Times Quick Cryptic 1561 by Tracy

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I really struggled getting going in this one. My problems stemmed from the NW where LOIs were 2dn, 3dn, 1dn and finally 8ac. 10ac didn’t help matters either so I ended up at 16 minutes. Rather than put this down to a poor show from me, I prefer to acknowledge some wonderfully tight cluing by Tracy which I found hard to unravel.

Here’s how I think it all works out.

ACROSS
1. Dodgy dealer, perhaps, eccentric and quick-witted (9)
CARDSHARP – eccentric (CARD – witty person), quick-witted (SHARP).
6. Small, the old man in health resort (3)
SPA – small (S), old man (PA).
8. Dog might be trained someday (7)
SAMOYED – DNK this Siberian dog with a white coat a curled tail. Anagram (trained) of SOMEDAY.
9. Character from Kuwait, cheerful (5)
AITCH – from Kuw(AIT CH)eerful.
10. US novelist, and a quirky poet, following former president about (6,6)
TRUMAN CAPOTE – DNK this ‘most famous and controversial writer in contemporary American literature’ but have heard of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. A (A) and an anagram (quirky) of POET following former president (TRUMAN), about (C).
12. One among Queen Victoria’s first back in capital (6)
VIENNA – one (I) among Queen (ANNE) and (V)ictoria- backwards.
13. First drop of sherry, enough to taste (6)
SAMPLE – (S)herry, enough (AMPLE).
16. Matter that is dividing households in region round London (4,8)
HOME COUNTIES – matter (COUNT) and ‘that is’ (IE) dividing households (HOMES). Took a long time to wrench this one apart – maybe I should have seen it straight away from the definition but it wasn’t one of those days.
19. Pal beginning to play the fool? (5)
CHUMP – pal (CHUM), (P)lay.
20. Dined in cosy place, most elegant (7)
NEATEST – dined (ATE) in cosy place (NEST – not nook which I tried to wedge in).
22. Close result (3)
END – a wonderfully concise and believable surface – double definition,
23. I see what you’re saying (3-6)
LIP READER – cryptic definition. Another great clue.
DOWN
1. Pitch players used (4)
CAST – a wonderfully concise and believable surface – double definition.
2. Shame about son going inside again (7)
REMORSE – about (RE), son (S) going inside again (MORE). Once again – enough to bamboozle me here.
3. Persuade wife to go for express (3)
SAY – persuade (S)w(AY) without wife (W). I immediately thought this began with W so tried to make OO = to go for express – unsuccessfully.
4. Most enthusiastic in study, enthralled by craft (6)
ARDENT – so it doesn’t end in EST then. Study (DEN) enthralled by craft (ART).
5. Have something to do with drama, independently (4,1,4)
PLAY A PART – drama (PLAY), independently (A PART).
6. Conflict in group over head, mostly (3-2)
SET-TO – group (SET) over (on top of) head mostly (TO)p.
7. Sprinter, maybe, allowed to enter rearranged heat (7)
ATHLETE – allowed (LET) to enter an anagram (rearranged) of HEAT.
11. I clam up in broadcast relating to local government (9)
MUNICIPAL – anagram (broadcast) of I CLAM UP IN.
12. Means of transport in channel (7)
VEHICLE – despite wild imaginings otherwise, this turns out to be a double definition. The second one being as a means/mechanism for achieving something.
14. Suppose injured rep needs nurse (7)
PRETEND – anagram (injured) of REP, nurse (TEND).
15. Briefly go round and pinch a root vegetable (6)
TURNIP – briefly go round (TUR)n, pinch (NIP).
17. Part of dynamo under barrow (5)
MOUND – part of dyna(MO UND)er. This barrow is the mound of earth built over graves in ancient times.
18. Commotion starts to signal trouble in residence (4)
STIR – (S)ignal (T)rouble (I)n (R)esidence.
21. Primate in cloak, heading off (3)
APE – c(APE).

31 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1561 by Tracy”

  1. Straightforward, although I biffed a couple: HOME COUNTIES, TURNIP, TRUMAN CAPOTE, all parsed post-submission. I was expecting -EST at 4d, too, but having the R, A, and O at 10ac gave me the answer there, which led to ARDENT. POI 8ac, LOI 2d. It took me a while to see the ‘channel’=VEHICLE connecton. 5:07.
  2. Although there was nothing truly challenging here, I never could get really flowing, and in fact the quickie felt “harder” than the 15×15. Thanks for the blog!
  3. 11 minutes, slowed a little by not being able to remember the dog so had to wait for all the checkers, and needed most of them also to bring the author to mind. Otherwise it all went smoothly. Really liked the clue to LIP-READER although I suspect it’s not new.

    Edited at 2020-03-03 05:42 am (UTC)

  4. 14 minutes. With spell check.

    For 1d cast I guessed it was players as in actors, but the used is sneaky.

    NW definitely the hardest.

    COD lip reader.

    Edited at 2020-03-03 06:08 am (UTC)

  5. I found this on the milder side 7.30 mins

    FOI 16ac HOME COUNTIES

    LOI 3dn SAY I wondered where ‘er indoors was!

    COD 8ac SAMOYED

    WOD 10ac TRUMAN CAPOTE

  7. Is 1dn a triple definition rather than a double? (CAST being “used” as in cast offs, or the cast skin of a snake.)

    I found that fairly user friendly, clocking in a bit faster than vinyl but still at 1.7 Kevins. No problems with the long crossers but the NW was a nest of vipers today and I got held up for a long time at the end by the VEHICLE/VIENNA junction – I knew there was something sneaky about Queen Victoria but it took me ages to work out what it was! Overall a Very Good Day.

