Times Quick Cryptic 1311 by Tracy

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Having gone wrong at 7dn I deservedly enter the hallowed halls of the SCC today. When I finally realised what had happened, the rest, with some relief, fell into place with the clock on 17 minutes. Loi 1dn – which rather tells the story of a tussle all around the grid. Some clues could have been clued more easily, so expect a challenge but also look out for some very clever stuff in here. Thanks Tracy.

ACROSS

1. COLD FISH – unfeeling individual. Elderly female is (OLD F IS) inside church (CH).
5. UP TO – until. Yo(U), anagram (out) of OPT.
8. PROPOSE A TOAST – what the best man may do. Anagram (nervous – unusual anagram indicator) of TO A TOPPER AS SO.
10. ROOST – perch. Poke about (ROOT) around (S)tream.
11. PERFORM – act. For each (PER), model (FORM).
12. DITHER – hesitate. One article (I THE) inside (D)rawe(R).
13. DODGEM – bumper car. Trick (DODGE), male (M).
16. OSTRICH – bird (which is also quite monstrous). Anagram (monstrous) of THIS ROC. The roc is (in Arabian legend) a bird of enormous size and power – so this was also an &lit clue. All very clever – COD.
18. SALSA – dance. Anagram (vigorously) of A LASS.
20. WHEELER-DEALER – shrewd operator. Anagram (craftily) of REELED inside physician (HEALER) all of this after wife (W). Complex clue composition.
21. YETI – legendary creature. Despite all that (YET), I (I).
22. LANDLORD – bar owner. Line (L), with (AND), peer (LORD).

DOWN

1. CAPER – type of sauce (e.g duck in caper sauce. Sauce tartare also contains capers). Head (CAPE as in a headland), (R)estaurant. I really wanted ‘chef’ to be involved in this.
2. LOOK OUT – beware. Aspect (LOOK – a manner of appearing – she had a sad aspect), revealed (OUT).
3. FOOT THE BILL – pay for. Fine (F), old (O), OTT (OTT), male (HE), poster (BILL). To confuse matters, 13ac had Male = M and a Male could have been BILL.
4. SLEEPY – dropping off. Agent (SPY) outside shelter (LEE).
6. PIANO – instrument. Inside (carried by) thes(PIAN O)ffstage.
7. OPTIMUM – best. ‘Optimal’ went in so 13ac was impossible which stopped 9dn and on and on. Plump (OPT), single (I), mother (MUM) – I must have parsed it as far as mother (‘ma’) and didn’t consider the ‘L’ until too late.
9. TURN OF SPEED – the ability to accelerate quickly. Anagram (running) of PETERS FOUND.
12. DOORWAY – entrance. A rood is a crucifix/the Cross on which Christ was crucified. Take this and turn over to make (DOOR), street (WAY). Has the smack of a 15×15 clue – so if you have yet to enter this territory, it’s a good taster.
14. GALILEO – famous astronomer. I (I) spotted inside a shortened (docked) sailing ship (GALLEO)n.
15. SHERPA – mountain guide. That woman (HER) inside health resort (SPA).
17. THEFT – stealing. Daily (paper) – (THE FT).
19. ACRID – bitter. Sour (ACID) that’s about right (R).

39 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1311 by Tracy”

  1. I was speeding along, biffing left and right, but had difficult with DODGEM–not a word in my vocabulary, nor is DODGE, although I know them both (DODGE, anyway)–and TURN OF SPEED, a phrase I’ve never come across. 7:58.
  2. I felt I was struggling for much of this and was very surprised to find only 9 minutes on the clock as I entered my last answer. All the long anagrams gave me problems along the way.

    Edited at 2019-03-19 06:44 am (UTC)

  4. On the tricky side, I think. No, 11A wasn’t PROPOSE and 20A didn’t end in DOCTOR, but I sorted them out eventually. Slightly surprised at 1D as a caper is “the cooked and pickled flower bud of a prickly southern European shrub, used to flavour food”, but I guess a sauce made using them is a caper sauce. Not something in my culinary repertoire as I use ready-made tartare sauce on fish, although I put capers into a puttanesca sauce for seafood pasta. COD to THEFT. 7:47.

