Times Quick Cryptic 1417 by Oink

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
This isn’t the daftly easy one I was hoping for after several days of tricky puzzles, but it wasn’t too difficult either. Only 10ac may be an unfamiliar word to new solvers (it comes up frequently – remember it!). My favourite is 18ac for the craftily hidden definition and excellent surface reading.

Is it just me, or has the device at 13dn shown up much more frequently lately? I recall seeing it a couple of weeks ago and thinking how clever it was, so this might just be an example of the Baader-Meinhof phenomonen.

And has our setter forgotten something this week? I can’t see it; answers on a postcard, please…

Definitions underlined.

Across
1 One in no hurry to whizz round north (5)
SNAIL – SAIL (whizz) containing (around) N (north).
4 Poor man’s university featuring in the Sun? (6)
PAUPER – U (university) inside (featuring in) PAPER (e.g. The Sun).
9 Badger I treated for cut (7)
ABRIDGE – anagram of (treated) BADGER I.
10 Zoo unceremoniously caging leopard (5)
OUNCE – hidden in (…caging) zoO UNCEremoniously.
11 Initially politician easily wins seat (3)
PEW – first letters of (initially) Politician Easily Wins.
12 Leak from European delegation (8)
EMISSION – E (european) and MISSION (delegation).
15 Keep quiet about sex? No problem (4,7,2)
DONT MENTION IT – DON’T MENTION (keep quiet about) and IT (sex).
17 Tiny creatures of the deep, a hundred on board (8)
PLANKTON – TON (a hundred) on PLANK (board).
18 My dog’s had a heart transplant! (3)
COR – CuR (dog) with the middle letter changed (had a heart transplant).
20 Scottish landowner, one wreathed in fat (5)
LAIRD – I (one) inside (wreathed in) LARD (fat).
22 Ancient advertisement for the police (3,4)
OLD BILL – OLD (ancient) and BILL (advertisement).
23 It’s a hot spring, man said (6)
GEYSER – sounds like (said) “geezer” (man).
24 Beg Penny to go first (5)
PLEAD – P (penny) and LEAD (to go first).

Down
1 Impressed by English dash (8)
STAMPEDE – STAMPED (impressed) and E (english).
2 Weapon found in famous school in East End (5)
ARROW – hARROW (famous school), dropping the initial ‘h’ (how it might sound in the east end of London).
3 Romeo appearing in tatty denim, alas (6,3)
LADIES MAN – anagram of (tatty) DENIM ALAS.
5 Head of ambassadorial party making trouble (3)
ADO – first letter (head) of Ambassadorial then DO (party).
6 Bridge? It’s a card game (7)
PONTOON – double definition.
7 Ruminants heading north for grass (4)
REED – DEER (ruminants) reversed (heading north).
8 Notice manner in which chess game may end? (11)
RESIGNATION – double definition.
13 Barely enter the water? (6-3)
SKINNY-DIP – crytic definition, i.e. enter the water ‘barely’ (with no clothes on).
14 Set off round lake, a little frightened (8)
STARTLED – STARTED (set off) containing (around) L (lake).
16 Put an end to fun frolicking with Lily (7)
NULLIFY – anagram of (frolicking) FUN with LILY.
18 Country that’s cold, by all accounts (5)
CHILE – sounds like (by all accounts) “chilly” (cold).
19 Report left in toilet (4)
BLOG – L (left) inside BOG (toilet).
21 Cut out adviser every now and then (3)
DIE – every other letter from (every now and then) aDvIsEr.

40 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1417 by Oink”

  1. Some trouble, as usual, spotting the hidden (and I didn’t think of an OUNCE as a leopard), LOI ABRIDGE. LAIRD seemed a bit too much of a gimme even for a QC. 5:07.
  3. 9 minutes with no hold-ups. We had the ‘barely’ device in the QC two days ago in the clue to ‘nudist colony’ but I can’t find other particularly recent examples – not that I looked very hard.

    I hope the porcine reference suggested by Lou was not intentional on the part of our gentle setter. I might expect it from Cyclops in Private Eye – in fact it would be de rigeur – but surely not in a Times Quick Cryptic!

    Edited at 2019-08-14 05:37 am (UTC)

    1. The new police station in St Ives, Hunts (now Cambs) was built in Pig Lane. It caused so much comment that part of the road had to be renamed ..

