Times Quick Cryptic 1456 by Tracy

35 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1456 by Tracy”

1. This felt quite easy. It helped that I could biff 1ac and 3d; they were clearly anagrams, and the anagrist seemed clear enough that I didn’t bother to check. Also biffed 5d and 11ac once I had some checkers. I liked 8ac. 3:47.
2. 15 mins on the phone. Tried to do the anagrams without writing them down.

   Last few reservoir dogs, idiosncrasy and berlin.

   Cod cadge.

   On a course this week so solving hampered.

3. 8 minutes. Feeling a bit dim this morning, I still can’t see how burn/cadge works or find support for it in a dictionary. With yet another example of the font problem, the second within a couple of days, I even wondered if the clue meant ‘bum’ in the American sense, but at least I was able to rule out the British meaning immediately!

   Edited at 2019-10-08 05:12 am (UTC)

   1. It IS ‘bum’ in the American sense! Or an American sense, viz. to beg or borrow, as in Chris’s examples.
      1. Oh for goodness sake, I see it now! Thanks, Kevin.

         This whole business with the font is getting ridiculous, causing confusion twice within a couple of days.

         1. I’m backing your campaign, jackkt, after spending ages today trying to find a word for BURN that fit with C.D.E
            1. I once did a reinsurance arbitration in which the phrase “writing below the burn” occurred frequently (it means insuring business at such a low premium that you know you’ll lose money, but you don’t care because you’ve arranged reinsurance with some other mug so you’re passing on the risk). When the written closing submissions were handed in some electronic gremlin had changed it into a font (Garamond, I think) which really DID make it look like “writing below the bum”. Each of the Counsel team and solicitors team thought the other had changed the font on purpose at the last minute and no-one liked to say. Since the phrase occurred in more or less every other paragraph it did look a bit ridiculous.
         2. Same for me. I had to look really closely at it. Grrhh!
            1. I’ve had a thing about m and rn in some fonts for many years. Strangely, I had no problem in this case. Nevertheless, I really think the use of this font is unacceptable. Perhaps someone would like to take it up with Rose Wild in her column in the Saturday Times?
               1. Good plan 🙂
   2. Don’t worry, you were not the only one who misread it!
4. 24 minutes, so four over target, but solving anagrams on the phone is always tricky. After 15 I had just three to go, it took another three for CHAUFFEUR (a nice valid homophone for once), three more for IDIOSYNCRASY, then another four for an alphabet trawl to get CADGE.

   Brian

5. A neat puzzle, which felt a little tougher than yesterday’s to me. Along the way I learned how to spell IDIOSYNCRASY – thank goodness the second S had a checker because in my head it was definitely a C! Done and parsed in about 2.8K for a Decent Day.

   FOI INCUR, LOI RESERVOIR DOGS (I hate random film names), COD shared between CADGE and OLDIE. I see Jack still hasn’t found his varifocals for the font issues – what a bummer.

   Thanks Tracy and Chris.

   Templar

6. 6.33 and should have been quicker if I could spell CHAUFFEUR. COD to LANDING STRIP which made me smile as I was solving on a plane. Didn’t know BERLIN was a composer, couldn’t get past Berlioz in my head but it was clear from checkers. Thanks setter and blogger.

   NeilC

   1. A composer of so many popular songs, notably “White Christmas”.
      1. And one of the select few who mostly wrote both words and music.
7. So Tuesday’s very nice puzzle sets the tone for another Good Day. No problems here. I didn’t time myself but it was however long it takes to drink one slowly sipped cup of coffee. Some very pleasing clues along the way : I very much liked 16 and 22 across and the cleverness, too, of 2 down. In addition, I always appreciate – post-solving! – the misdirection in clues such as 20 across where one is so used to phrases such as “right away” being a single unit that breaking them up, or reading them as 2 single words, does not always present itself as an option. Thanks so much, Tracy, for a super puzzle and thanks, too, to Chris for the blog.
8. Interrupted and completely thrown by a long, complex phone call when I was going well. Not easy to drop back into it so ended up at over 4K, despite it being a fairly straightforward (and otherwise enjoyable) solve. I had a few chuckles – CHAUFFEUR, LANDING STRIP, and EYE UP. Thanks both. John M.

