Times Quick Cryptic 1567 by Orpheus

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
This had a familiar feel about it mostly, perhaps because I’m finally tuning in to Orpheus’s wavelength, or perhaps because the clues are all composed of pretty standard QC fare. Apart from an unkown region (20ac) for which I had to wait for all the checkers, no major hold-ups.

Definiitons underlined.

Across
1 A couple of girls of fussy disposition (7)
FINICKY – FI and NICKY (both names for girls, couple of girls).
7 Synthetic textile in a church gallery (7)
ACETATE – A, CE (Church of England, church), and TATE (gallery).
9 Captivate in French song (7)
ENCHANT – EN (‘in’ in French) and CHANT (song).
10 Subjects about right for the Torrid Zone (7)
TROPICS – TOPICS (subjects) surrounding (about) R (right). The torrid zone is the area between the tropics of cancer and capricorn, unknown to me, but easy enough to guess from the name.
11 Solid figure of Conservative regularly taking Ecstasy (4)
CONE – CON (conservative, regularly) and E (ecstasy). Is ‘regularly’ meant to signify that the political party is regularly abbreviated thus? Thanks to Jackkt for parsing this one: C (conservative), ON (regularly taking), and E (ecstasy).
12 Secluded dwelling Mike included in legacy (9)
HERMITAGE – M (mike, phonetic alphabet) inside (included in) HERITAGE (legacy).
14 Mistake in supervision (9)
OVERSIGHT – double definition.
16 Flag initially identified by retired teacher? (4)
IRIS – first letter of (initially) Identified, then a reversal of (retired) SIR (teacher).
17 Remark made by journalist to create an impact? (7)
IMPRESS – “I’M PRESS” (remark made by journalist?).
20 European region, one Lassie abandoned (7)
SILESIA – anagram of (abandoned) I (one) with LASSIE. There are a couple of reasonable-sounding ways to enter the vowels if, like me. you don’t know the historical region. Thankfully, I guessed correctly.
21 Spoken greeting to woman providing sanitation? (7)
HYGIENE – sounds like (spoken) “Hi Jean” (greeting to woman).
22 Unexpectedly bid a lot for a popular newspaper (7)
TABLOID – anagram of (unexpectedly) BID A LOT.

Down
1 Like two Europeans providing gloss? (6,6)
FRENCH POLISH – like those from France and those from Poland.
2 Wormwood Scrubs, perhaps — or what it’s familiarly known by? (8)
NICKNAME – Wormwood Scrubs is the actual NAME of a London NICK (or prison).
3 Possible pet guarding old outdoor garment (4)
COAT – CAT (possible pet, possible owner) containing (guarding) O (old).
4 Talk incessantly in bay at terminus (6)
YATTER – hidden in (in) baY AT TERminus.
5 Teacher interrupting robbery, a bon vivant (8)
HEDONIST – DON (teacher) inside (interrupting) HEIST (robbery).
6 British woman abandoning son in Indonesian island (4)
BALI – B (British) with ALIson (woman) excluding (abondoning) ‘son’.
8 Large antelope eating plant is in volcanic territory (6,6)
EASTER ISLAND – ELAND (large antelope) containing (eating) ASTER (plant) and IS.
12 Repaired sheet — and hurried! (8)
HASTENED – anagram of (repaired) SHEET AND.
13 A Liberal painting in the open air (8)
ALFRESCO – A, L (liberal), and FRESCO (painting).
15 Good American group making strengthener for garment (6)
GUSSET – G (good), US (American), and SET (group).
18 Summon boy attendant (4)
PAGE – double definition.
19 Youngster carrying large stick (4)
CLUB – CUB (youngster) containing (carrying) L (large).

34 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1567 by Orpheus”

  1. 11ac is C (Conservative), ON (regularly taking), E (ecstasy). 7 minutes.

    Edited at 2020-03-11 05:09 am (UTC)

  2. I was wondering about ‘regularly’, too; thanks to Jack for clearing it up. ‘Regularly’ can be an indication that every other letter is to be deleted from part of a clue, and I was led to think that’s what was going on here at first. 5:11.
  3. 15 mins, only stuck on finicky and nickname. Finickity seems more well known to me.

    COD Easter Island.