    Edited at 2019-03-19 07:19 am (UTC)

  5. 19 minutes but had to biff a few and solve backwards.
    Some tricky stuff to overcome:
    With – and
    Trick – dodge
    Caper – sauce
    11a had to stop fixating on perpose.

    Cod theft or optimum.
    Thanks

      1. Also don’t think ostrich is &lit, as bird doesn’t form part of the word play, its just a straight anagram with definition.
        1. I thought that ‘this roc, monstrous bird’ just about stands up as a statement. The roc is a monstrous bird. There’s also the straight anagram and defininition.
          1. For an &lit every word has to be part of the word play as well as forming the definition. Here bird doesn’t form part of the word play, just the definition. E.g.

            A source of both rum and tequila during binge? (9)
            (B(A)(R)(T)ENDER) 

            Its still a clever clue though.

            Edited at 2019-03-19 01:11 pm (UTC)

  6. Initially, when I saw my time in comparison to, say, Verlaine, I presumed my mental block over the quickie was continuing.

    Then I see that others have found this one a bit tricky too, which makes me feel a little better.

    As per others, only knew CAPER as an element of a sauce, rather than one in its own right

    Still too slow on the anagrams, although this time it was a short one that held me up (OSTRICH – I mean, really?) and then stared at LOI 11a for ages before the penny dropped.

    5.58

    Edited at 2019-03-19 12:50 pm (UTC)

  7. Round of applause to Tracy for OSTRICH, which I thought was a superb clue (and Chris has nicely peeled away its many layers). Though on the other side of the scales I thought 3dn a dreadfully clunky surface.

    Exactly the same time as yesterday, but today is sub 2 Kevins and so a Good Day.

    Thanks for the blog, Chris – I couldn’t parse DOORWAY so am sticking to the shallow end!

    Templar

  8. Tricky, indeed. I got nowhere in the NW and moved on to complete the RH side before slowly filling in the rest. 2.5 Kevins so still a SCC week for me. I was relieved that others had found it fairly challenging. THEFT was my COD but there were too many other excellent clues to list. Many thanks to Tracy for an excellent puzzle and to Chris for welcome confirmation of some post-biff parsing. John M.
  9. At the quicker end for me at sub-11m. FOI was 1a immediately followed by 1d, and fairly steady after that. OPTIMUM held me up briefly, LOI to TURN OF SPEED, and COD to THEFT. Thanks Chris and Tracy
  10. I thought it must be Roost and therefore Caper but used I cap for head instead of cape so ended up scratching my head about how it was supposed to work. Enjoyed it very much – especially liked theft ( haven’t seen that for years)
  11. Good puzzle – tricky, but achievable. I completely forgot the word dodgem and can offer no explanation as to why.

    20 mins but a few were unparsed (20ac and 3dn) until I read Chris’s blog so thanks for that.

  12. My main delay was trying to find this puzzle in the online paper. I kept getting diverted to yesterday’s puzzle by Joker. In the end I solved on paper in about 13 minutes. FOI was LOOK OUT and LOI was THEFT.
    Not that easy and quite a few were entered without full parsing. COD to 7d.
    David
  13. I filled in my last entry as the clock was approaching 7 minutes, but noticed on proof reading that my PIANO had changed to PISNO. I corrected TOAST, but failed to notice that my typo had started in the previous square, so submitted with PROPOSE T TOAST. Drat! 7:29 with 1 typo. Some tricky stuff in this puzzle. Thanks Tracy and Chris.
  14. ….COLD FISH with CAPER sauce and SALSA Verde on the menu I’d pop out for a burger.

    I had no difficulty in completing this, although I did go to Chambers afterwards for TURN OF SPEED. Yup, it’s there – but “turn of foot”, which I use in terms of racehorses, isn’t. I guess their lexicographer won’t be at Royal Ascot this summer.

    FOI UP TO
    LOI SLEEPY
    COD THEFT
    TIME 4:09

  15. Interesting comments. I didn’t seem to have any particular troubles today and received the green light after 9 mins including a final scan of the grid when I corrected On to OF in 9d TURN OF SPEED. I’m looking at the answers again now but I can’t see any obscure words or sayings so that probably played to my strengths.

