Times Quick Cryptic 1241 by Joker

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I seem to have made heavy weather of the last few QCs so it was a relief that today’s flew in. 6:16 is very quick for me. 6dn and 21ac were the last to drop anchor (well, there’s a nautical feel to 2dn, 13dn and 18dn so I thought I’d play along). So it was quick but, as pointed out in 21ac, there’s a lot of fun in here. Thanks Joker.

ACROSS

1. PICKPOCKET – thief. Choose (PICK), something on snooker table (POCKET).
8. SEMINAR – meeting. Anagram (to be arranged) of REMAINS.
9. CLEAN – spotless. Anagram (treated) of ACNE outside (externally) left (L).
10. AJAR – slightly open. A (A), container (JAR).
11. HEDONIST – seeker after pleasure. There’s a temptation here to go for ‘he’ for chap at the front but chap is (DON) involved in – inside – robbery (HEIST).
13. ALIBI – excuse. The answer is ‘covered by’ the clue – hysteri(A LIBI)dinosa.
14. CATCH – double definition.
16. MANDARIN – senior official. Fellow – unlike 11ac, this time the ‘chap’ is at the front (MAN), nearly defying (DARIN)g.
17. FIEF – sphere of control as in the Fiefdom of Fife. That is (IE) inside the middle two letters of Sta(FF)ord.
20. DRAMA – tense situation. A little drink (DRAM – partaken of in the F of F above) precedes a (A).
21. PROFUSE – abundant. Written language (PROSE), there’s a lot of fun (FU)n inside that.
22. RESENTMENT – envy. Drove me (SENT ME) cutting inside a large tear in fabric (RENT).

DOWN

1. PASTA – Italian food. Father’s thanks (PA’S TA).
2. COMPANIONWAY – where sailor climbs on board. Anagram (change) of MYOPIA CAN NOW.
3. PINE – wood. Nail (PIN), last piece of som(E).
4. CORNET – brass player. Something hackneyed (CORN) and alien (ET).
5. ENCROACH – what trespasser does. Skinning tench t(ENC)h, other freshwater fish (ROACH).
6. REDISTRIBUTE – issue again. Concerning (RE), Diana’s (DI’S), admiring statement (TRIBUTE).
7. SNITCH – tell tales. Louse’s egg (NIT) found in school (SCH).
12. VICARAGE – house for minister. Anagram (ordered) of EG CAVIAR.
13. ARMADA – a lot of ships. Coming within ne(AR MADA)gascar.
15. DIMPLE – slight depression. Plain = SIMPLE. With daughter (D) instead of son (S) gives us DIMPLE.
18. FLEET – double definition.
19. COAT (of an animal) – fur. Ball (O) swallowed by feline (CAT).

36 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1241 by Joker”

  1. Somewhat south of seven minutes for me. 4 down provides a good example of the instrument being used to refer to the player (see also ‘fiddle’, trombone’ etc); a common device among setters – keen as they are to find new ways to deceive us in the eternal Tom and Jerry that is this pursuit we love.
  2. I had some trouble coming up with my last two, COAT and RESENTMENT; I forget which was LOI. ‘Resentment’ is hardly the word I’d come up with for ‘envy’: I may envy your good looks, but that doesn’t mean I resent them; I may resent your patronizing attitude, but I hardly envy it. No doubt Chambers has something to cover the setter’s proverbial. (I just did something I never do, look in Roget’s thesaurus; and sure enough, one term ‘resent’ cross-refers to is ‘envy’; then again, another is ‘be inimical’ and another is ‘be revengeful’. This is why I never use a thesaurus.) 5:51.

    Edited at 2018-12-11 03:12 am (UTC)

    1. I thin they’re pretty equivalent in a sentence like ‘I resented him his ease with children’.
      1. I’ll take your word for it; in my idiolect that’s not a possible sentence, although ‘I envy him his …’ is.
        1. I had similar misgivings, but

          Chambers has: envy noun
          1. a feeling of resentment or regretful desire for another person’s qualities, better fortune or success.

          Collins has: envy noun
          1. a feeling of discontent and ill will because of another’s advantages, possessions, etc.; resentful dislike of another who has something that one desires

          ODO has: envy, noun
          1. a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else’s possessions, qualities, or luck.

    2. Just thought I’d say that I admire (rather than envy or resent) your time taken. 25 seconds – so close!
  3. 15 minutes but typo in 4d corret.

    Last few were fief, fleet, resentment and LOI dimple.

    COD dimple.

