Times Quick Cryptic 1221 by Flamande

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A very pleasant jaunt through crossword-land today with Flamande – nothing too scary as far as I can see. It took me 8:48 which I suspect will be around a 2 on the Kevinometer. Let me know how you got on. LOI 4dn. COD 1dn.

ACROSS

1. INSTALLATION – art exhibit. In (IN), Paddington say (STATION) admitting everyone (ALL).
8. ABBOT – cleric. A (A), couple of books (BB), biblical books (OT).
9. SANGRIA – wine-based drink. Celebrated (SANG) with song (AIR) backwards – about.
10. EARACHE – painful condition. Anagram (organised) of CARE HE nursing (holding) a (A).
11. TAMED – subdued. Edward (TED) comes around ‘before noon’ (AM).
12. TEMPER – anger. Traveller (REP), bumped into (MET) all backwards – reversing.
14. BANNED – unauthorised. Homophone (on the radio) of band.
17. CONES – ice creams, perhaps. Cold (C), individual items (ONES).
19. NIAGARA – N American river. A (A), river (R) once more (AGAIN) all backwards – receding.
21. UPRAISE – promote. University (U) with plaudits (PRAISE).
22. ABIDE – stick (with me). Political leader’s assistant (AIDE) carries (holds) black (B).
23. CHRISTIAN ERA – many years. Also know as the Common Era and AD. Anagram (incompetently) of RAN CHARITIES.

DOWN

1. I HAVEN’T A CLUE – I’m lost/don’t understand. This would, indeed, be an embarrassing admission from a crossword compiler.
2. SOBER – sober as a judge. Anagram (adjusted) of ROBES.
3. ARTICLE – piece from newspaper. A little bit p(ARTICLE) – deficient at the start – missing the first letter.
4. LISTER – pioneering surgeon. One with leanings – one who lists/leans over.
5. TENET – principal. Palindrome (two way).
6. OARSMEN – people who row. Anagram (terrible) of MOANERS.
7. CANDID CAMERA – amusing TV series. About (C), anagram (in trouble) of AMERICAN DAD.
13. MONARCH – butterfly. (O)nly and (N)oticed (initially) in early spring month (MARCH).
15. ALABAMA – US state. A( A), Buddhist monk (LAMA) sheltering sailor (AB).
15. INTENT – plan. Something of a chestnut – where campers might shelter (IN TENT).
18. SCI-FI – literary genre. Turning up (backwards in a down clue) some of terr(IFIC S)tories.
20. AFIRE – burning. A (A), tree (FIR) near rear of hous(E).

30 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1221 by Flamande”

  2. 9 minutes having wasted time trying to work BEAR into the answer at 1ac before realising the obvious. Also I needed most of the checkers before the TV programme at 7dn came to mind – the UK version finished in 1976, so it’s not surprising it was not at the forefront of my mind.

    Sadly towards the end of last month we learned of the death of today’s setter, Flamande (real name David Crossland) so this may be his final puzzle for us. I’m sure we should all like to express our sadness at the news, and thank him for the entertainment he has brought us over the past few years beginning with QC4 in March 2014. This was his 111th Quick Cryptic.

    Edited at 2018-11-13 05:57 am (UTC)

  3. An excellent puzzle but hard. Absolutely nothing on the first pass of acrosses – although I rejected a right answer because it turns out I didn’t know how to spell NIAGARA. Better on the downs and then made progress but it still took almost half an hour. Last one in was UPRAISE, which I guessed early but didn’t really look like a word. RABBI bunged in desperation held me up until I saw the light. Early leader board has some very fast times but also lots of typos, so I live in hope others didn’t find this a breeze either.
  4. When I opened the puzzle online I noticed it was set by Flamande. He was much appreciated by the setters and solvers I met at The George.
    This was a smooth solve for me apart from 22a where I got stuck. I should have resorted to aides! It took me over 4 minutes to work that one out with everything else solved. I even checked for mistakes. Eventually finished in 18:29.
    UPRAISE looked odd as a word and I had Arizona in mind for a while for the state. COD has to be 1d. David
  5. A gentle solve today for me coming in at 13:30. It was probably slower than it needed to be as I could not see any of the four long answers around the perimeter at the first pass. Flamamde has always set enjoyable puzzles – he will be missed
  6. A lovely puzzle from Flamande. I’m hoping there may still be another to come, as I think they are commissioned well in advance of publication. I thought this was going to be harder than it turned out to be when 10a was my first one in. I liked OARSMEN, which, from my experience, is a semi-&lit clue. But COD has to be 1d. 4:20.
  7. 15 minutes and a baker’s dozen in seconds, so just outside my target time. My LOsI were the road rage and the butterfly.

    I hadn’t heard about the sad loss of Flamande, so thanks for putting us in the picture Jack.

  8. FOI INSTALLATION, LOI TEMPER. Well off the pace again at 3.5 Kevins: a Bad Day. Hugely enjoyable puzzle and very sorry to learn that we have lost a great setter (thank you, Jack, for letting us know).

    I found a couple of the definitions slightly elusive – I never found CANDID CAMERA very amusing, and CHRISTIAN ERA for “many years” seemed rather elliptical. COD to 1dn, for which I needed almost all the checkers, though a mention in despatches for SCI-FI which I thought was very neatly hidden.