    2. Thanks for looking jackkt. I’ve had a bit of a search myself and can’t find anything except the clue you cite, so I guess it was just novel to me and stood out. I still think it’s a clever device!

  4. I started off at a good pace but at the half way point I thought it was going to be another stinker as I came to a grinding halt. After a couple of minutes of scrabbling around the grid, and having my usual debate about how to spell GEYSER the fog cleared and I resumed my previous pace, finishing in 13.35 with LOI RESIGNATION where I was unfamiliar with the chess term.
    Lots to enjoy but a tip of the hat to 15 and 18a.
    Thanks for the blog
  5. I agree with William’s assessment;not too difficult but tricky in places. I have learnt that ounce is a leopard in crosswords. Had not seen SKINNY DIP recently and that held me up a lot. I found the chess clue very difficult for some reason and LOI was STARTLED. I could not get Trembled out of my mind; clearly not going to be right.
    FOI was PEW. 16:58 in the end which I am quite pleased with. David
    1. SKINNY DIP hasn’t appeared for 4-5 years in the 15×15 and I think this is its first appearance ever in a QC. But as mentioned in my earlier post, we had ‘barely’ with reference to ‘nudism’ in a QC only two days ago and I imagine this was what William was referring to in his blog.
  6. 13.30 but on reflection should have been quicker. RESIGNATION took a minute as I wanted to get MATE in somewhere. Also spend time expecting BOW as to be part of 2d.

    NeilC

  7. 11 minutes having spent some time on RESIGNATION. Manner cane up on Tuesday as ‘fashion’ so I was thinking the wrong way. PAUPER and PONTOON were last in for some reason.
  8. 27 minutes, over my target but at least within reason after the last few puzzles.
    I thought this one was clever and precise, unlike yesterday’s which was just the opposite. My LOI was RESIGNATION, I should have got it much earlier as I used to do it a lot when I played chess.

    Brian

  9. I was slow with this one, with RESIGNATION taking an age at the end. SKINNY DIP took a while to see too. For some reason EMISSION was a blind spot as well. 13:30. PEW was my FOI. Thanks Oink and William.
  10. An OUNCE is a lightweight leopard (Ambrose Bierce)

    9 gruelling minutes

    FOI 5dn ADO

    LOI 14dn STARTLED

    COD 8dn RESIGNATION

    WOD 11ac PEW – reminded me of Hattie Jacques (Griselda Pugh) in HHH.

    Isn’t ‘OINK’ a lovely nom!?

    Edited at 2019-08-14 09:20 am (UTC)

  11. ….I DON’T MENTION I.T. any more. Sex is quite another matter.

    I was on Oink’s wavelength fairly quickly today, and thoroughly enjoyed the puzzle.

    FOI OUNCE (that old chestnut !)
    LOI STARTLED
    COD SKINNY DIP (not for over 50 years)
    TIME 4:16

  12. Like others, I slowed down as it took shape, despite having more crossers. Overall, I found this harder than yesterday’s and am back in the SCC. Can’t really see why. NULLIFY and SKINNY DIP slowed me, COR was sneaky, and my LOI DIE was well hidden as far as I was concerned. We’ll see what tomorrow brings. Thanks to Oink and jeremy. John M.
  13. Oops! Thanks jack and sorry William….. Too late to correct my error now.

    Edited at 2019-08-14 10:00 am (UTC)

    1. Ha! Nice that my relatively terse blog could be mistaken for one of Jeremy’s masterful explications!

  14. Like others, I started quickly and slowed down for the last few. An enjoyable 15 minutes or so, but I did miss the piggy reference from Oink today.

    It occurred to me that, in the style of Private Eye’s blended families section, if Breadman and Oink joined forces, we could have a delicious ham sandwich!

    FOI Pauper
    LOI Stampede
    COD Skinny dip
    Earworm Mr Blue Sky – where has he gone??

    On edit: of course, I did like 24a too!