    1. Pernickety came to mind but I didn’t know finickity. Had to look it up. Another addition to my vocab. John.
  4. I was on the wavelength this morning and finished in 09:45. I doubt I could have gone any faster,needing time to read, think and write.
    FOI was ENCHANT. LOI was EASTER ISLAND which I did not know was volcanic. I did know of Silesia;as so often, the GK can be crucial.
    There were some excellent clues and my COD goes to Wormwood Scrubs; very amusing. David
  5. 29.18 but always pleased just to finish. Also confused by regularly in 11a though that was my FOI. Stared at 7a, LOI, for a good while thinking i don’t know parts of a church and what might the church gallery be. COD NICKNAME.
  6. 9.14 but really a DNF as I guessed the wrong placement of the vowels in 20ac SILESIA which I’d never heard of and frankly all the options sounded plausible. I won’t be the only one to cry foul on this I’m sure! Other than that COD to 2dn.

    NeilC

  7. I started with the downs today and got all but two (BALI, where I was looking for S for son, and EASTER ISLAND, which was above my pay grade without some checkers!) at first pass. This set me up nicely for the acrosses, where only ACETATE resisted. All done in 1.75K for a Very Good Day.

    FOI FRENCH POLISH, LOI & COD ACETATE.

    Thanks Orpheus and William.

    Templar

  8. Do not go near today’s 15×15 – it was the championship finale – polished of by Mr. Magoo in 5 minutes 57 seconds. I was an hour longer and a DNF.

    Time ten minutes 30 seconds

    FOI 1dn FRENCH POLISH

    LOI 19dn CLUB

    COD 1ac FINICKY I know them both.

    WOD 21ac HYGIENE – now wash your hands, please.

    Edited at 2020-03-11 09:12 am (UTC)

  9. Around 15 mins for me, mainly straight forward and some great clues, but just on little niggle for me. I’m not too keen on the setter using random names in clues for the quick cryptic, there’s 4 girl’s names today. I might be being a little unfair but it seems a bit lazy to me.
    Thanks Orpheus and William.
    1. Quite agree – the odd one is OK but using them too often just seems lazy on the part of the setter.

  10. Not quite on the wavelength here. LOIs the short CONE (reluctantly parsed as in the blog) and CLUB (just being dim). Only got EASTER ISLAND from checkers – ne er associated with volcanoes. Good challenge all done in a bit under 20m.
  11. Enjoyed this – thanks Orpheus and William! I guessed a couple because I didn’t know that Easter Island was Volcanic and I wouldn’t have thought of aster either but like Silesia it cried out to be filled in. 11a a little bit convoluted for a simple answer maybe.
  12. A very quick start since many answers were write-ins but things soon slowed and I finished (all parsed) in 3K with TROPICS. The long verticals 1d &8d dropped out quickly given a couple of crossers. I liked NICKNAME, IMPRESS, and HEDONIST and parsed HYGIENE only after the crossers made it obvious. COD EASTER ISLAND. Good puzzle and blog. Thanks to both. John M.

    Edited at 2020-03-11 09:46 am (UTC)

  13. 17m here, not quite firing on all cylinders. Outstanding COD to NICKNAME – worth the price of admission on its own.
  14. Off the wavelength for this one. Managed to complete in 12:37, but felt like slow going. Needed FRENCH POLISH and YATTER to get FINICKY. Thanks Orpheus and William.
  15. I often have problems with Orpheus crosswords but not today. I guess I finished this in about my standard quarter of an hour. Some lovely clues here – I especially liked 14 and 21 across and 1 and 2 down. Very clever and made me chuckle. I was misled by “regularly ” in 11 across, was looking for electrodes in 4 down, and was hesitant over 13 down because I thought ALFRESCO was 2 words. All in all, a very nice start to the day. Thanks to William for the blog and to Orpheus for the puzzle.
  16. I romped through most of the QC. Having skipped over the two girls clue my FOI was 7a ACETATE and then I thankfully took a quick look at 1d with all those first letter checkers for my second one in. My only hold ups were 20a SILESIA (I’ve seen this once before and I struggled with it then)and my LOI 10a TROPICS. Torrid Zone is now committed to memory. COD to NICKNAME. Completed in 1.6 Kevins for a much better day than yesterday. Thanks William and Orpheus.