    Thanks to Chris, and to Flamande in the Great Solution in the Sky.

    Templar

  9. 9:47, so just under my target. I was slowed down at the end by having to resort to pen and paper to decode CHRISTIAN ERA. Farewell Flamande and thanks Chris.
  10. Great fun today. Started with 1a and solved the grid in a clockwise direction. My LOI was 12a TEMPER after my penultimate solve 1d. I panicked when I first saw the long clues but I actually solved them surprisingly quickly. 7:51
  11. Like yesterday, just over 30mins but this one seemed a little more difficult, so it was more satisfying to finish. I remember looking at 1ac and thinking I hadn’t got a clue how a bear was going to fit in, which came in very useful when I moved onto the down clues! 21ac Upraise is a very odd looking word – most people would surely say Upgrade, but of course that didn’t fit. Chestnut or not, 16d Intent was my favourite today. If this is indeed Flamande’s last published QC, at least he goes out on a Nelson. Invariant
  12. Has anyone compiled more QCs than Flamande? I will miss his craft and guile. Take 19a today – we’ve all heard of Niagara Falls but how many of us immediately thought of it as a river? Certainly not me, only the first and last checkers gave if away.
    I was lucky to see 1a and 1d immediately so the rest fell quickly into place.
    4’50”
    1. Time constraints at the moment prevent me from going definitive on this, but a quick review of stats reveals that Tracy (with 112), Hurley (113), Izetti (113) and Joker (with 115) have all exceeded Flamande’s 111. Not that it matters, of course.

      Edited at 2018-11-13 05:22 pm (UTC)

  13. 27 mins today, shaving 3 off yesterday’s PB. Today was the first time I have felt confident of actually finishing a QC, which presumably means the practice is paying off. Either that or I just felt attuned to the setter; so sad to hear of his passing.
    FOI EARACHE, LOI LISTER.
    COD INSTALLATION.
  14. Much more accessible than yesterday’s, I found. I managed to complete it without too much hair pulling. 1d was a real peach. FOI 2d but 23ac was a real struggle.
    Sorry to hear about Flamande, I enjoy his puzzles and find them very fair for the QC level.
  15. Doesn’t the parsing give you DETAM. Maybe about noon ? I can’t believe it took me so long to rearrange 5 letters. Let’s hope Flamande is not tamed wherever he now is. Home sub 25. Johnny
    1. I see where you’re coming from but it’s Edward (TED) comes round – encircling rather than going backwards, then ‘before noon’ is AM.
  16. 1d was my COD, too. Sci-fi was neat, as was Installation. Lots of very good clues more than made up for the couple of slightly odd ones. I was really slow to get Afire and only then did Abide crawl into my consciousness. Almost half an hour whilst multi-tasking. Many thanks and RIP Flamande. John M.

    Edited at 2018-11-13 05:20 pm (UTC)

  17. Still a relative newbie, but managing to finish more than I don’t nowadays thanks to these helpful comments and explanations.

    A question though- how do you get AB from sailor? I know about Tar and RN, but this is a new one for me!

    1. Great progress and I’m happy you’re enjoying it.
      In the British Royal Navy in the middle of the 18th century, the term able seaman (abbreviated AB) referred to a seaman with more than two years’ experience at sea and considered “well acquainted with his duty”.
  18. I got off to another flier today with most of the top going in quickly but then got held up at the bottom by the unknown 22a and UPRAISE and AFIRE which both looked like they shouldn’t be words. I finished by going back to the top for the unknown surgeon.
    Completed in 13.10, CoD to 1d
    Very sad about Flamande, who’s been one of my favourite setters.
  19. I haven’t managed to keep inside my erstwhile target of 20 minutes for ages, so I wasn’t too unhappy with 22 minutes. 1d was my FOI. A wonderful clue for which I happened to be on the right wavelength. (I don’t do acrosses then downs. I look at 1a and if that doesn’t spring to mind, I try 1d!!!)
    I shall certainly miss Flamande. I have found his qcs very enjoyable and more accessible than some. LOI 4d – I don’t know why I took so long as my children were in Lister House at their primary school!
    Thanks for the blog, Chris. MM
  20. I’ve been doing cryptics for six months now. The telegraph and the quick cryptic I can mostly do (sometimes). 8 minutes 48 seconds? 4 hours it took me, or thereabouts. Used chambers once to look for a synonym for ‘anger’ and found ‘temper’ which was stupid of me. ‘Upraise’ I can’t find in Chambers (I was sure this was the answer and came here giving up on that as the last one and was pleased to find I was right all along.)
  21. Still a relative newbie, but managing to finish more than I don’t nowadays thanks to these helpful comments and explanations.

    A question though- how do you get AB from sailor? I know about Tar and RN, but this is a new one for me!

  22. A week late! I put the paper on one side to enjoy in the evening and forgot about it till now.
    A nice puzzle with clever surfaces. Took ages to parse Alabama for some reason, but no show stoppers and finished in a couple of hours including interruptions.
    Thanks to Flamande for his many hours of enjoyment, condolences to friends and family, and to all the bloggers and commenters for the ongoing education.

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