   Edited at 2019-10-08 09:05 am (UTC)

9. I found this straightforward too – thanks setter and blogger! Not too keen on Cadge.- it would be a better clue across the pond -I don’t think any or many in the UK would use that slang. Heard it a bit on the 50’s but my uncles were GI’s over here.
   1. Oh, i don’t know. Back in the days when I was a smoker (not even in the last century, to be honest) the expression to ‘bum a cigarette’ was in daily use
      1. Not that I am/was a smoker, but it was also well-known to me. There’s such a vast amount of vocabulary with which I’m not familiar that it’s quite a pleasant change to be on this side of the fence for a change.
   2. Cadge was in regular use in my youth in UK in the 50s and on. It is still in use in my experience. Never thought of it as a US thing. Perhaps it is a regional thing in UK.
      1. Yes sorry – to cadge is to scrounge no problem with that – I was less keen on the clue itself which I thought was a bit of a bummer 🙂
10. Inside 11 minutes, which is nice! This was a very even-paced solve with no hold-ups, and BERLIN LOI. Thanks Tracy and Chris.
11. 8 and a half minutes of fun. FOI was 1d INCUR and LOI 5d RESERVOIR DOGS. My spelling abilities were tested with 1a, 3d and 12d and I should have put on my reading glasses for 8a.
12. ….BEDSIT had a shared toilet. That was seriously cracked. A bidet was something I could only dream of.

    Enjoyable puzzle from Tracy, no dramas.

    FOI TO SPARE
    LOI IDIOSYNCRASY
    COD SLEIGHT OF HAND – I don’t often nominate an anagram, but this conjured up such a fine image !

13. I was flying through the first 70% of this puzzle but then slowed down and had to write out the anagrist for POI, RESERVOIR DOGS, and LOI, IDIOSYNCHRASY. Burn/bum cost me some time. 9:17. Thanks Tracy and Chris.
14. Another one with just under 8 minutes – there is an interesting amount of synchronicity going on here today! That is a pretty fast time for me, although not quite a PB.

    I agree with Templar re random films names and how to spell idiosyncrasy, which went in straightaway, but with a final c. The perils of biffing! Spa sorted that out. I also biffed Sleight of hand, but really enjoyed the clue on giving it a bit more attention post-solve.

    FOI Idiosyncrasy
    LOI Governess
    COD Sleight of hand – see Phil’s comment 😊

15. Well, I seem to be on a bit of a roll at the moment. Nearly set a new PB yesterday, completed the 15×15 late last night (bar an unknown peasant) and finished today’s Tracy just a few seconds over 20 mins, by virtue of getting all three long anagrams without any delay, which normally never happens. If only I had spotted Native/Governess a little sooner. The rest of the week, of course, will now be a disaster. I thought 21ac Oldie was going to be my CoD, but it was pipped at the post by 22ac, Landing Strip. Invariant
16. We found this straightforward, helped by quick, for us, solving of the long clues. 15m & pb.
17. Very entertaining today but I particularly enjoyed ASSET and OLDIE. I had to get my specs out to sort out the burn/bum conundrum, so I’ll add my voice to those requesting a change of font.
    I initially mispelt 1a making SPA a bit tricky so I had to go back to the anagram fodder and write it all out before coming up with the correct spelling. I left the composer to the end due to my lack of musical knowledge so was relieved when BERLIN popped into my head without too long a delay. Finished in 9.09
    Thanks for the blog
18. If I hadn’t achieved a PB yesterday at under 10 minutes, I would have been even more excited about today’s solve taking 10.5 minutes! I would like to think I’m on a roll but probably I shall come back to earth with a bump tomorrow. Thanks, Tracy, for a great QC and to Chris for the blog. I like to work on paper but today I didn’t have to write any of the anagrams out. My last minute was spent on CADGE. I didn’t know the BUM meaning but the checkers and the wordplay wouldn’t allow for anything else. MM

    FOI:1a (but had to correct a C to an S when SPA came along!)
    LOI: 8a
    COD: 3d …. but really like 22a too.

19. Well! Tracy has finally pointed out my error of a lifetime spelling 1a with a final cy…Now I can’t find it that way in Chambers or ODE. Otherwise a surprisingly easy QC with several of the anagrams going straight in with barely a pause for consideration – 5d being so obvious from first glance (for a change). This was another QC I wish I’d timed, but perforce was split over three brief sessions.
20. I thought Governess should have been Governors … the Ness a bit far fetched
    1. Ness comes up in Crosswordland quite often so is worth trying to remember. It is used in the real world too – sailors/walkers by the sea.

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