    Edited at 2020-03-11 11:15 am (UTC)

  17. Couldn’t get either of 1ac/d to start with, and then hesitated over Acetate being a textile, so not the best of starts. However things improved lower down and, once I had -ish at the end of 1d, French Polish fairly jumped out and opened up the grid for a steady left to right solve in 23mins. My thanks to William (and Jackkt for explaining 11ac Cone) , with my CoD vote going to 2d, Nickname. Invariant
    1. Agree with you on acetate – I always thought it was a hard plastic – but I’ve seen it here before and that may be just a different form.
  18. About 45 mins for me, but initially thought it was going to be longer as I just couldn’t get onto Orpheus’s wavelength. As a result I was towards the bottom of the puzzle before I had anything filled in.

    Always find the two answer clues tricky ie. 1ac, 1dn and nearly biffed “Cube” for 11ac. 20ac “Silesia” was a fingers crossed I got the “i’s” and “e’s” in the right place as I DNK. Also, never knew Easter Island was volcanic unless it refers to its formation and the “ring of fire” in the Pacific.

    Felt that there were lots of geographical references today.

    FOI – 19dn “Club”
    LOI – 20ac “Silesia”
    COD – 1ac “Finicky” (it certainly was)

    Thanks as usual

  19. I couldn’t write them in quickly enough. Kept putting in typos while completing on my phone.
    Sub K at 4:57. NICKNAME was LOI and COD.
  20. SILESIA used to be part of Germany. It still exists as a region today, although is now spread across Germany, Poland and Czech Rep. There is Upper Silesia and Lower Silesia. Never come across ACETATE as a textile. FI and NICKY not exactly the most common of girls names. Generally fairly straightforward I thought with a chuckle at NICKNAME. Good QC.
    PlayUpPompey
  21. Took two sessions and really thought that I would fail but very challenging and enjoyable crossword. My last four in were Nickname (great clue), Hermitage (tricky) and my WOD, Tropics (tricky) and then finally the Easter part of 8d.
    Eland now firmly implanted.
    Lots to enjoy.
    Thanks all
    John George
  22. all went well except for SILESIA which my annoying husband who doesn’t do crosswords knew for me after I had the S and L, and FINICKY which I just couldn’t bring to mind although I was thinking of all girls names possible and I had all the crossers too! CONE was my LOI and didn’t parse it correctly, it just made sense as a solid figure and the con of conservative and e of ecstasy. I am going to take the advice from previous comments and not even attempt the 15×15 today! Thanks all.
    1. I recommended having a go at the 15×15, its the puzzle from the times xwd championship final and is a enjoyable one. I couldn’t solve 4 clues but its worthwhile having a go and the using the blog to finish up.
  23. A bit of a slow start but after getting 6D it was pretty much plain sailing. We enjoyed it. Thanks Teazel
  24. Got through this with a bit of effort and a couple of reasoned guesses but no really long hold ups. Is ACETATE a textile?
  25. That’s more like it – and courtesy of Orpheus too! After yesterday’s crawl, this took 1.7K for a Good Day. Like Louisa, I often find Orpheus a bit tricky but this was fun 😊 I do agree about random names – so many to choose from! Finicky came from checkers / biffing, then parsing – I really don’t think you’d be able to solve a clue like this from wordplay alone.

    I also didn’t parse Cone fully, so thanks to Jack for the clarification, and I was confused by Bali, as I parsed it as B + Alis – s for son! I thought it was a strange way to spell Alice, although I’ve seen Alys before, so shrugged my shoulders and carried on! I liked French Polish a lot – a bit of a chestnut maybe, but none the worse for that.

    FOI Acetate
    LOI. Cone
    COD Nickname – fab
    Time 8m 45s GOT (give or take)

    Thanks Orpheus and William

  26. I think this must be a technical PB as I finished in around 3K. I never normally get under half an hour or so.
    However, I did put ‘cone’ in to check as I couldn’t see how the ‘regularly’ came into it – and, for some reason, thought 3d might be ‘goat’ and put that in to check. When I got the red square on G, the answer was obvious – a proper facepalm moment.

    Some of the others were biffed and thanks to William for the explanations.

    A nice gentle start to the week – let’s hope it continues that way for us entry level solvers!

  27. My only pause today was over the parsing of CONE, which I got wrong. Other than that it was pretty much a write in, finishing in 6.59. I was helped by there being a lot of crosswordese that I’ve managed to memorise over the years of doing the QC. Words like YATTER would once have had me dithering, whereas I now just trust the wordplay. Like others my COD goes to NICKNAME.
    Thanks to william

Comments are closed.