    FOI ARDENT, LOI VIENNA (it meant nothing to me …), COD LIP-READER.

    Thanks Tracy and Chris.

    Templar

    1. I’m not sure re 1dn. I think cast means shed rather than used in the sense you’re referring to. I like the thinking though.
  8. Like vinyl, I soon moved away from the NW (despite seeing SAMOYED at once) and returned to finish with CAST (doh), SKY, REMORSE, ARDENT, and LOI CARDSHARP. VEHICLE, VIENNA, and END gave pause and I won’t list the rest of the clues I enjoyed. I just pipped Chris at 3K so yesterday’s personal disaster is partly forgotten. A fine TRACY QC and a good blog. Thanks. John M.

    Edited at 2020-03-03 08:57 am (UTC)

  9. 16 minutes for me too also struggling with the NW. Lots to like here. Thanks Tracy and Chris.
  10. … as rather too many entries went in completely unparsed. An 11 minute “finish” with all clues answered correctly but did not see thinking behind 12A Vienna … or 12D Vehicle … or 16A Home counties (though this was one of my first ones in as it is the only possible answer to “region round London”).

    For a change I have a 3-letter clue as my COD: 3D Say. I’m sure more experienced solvers have seen that before but I really liked it and was pleased to get it!

    Moe than usual thanks to Chris for explaining everything so clearly; needed it today.

    Cedric

  11. No problems with today’s offering from Tracy. It took me about fifteen minutes or so which is at the top end of my average spectrum. Some very nice clues here – 1 across and the super 22 across spring to mind. I couldn’t parse 12 across so thanks very much, Chris, for sorting that one out plus I hadn’t twigged VEHICLE as “channel” so that, pre-blog, was a head-scratcher. My LOI was 1 down – for which, I, too, saw three meanings – throw out, actors and cast-offs. Thanks so much, Chris, for an illuminating blog and thanks, too, to Tracy for a super puzzle
  12. 30 mins for me, but got held up by the NW corner again and struggled to parse a few clues until later.

    In particular, 16ac “Home Counties” had me scratching my head for how it worked as did 12dn “Vehicle”. 8ac “Samoyed” I somehow managed to pull from the depths of my memory but wasn’t confident until I read the blog regarding spelling.

    FOI – 7dn “Athlete”
    LOI – 2dn “Remorse”
    COD – 1dn “Cast” – simple, but took a while…

    Thanks as usual.

  13. I am another one who got stymied in the NW with 1 and 8 across and 1,3 and 5 down. The dearth of checkers extended my solving time to 19 minutes. To complicate matters I also had VEHICLE as viaduct for a while. Well played Tracy.
  14. I also abandoned the NW and moved on to easier pickings in the NE, returning when TRUMAN CAPOTE gave me a foothold. FOI was SPA, and LOI was HOME COUNTIES. 9:17. Thanks Tracy and Chris.
  15. DNF again. could not get NW corner at all apart from Cardsharp and ardent. Never heard of Samoyed and couldn’t think of Truman Capote either. Frustrating.
  16. As others have commented, it was not easy to get a foothold, particularly in the NW. However the SE was a write in and I worked back from there. COD to the very clever deception in 12a – two queens for the price of one!

    My thanks to Tracy and Chris.
    6’20”

  17. ….we might see SAMOYED clued differently, for this is a really old chestnut. My ex-wife wanted one so that she could knit with its fur (copious and snowy white), but lost interest when I said she’d have to collect it all herself by hand.

    Quickly on the wavelength this morning, and currently 7th on the leader board.

    FOI SPA
    LOI CAST
    COD LIP-READER

  18. FOI SPA. Good progress after that but biffed Play a Role at 5d;that stopped Home Counties for a while. Also I had TIE at 22a which caused another hold-up. I know my dog breeds so the samoyed went in quickly. COD to SAY or maybe LIP READER.
    About 15 minutes on paper. David
  19. HOME COUNTIES, REMORSE and VEHICLE all went in with a shrug.
    LOI was LIPREADER, mainly because I forgot about it.
    6:32, so on the gentle side for me.
    Thanks to Chris for explaining my biffs.
  20. Another difficult one from Tracy that I completed in fits and starts. I had just the 12ac/d pairing left after 30mins, but couldn’t see either of them until I stopped for a cup of tea, at which point the required Vehicle came into view. Overall, a bit of a slog, but I did enjoy 23ac Lip-reader. Invariant
  21. I found this really quite hard and had trouble getting started. Usually I think it’s me but I see quite a few of you didn’t find it easy so perversely thats encouraging!Once I had Truman I was able to parse the rest but was stumped to do so with Vienna so thanks for the explanation.I really liked lip-reader once I had fathomed it out. Hoping to be more on the wavelength tomorrow! Thanks everyone.
  22. Hard hard hard. SW last to fall but made it in two sittings. Got lucky with allocating vowels to gaps in 8a and only half solved if not quite biffed VIENNA and VEHICLE as the last three fell in a flurry.
  23. Like others I struggled in the NW but found the rest relatively straightforward. I left the dog to the end as I’d never heard of it before so had to rely on guesswork for the order of the vowels, which is always somewhat disappointing. Other than that I thought this was a top quality puzzle with some excellent clues throughout.
    Finished in 11.21 but without fully parsing VEHICLE.
    Thanks to chris and Tracy
  25. Biffed most of these or worked them out from the definitions. Still can’t understand how you get cast from pitch players used.
    1. Double definition. 1. Cast a fishing line = throw/pitch. 2. players used in a play=cast.

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