    Thanks Chris and Tracy.

  16. Lots of biffs today thanks to some very generous definitions (perch, bar owner, famous astronomer, stealing, etc.) Consequently I partially missed out on some very clever wordplay and constructions. With slightly more obscure definitions, many of today’s clues would grace any 15×15.

    Thanks as ever to setter and blogger.
    4’30”

  17. I thought this was a typical Tracy QC, just enough help to keep you interested but with a liberal scattering of his tricks as well. I had to biff and then parse several times, which is not how I like to solve, and even then needed the blog to see how 10ac worked – I had OS for round source of stream. My last pair (11ac, 7d) took me out to nearly 35mins in total, as I lost time trying to get Pose into 11ac, and then struggled with Opt for plump. I haven’t come across TheFT before so, chestnut or not, it gets my CoD vote. Invariant

  18. Today I’m hanging out the bunting as this was my first complete solve without resorting to this blog for a few hints. Can I thank every contributor who posts here and all the bloggers who give up their time as for many of the newbies it is such a valuable resource.

    I have to admit I biffed a few but the SW corner went in easily and I saw 3d, 8ac and 20ac quickly so that helped enormously.

    My Mac is showing a time of 21.07 so I’m doubly chuffed that I’m in the ball park of some experienced solvers.

    Thanks again all and I’m sure tomorrow I’ll be back staring at empty squares again

    2. Well done. I followed the same route as you a while ago. Regular practice and this blog have been a huge help.
  19. Enjoyed the QC today 10 mins. COD theft.

    Spotted a NINA in today’s Concise xword: “Crossed Cheques” – but I haven’t spotted any other words; nor have I discovered a reason why such cheques might be relevant today.

    1. Just in case you weren’t aware, there is a Nina in the concise every day. Sometimes they are very well hidden. Sorry if I’m teaching my grandmother to suck eggs.
  20. A rare full finish, and even in decent time, but biffed to heck and back. GALILEO (For some reason, I ignored docked and thought a galleo was a ship I didn’t know), Landlord (saw peer=lord and had the A checker, bunged it in), and wheeler-dealer (physician as healer escaped me) all went in, but I wasn’t happy about them until I read the blog!
  21. Reading today’s blog and comments made me realise how much we take you all for granted. We are also in the position of being able to complete most of the QCs ( not being too concerned about times yet) but we couldn’t have possibly progressed as we have without the blogs – learning something every day. So a very big thank you to you all, you are greatly appreciated. L & I
    1. Very happy you’re getting something out of them. Any questions any time then please post. If you get a free livejournal account then your email will be alerted if anyone responds to you.
  22. We were in the group that struggled somewhat, and found difficulty in getting going. As usual, seeing the answers and parsing, we wonder why. Thanks for the usual helpful comments and to Tracy for the test.
  23. A late solving today (and this week) as temporarily back in harness but, after a brief nap to revive the grey matter, achieved 11.37 on what I found trickyish but doable with some great clues. Several had to be biffed and parsed after. As others, chapeau to THEFT.
  24. I was on the right wavelength today and completed in under 10 minutes for the first time in a while. ROOD was a new word to me so 12d went in unparsed. CoD and LOI go to THEFT and GR goes to 3d for the horrible surface.
    Thanks for the blog
  25. Initially had PUTS ON SPEED at 9dn. without checking anagram – subsequently corrected to TURN -so had a pink N in the middle after submitting. 17dn LOI – I often forget about paper = FT (also frequently hit the adjacent return key when putting Caps Lock off, so need to edit to complete prematurely closed comments).

    Edited at 2019-03-19 06:43 pm (UTC)

  26. Quite happy to complete in 18 minutes, but sad that I put in 12d and 14d un-parsed. I always feel as if I have cheated when I biff. Better than yesterday’s puzzle though which I actually failed to complete for the first time in ages. (I was away for a long weekend so both QCs were done today. Perhaps a 4am start to the day didn’t help.)
    Thanks to Tracy for the puzzle and to Chris for explaining my biffs! MM
    FOI 5a
    LOI 1a
    COD 21a very neat!

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