Times Quick Cryptic 1360 by Teazel

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Solving time: 7 minutes A couple of clues (1ac and 23ac) stopped me in my tracks for a moment re parsing and there was one answer (12dn) I didn’t know and had to guess from checkers and residual anagrist.

As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]

Across
1 Up and down? That’s exaggerated (4,3,3)
OVER THE TOP – The first part of the clue gave me pause for thought, but then I realised for something to go over the top of something else it would likely  travel both upwards and downwards. The question mark covers any alternative scenarios.
8 Do without overdose permanently (3,4)
FOR GOOD – FORGO (do without), OD (overdose)
9 Principally known only as lovable Australian? (5)
KOALA – First letters [principally] of K{nown}, O{nly} A{s}, L{ovable} A{ustralian}. I understand their cuddly appearance as reflected in the surface reading belies their true nature.
10 Run from the house in panicky retreat (4)
ROUT – R (run), OUT (from the house)
11 Shows contempt about a king wearing these? (8)
SNEAKERS – SNEERS (shows contempt) containing [about] A K (king)
13 Claire demolished pastry (6)
ECLAIR – Anagram [demolished] of CLAIRE.  The anagrist doesn’t require much unravelling as only one letter moves.
14 Fuss as the two meet monarch (6)
BOTHER – BOTH (two), ER (monarch)
17 Applaud role being rejected as nonsense (8)
CLAPTRAP – CLAP (applaud), PART (role) reversed [rejected]
19 Short exchange is a type of jazz (4)
TRAD – TRAD{e} (exchange) [short]. My preferred style of jazz.
21 Pair touring Olympic city earlier (5)
PRIOR – PR (pair) containing [touring] RIO (Olympic city)
22 Farm work only while young? (7)
TILLAGE – A straight definition with a cryptic hint suggesting TILL AGE
23 Spicy sauce cooked in several ads (5,5)
SALSA VERDE – Anagram [cooked] of SEVERAL ADS. I was tempted to write ‘salsa verdi’ but for blogging purposes felt the need to check the anagrist carefully and thus avoided the trap. Further research confirms this is a herb sauce so I have doubts that it’s appropriate to define it as ‘spicy’.
Down
2 Goodness, not all supported by a Liberal, in such reality (7)
VIRTUAL – VIRTU{e} goodness [not all], A, L (Liberal)
3 Curry, not the first, in space (4)
ROOM – {g}ROOM (curry) [not the first]
4 Avoiding being taken for punishment (6)
HIDING – Two meanings. I wondered about the origin of  ‘hiding’ as a form of punishemnt and found this on Google: “There is a (now rare if not obsolete) colloquial verb ‘to hide’, meaning ‘To beat the hide or skin of; to flog, thrash’. A ‘hiding’ is simply a session of this activity”. Along the same lines as ‘skinning alive’  then.
5 Acknowledge applause, and prepare to play perhaps (4,1,3)
TAKE A BOW – A definition and a mildly cryptic hint
6 Identify fish in the sound (5)
PLACE – Sounds like [in the sound] “plaice” fish. As in ‘I can’t place your face’.
7 Loopy sort of game that’s rocked Kitty? (4,6)
CATS CRADLE – A definition and a cryptic hint. I learned how to construct a cat’s cradle as a child but never played it as a game or ever knew that it is one.
8 Remarkably safe recipe for emergency exit (4,6)
FIRE ESCAPE – Anagram [remarkably] of SAFE RECIPE
12 Tortilla cooked on the shore (8)
LITTORAL – Anagram [cooked] of TORTILLA. Collins has: existing or occurring on or adjacent to the shore. This was the clue that gave me most difficulty as I didn’t know or had forgotten this word. A quick Google suggests it has come up only once before as an answer in a 15×15 although it appeared a couple of times in clues, so I’d suggest it’s probably not the most suitable material for a QC.
15 University serious about a bible (7)
HARVARD – HARD (serious) containing [about] A + RV (bible – Revised Version)
16 From Market Harborough originally, a woman (6)
MARTHA – MART (market), H{arborough} [originally], A. Fortunately for solvers who have never heard of this Leicestershire town the clue doesn’t require any knowledge of it.
18 A girl is wrong (5)
AMISS – A, MISS (girl)
20 Enemy crossing lake ice (4)
FLOE – FOE (enemy) containing [crossing] L (lake)

22 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1360 by Teazel”

  1. I didn’t think about the appropriateness of ‘spicy’, but since salsa has a spicy image, adding it to the clue may have actually helped by narrowing the range of sauces to consider. LITTORAL no problem, but I agree with Jack that it’s not the aptest QC clue. ECLAIR surely the weakest anagram clue ever seen here. I have always found koalas unattractive little beasts. 4:32.
  2. I was quick off the mark but slowed down by MARTHA,PRIOR and LOI SNEAKERS. 12:28 in the end.
    I thought 22a TILLAGE was quite tricky and I needed that to find Martha as there are so many girls’ names ending in A ( I only saw MART after solving).
    I remembered the French word for on the shore so that was OK for me but I agree it’s not common in English. David
  3. ….LITTORAL was slightly OVER THE TOP for a QC, and can see a few less seasoned solvers struggling with it.