  5. 8 minutes with perhaps 2 of them lost coming up with RESENTMENT for ‘envy’ as my LOI. There were other potential tricky ones such as FIEF and the clue to DIMPLE but they didn’t delay me by much.
  6. Left side went in far more smoothly that the right but it was the very bottom that held me up. RESENTMENT took some solving – partly because of the definition and partly because I read the clue too quickly and thought the tear in fabric was inside drive me. Still fastest of the last couple of weeks in 15.27.
  7. 10.45. Resented (rather than envied) time spent on 22ac and 15dn which prevented a rare sub 10.
  8. 14 minutes for all but the SE and finally finished in 24:45.
    Was slow to get Coat,Dimple and Profuse. Then I was looking at my LOI 22a for ages. Agree with Kevin on this.
    Quite tough for beginners I’d say. David
  9. c. 20 mins for me which is the norm!
    I didn’t seem to have any problems with the exception of 4d (corn for something hackneyed didn’t scream out to me!), but once I remembered ET for alien then it couldn’t be anything else!
    16a, 21a and esp. 22d gave pause for parsing, but the rest “flew” in (it’s all relative!).
    LOI: 4d
    COD: 6d
    thanks to blogger, setter and all who contribute
    Carl
  10. Like others, RESENTMENT was my LOI too, but nothing held me up much. 10a reminded me of the old riddle, “When is a door not a door?”. A bit of a chestnut, methinks. COD to 21A for the fun of it. 4:59.
  11. Just under 12 mins, must have been on Joker’s wavelength for first time ever. Really good feeling, no doubt back to normal tomo.
    COD 15d
    Ta to blogger and Joker
    Cheers
  12. Companionway?? Never heard of it, sorry to say. LOIs fief and mandarin. 10.10, yet again short of that elusive sub-10 time following lengthy musing over a final clue that as usual seems obvious when you get it.
  13. 11 minutes for me with at least 3 wasted by continuously misreading the first word of the clue for 22a and looking for the name of an ENVOY rather than a synonym for ENVY – stupid boy! Other than that, it was read the clue and write the answer. All good fun and no complaints, and helped by the nautical themet.

    Edited at 2018-12-11 09:18 am (UTC)

  14. Lovely puzzle, thank you Joker. Lots of good clues but the humble anagram at 8ac gets my COD for the elegance of the surface.

    All done and dusted in 1.7 Kevins, a Very Good Day. Thanks for the very clear blog Chris (and a non-envious/resentful hat tip for your time!).

    Templar

  15. Completed Joker’s QC in just under 10 mins with penultimate solve 22a RESENTMENT and LOI 15d DIMPLE. Other than that I needed most of the checkers for COMPANIONWAY, bunged in AFRICA for 13d initially and dithered over the double definition at 18d FLEET. Shipping forecast: Moderate to fair.
  16. The answers to this puzzle seemed to roll off the fingers as I read the clues, until I got to RESENTMENT and my LOI DIMPLE. CORNET was no trouble as my granddaughter plays cornet in Kirkbymoorside Brass Band, and the order of seniority for the players in any section is 1st Cornet, 2nd Cornet etc. 5:44. Nice puzzle. Thanks Joker and Chris.
  17. Agree with others that this is a step up from beginner level – wouldn’t normally expect things like FIEF in a QC.

    AJAR is so much of a chestnut that even I spotted it as one. Also Hedonist is heading that way as well I think.

    Also as others, MER at RESENTMENT but the sturdy research done by jackkt does seem to support it so no need for a prolonged Roger Moore impersonation, although it was lengthened slightly again with ALIBI, which I didn’t immediately associate with excuse since it’s, well, an alibi.

    Otherwise enjoyable, thanks to S&B.

    3.52

    1. I concur with all of Mike’s post, and took 8 seconds longer to complete the puzzle.

      Phil Jordan

  18. Note to blogger: if you value your front teeth, I wouldn’t try referring to Fife as a fiefdom next time you’re in Dunfermline or Lochgelly.
  19. 20 mins or so, which is quick for me. FOI 1ac, always a good start, and COMPANIONWAY was straightforward for someone from Portsmouth (it’s either that rigging or gangplank). RESENTMENT (LOI) = envy, not the first thing that comes to mind but I have no problem with it. COD FIEF, neat little clue and a slightly unusual word.
    PlayUpPompey
  20. 26:16 had to give up up on FIEF. Which I have to admit I’d never heard the word before.

    Flew through it in the first 4,5 mins. But was held up by CORNET, MANDARIN, RESENTMENT, and FLEET. Something seemed to click in my brain and they fell in almost one after the other, after a long time searching.

    Enjoyable puzzle tho!

  21. Is an alibi (13a) an excuse? I understood it to mean a suspect was somewhere else at the time of a crime. Easy enough to biff, however.

    1. SOED has: alibi , noun. A plea by the person accused of an act that he or she was elsewhere when it took place; evidence to support such a plea; colloq. an excuse of any kind. L18.

  22. Well, I thought I was racing through this so I didn’t look at the clock, as I find that’s usually the kiss of death, until I finished. I was surprised (and disappointed) to see it worked out as a 24min solve – only slightly faster than average. Perhaps the ‘slight’ delay with my last two, 16 and 22ac, was a bit more substantial than it seemed at the time. Anyway, a really nice puzzle from Joker, with 21ac Profuse my favourite today. Invariant
  23. It took a while but we managed it. COD SNITCH – we had both the nit and the itch. Brilliant!
    L&I
  24. As a relative beginner I jogged through most of this quite happily before bogging down in the south. Not feeling the love for RESENTMENT, but liked PROFUSE, FIEF and REDISTRIBUTE. Thanks to blogger and setter.
  25. No hold ups today but like others I was a bit dubious about the definition in 22a, although I enjoyed the wordplay. Finished in 9.22 with the PROFUSE/DIMPLE combo. A typically elegant Joker puzzle.
    Thanks for the blog
  26. Easily less than 30 minutes (I don’t time exactly), which is a good time for me, with no real hold ups at all. Enjoyed the nautical theme, had never heard of companionway but once I had all the checkers the anagram couldn’t be anything else. COD a tie between fief and profuse.

Comments are closed.