antenna, strip, salmon, spotless and grace all slowed me down.

    Cod spotless.

  6. Sorry but I fared no better than yesterday finishing in 22 mins, not helped by putting Bristo instead of PRESTO at 8d. I have never heard of 4d IN A CLEFT STICK so I needed all the checkers to solve the anagram and similarly needed the checkers for 18d TYROL which did at least ring a faint bell. My penultimate solve was 23a ISOLATE which was just a little too clever for my morning cogitations and LOI 16d SALMON which I parsed after solving.
    1. I also agree that 6d should be Managed for Ran. It gets my vote for GR.

      Edited at 2018-10-23 08:36 am (UTC)

  7. More like a QC – thanks, Tracy (and Chris). Good fun with more scope for newbies. I liked Swan Lake but Antenna, Salmon, Spotless slowed me a little. LOI Swing. Thought I was motoring but still only managed 3 Kevins. John M.
  8. Very much enjoyed today’s puzzle. Finished in 30 minutes with, inexplicably, 10 across as LOI. Some chuckles here : particularly liked “undo” and “spotless “. I really like long answers with lots of words in them (e.g. 14 across and 4 down) because they are usually either easy anagrams or very witty or both of the above. Mind you, I didn’t grasp why “tear off a strip ” was right until I read the blog…so clever! I didn’t even notice that the tense was wrong in 6 down so no GRs from me today! Thanks so much, setter and blogger.
  9. Solved online in 11:23, so quick for me.
    LOI was Isolate. COD to Spotless.
    I manged to avoid a lazy STATES for 17a otherwise made good progress through the clues. I had Salmon early but couldn’t parse it; so spent a bit of time checking that before Isolate went in.
    Fun puzzle. David
  10. A good puzzle although I got hung up on 5d. I put steam which is a type of jazz and could not get my mind off of that. Still very reasonable puzzle. Thanks to the blogger. Tim
  11. Knew Jongleur, as a word, from the Comedy Club, but not its exact meaning. The SE held me up longer than the rest of the puzzle, and I saw the definition and wordplay at 6d without registering the missing D. I also considered STEAM at 5d, but LEGION put me right. 8:57. Nice puzzle. Thanks Tracy and Chris.
  12. Flying start but then delayed by TEAR OFF A STRIP (bought the dummy on “carpet”) and LOI TYROL to limp home in 3 Kevins, which was disappointing when I had half the grid done like lightning.

    Chalk me up as another who actually typed in RUNCOUR relying on the wordplay … GR from me to that one! I think GRACE crops up so often because his name appears in so many words; Bradman, Hobbs and Compton less so.

    Fun puzzle, thanks to Tracy and Chris.

    Templar

  13. I found this much easier than yesterday’s QC, and at 28 mins nearly twice as quick to complete. A good mix of clues, and both the long answers came to mind without too much trouble. Wrong end of the clue issues with loi 23ac, Isolate, but otherwise a steady solve. I smiled at 13d, but my favourite today was 4d, for bringing back memories of Scoop and Boot. My thanks to Tracy and Chris. Invariant
  14. Good fun and quicker than average. Needed all the checkers for RANCOUR before I accepted that it had to be. Vaguely heard of ‘jongleur’ but didn’t know what it meant. FOI INNER> LOI TAVERNA. COD SPOTLESS.
    PlayUpPompey
  15. Was anybody else held up as I was by 10ac, confidently putting UPPER – Meal s(UPPER) without the starting letter? IMHO, “upper” is closer synonym to exclusive than “inner”. And I had the final “R” as a checker!
    Jeffrey
    1. I thought about upper, but if you’re in the inner circle, you’re in an exclusive group, so I thought that inner was a better fit.
  18. Held up only by the unknown Jongleur, which I knew just vaguely as a sort of entertainer, the answer to which gave me the L for LARK, my LOI. Otherwise raced through this to finish in 4:32. SWAN LAKE my COD.
  19. I found this far easier than the last few days (5 days on the trot unfinished!). However, I was stuck on 18d. I’d thought (clearly wrongly) that when the clues are split by indicators then they are treated separately i.e. “crossed” suggests include within for the clue “tracks” and then “climbing” suggests read upwards for “great number”. I hadn’t considered that “climbing” was applied to both. Is this the standard? Perhaps, I’ve seen it aplenty, but managed to “biff” and then parse afterwards without full appreciation.
    Either or, LOI 17d (clearly) and COD 13d.
    thanks to blogger, setter and all those who contribute.
    Carl
    1. I think 18dn works within the rules of crosswordland – your interpretation may also work in other clues. Keep the mind open and the biffs to a minimum (well, unless it ‘just has to be’ – then biff away to your heart’s content!). Whatever you do, have fun.
  20. A good mix of the straightforward and those that needed some thought. I’d never heard of 4d (LOI) so needed all the checkers to be confident. Like a couple of earlier commenters I went for UPPER at 10a which made the NE harder than it should have been. Completed in 16.26
    Thanks to the blogger
  21. Agree with all the other commenters. Much easier than some of late. No problem with minstrel (must have been thinking of chocolate), enjoyed spotless and isolate was LOI. Nice to get the puzzle finished before going to work for once. Kept waiting to grind to a halt but just motored on. About 40 minutes. No speed prize claimed but satisfying for me never the less.
  22. Preston was granted City status in 2002 as part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations to mark 50 years since the Queen’s accession to the throne.
  24. Didn’t time exactly but 15-20 mins, iInterspersed with removing overcoat , tie and boots (priorities first) and grabbing a beer. Slowed down by 4d and 14a, neither of which I knew, but both reasonably easy once a good number of crossers are in. Nice QC even if I did put in both Bristo and Runcour before correcting them. Technically a dish is not an antenna, it just reflects and concentrates the signal, but even I wouldn’t be that picky
  25. Does anybody else do these QCs over a couple of days ? Photocopy it and give the copy to the wife so she can help (hinder) you ? Google some words – eg Jongleur – having virtually no integrity whatsoever ? I really enjoy dipping in and out of the puzzle – while watching some tripe on TV or going on the loo – and get a great sense of satisfaction when the penny drops and I solve a couple of outstanding clues after a lenghty hiatus (believe there is a recognised medical term for this but dont know it). Admire the setters although complain like everybody else when unhappy about a clue I struggled with. But don’t think I will ever get to the stage of setting myself a target time in terms of minutes. Lifes much too long for that.

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