    No problems for me this morning.

    FOI OVER THE TOP (Just OTT these days)
    LOI ROUT
    COD ROOM by quite some way
    TIME 3:22

  4. Well, I am the first of the SCC to post. I never find Teazel easy and found myself approaching (but under) 5K. Some nice QC clues – OVER THE TOP, FORGO, SNEAKERS, TILLAGE, HIDING. Some poorer ones – ROUT, ECLAIR (and LITTORAL was tough). Thanks to Teazel and to Jack for help with parsing biffed answers like ROOM and HARVARD (RV is a recreational vehicle in my book, not a Bible). John M.

    Edited at 2019-05-27 08:11 am (UTC)

  5. Sub 20 mins for me (quick!). Never knew that curry was to groom a horse but seemed more likely than broom. Nice start to the week. Thanks Teazel, Jackkt and all.
  6. One day I will hopefully remember that TRAD/JAZZ link without having to dredge it from the depths of my mind each time it comes up. Although I hadn’t heard of LITTORAL before once all the checkers were in place it couldn’t be much else. I struggled with LOI TILLAGE where I hadn’t helped myself by putting HARAVRD in at 15d. Completed in 11.37
    Thanks for the blog
  7. I took a hiding with this one clocking up 30 mins.

    Struggled with tillage, salsa verde, cats cradle, martha, and loi the unknown littoral.

    Cod the &lit koala.

  8. I hesitated with LITTORAL as I vaguely knew the word but wasn’t sure of its meaning. I waited for all the crossers before I put it in. I also had to think hard about curry/groom, but went down the road that perhaps to curry favour is to groom someone, as sadly seems to happen too often these days. Otherwise no problems and I came in at 8:21. Thanks Teazel and Jack.
  9. I managed this fairly well and as usual there was much to enjoy – thanks! I knew that tortilla had to be an anagram but have never heard of the word ‘littoral’ . Similarly it was obviously going to be ‘room’ but I would suggest that to curry, as in to groom, would be fairly obscure for most. Actually I don’t mind the odd obscure clue or an obscure answer as long as in the quickie they aren’t paired together.
  10. 17 minutes;
    liked 9A (principally known only as lovable Australian?).
  11. Having been away for 2-3 weeks, I seem to be off the pace and heading SCC-wards. 12 minutes today and that’s with being familiar with littoral – probably from sailing. Tillage then Martha LOsI.
  12. I also had Bridge in for 7D. Got everything else in but could not sort out the answer. Still none the wiser now to be honest. Enjoyable other than that.
  13. For 1a, the ‘up and down’ part of the clue could be referring to putting on a sweater or a dress over the top.
    Some tough ones today like cat’s cradle, Harvard
    Satisfying nonetheless.
    Thanks
    SRT
  14. Finished in our usual time of abt 30m, held up by 2d and 8a. Needed checkers to get 12 d littoral, which we had heard of from somewhere. Thanks to Teazel and the usual helpful comments from other contributors.
  15. Pretty straightforward today. I knew all the vocabulary so no problems with littoral or curry. I used to love playing cats cradle as a child and taught it to my daughter – I wonder if it’s still a playground thing. I saw some children playing hopscotch the other day, so they’re obviously not all glued to screens!

    In fact, both the quickie and the 15 x 15 were done and dusted in under an hour, bar one not-quite-completed clue in the big one – so frustrating when all you need are two letters but they’re going with -i-e!

  16. RV = Revised Version = bible. Really?

    Winnebago instead of bible would have been lovely.

  17. In my opinion, this would have been more suitable in the Times of San Diego rather than the London Times.
    1. Apart from the obvious HARVARD (hardly unheard of on this side of the Pond) Which clues did you have in mind?
  18. An easy enough start to the week. Had to work hard with all the crossers to get 12d, and even then wasn’t 100% sure! FOI 1a LOI 11a COD 4d. About 40 minutes in all over a couple of sessions.
  19. Posting late. Life got in the way today. Anyway, I don’t like to let the sun go down on an empty grid so thought I’d have a go at it in the spare twenty minutes available to me between getting home and cooking dinner. Great puzzle, very much enjoyed it but could not parse all of the answers, specifically 2 and 11 across. Thanks so much, Jackkt, for casting light into the darkness there! And, thanks, too, to Teazel, for an enjoyable QC

Comments are closed.