    Edited at 2019-08-14 10:44 am (UTC)

  15. Three Kevins here which I am counting as a Decent Day considering we had friends for dinner last night and ended the evening with two bottles of port. Took an age with RESIGNATION and COR. Off for coffee and aspirin now. Thanks William and Oink

    Templar

    1. If you are familiar with the phrase ‘tus is better than tin’ 🙂, you will know what can happen when too much port is consumed… Invariant
  16. As a relatively new starter didn’t finish this one . Not as hard as some last week but failed in top right corner due to being convinced that 7 down must start with an S. Still dont understand why 18 across answer is COR ?
    1. The exclamation “My !” defines the exclamation “Cor !”. A cur is a disreputable or ill-bred dog, changing the “u” to “o” is a heart transplant.

  17. Back to normality, thank goodness. A very enjoyable puzzle from Oink, with a good blend of clues. Held up along the way by 1ac/1d, where I thought the E in 1d would be at the beginning, and 10ac, where I didn’t spot the hidden until I went looking for it. 23mins plus another 3 trying to parse 18ac, Cur, before realising that it was Cor! Quite a clever clue, even good enough to pip 15ac for my CoD vote. Invariant
  18. Thankfully I am well within my target 10 mins today even though I pondered for a while on my LOI 8d RESIGNATION….my brother used to knock his king over to signify a resignation in chess. 8:17
  19. Missed the piggy reference today, although I thought perhaps the lard of 20a might be a link. Just missed my target of 40 minutes by 20 seconds, but it was a satisfying solve with my last ones in being the ‘Resignation’ ‘Emission’ crossers. I particularly liked 3d and 17a. An ounce, by the way, particularly refers to the snow leopard, which has the scientific name Panthera uncia. Apparently, it might derive from the Latin for lynx, luncea, which the French made lonce, which sounded like l’once so over time the L got dropped.
  20. Enjoyable in the main but I thought Cor was a bit thin. IT is not sex – – it’s sex appeal (he or she has got ‘it’). I’ve seen it used for sex – the other day in a cryptic and it was wrong then too!
    1. Whoops a daisy, Mr. Cook!! Cor Blimey! Rik Mayall was always at ‘it’ with Queenie!(Sir Walter, Blackadder)
      You know, ‘the birds and the bees’?

      Edited at 2019-08-14 03:48 pm (UTC)

    2. Your argument is with the lexicographers then, not the setters, as their dictionaries must be wrong. I’ve just checked Collins, three different versions of Oxfords, and Chambers, and they all define ‘it’ as ‘sexual intercourse’. They list ‘sex appeal’ too, but Collins and the Oxfords put that below ‘the other’ meaning.

      Edited at 2019-08-14 01:37 pm (UTC)

  21. Held up only by thinking “Impressed” wss the definition for 1D (my LOI) and hence it started with an E. The SLOI SNAIL disabused me of that. I liked COR. 4:01.
  22. Much easier than yesterday, finished in 19m, close to our pb. Carelessly put cur in for 18a, when we had decided that the definition was ‘my’. Thanks to Oink for a pleasant solve.
  23. Yes Jackkt and Horryd – you are both right so I concede – not impressed though 🙁 I think quickies should avoid obscure usages.
    1. I don’t think it is obscure these days. As I said on this blog last week (on this topic), anybody who does the Private Eye Cryptic will have no trouble with the widely accepted use of ‘it’. I can recommend the Eye crossword by the way. Always fun and it can be quite testing. I do it as assiduously as the QC and the weekend Times cryptics. John
  24. Private eye is a bit niche isnt it? I’ll grant it is quite as bad as the often recurring ‘pi’ for good or similar which one only ever finds in cryptic crosswords1
    1. It depends what you mean by niche, g. It was just an example of current usage. The Times QC is probably a bit niche for many people.
      1. Yes – I realise I’ve been a little unfair in going on about this. Horryd made me think of a few other comedy sketches too. Nothing wrong with being niche. I expect Private eye has two or three hundred thousand followers – the Times a few multiples of that. It’s only a problem to me if we are expected to know something which is only understood by the niche few. For a quickie I expect most knowledge to be general knowledge and most usage to be common but maybe I’m in a niche minority 🙂
  25. Stuck in NW corner, as I was sure Romeo in 3dn meant there had to be an R in there somewhere- so went over 10 minutes
  26. Thanks to william_j_s for the excellent blog. Thanks also to all who commented.

    I can confirm that OLD BILL at 14a wasn’t intended as a porcine reference 🙂

    Happy solving all.

    Oink

    1. Thanks for dropping by, and for the clarification. As you can see, we’re looking forward to truffling our your next piggy pun!

Comments are closed.