Times Quick Cryptic 1581 by Breadman

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

An excellent QC IMHO. Not just a pangram but a well judged level of clueing which kept me on my toes but still allowed me to come within my tangent 10 minutes (by 6 seconds!). 18ac went in not fully parsed and LOI 7ac ‘just had to be’. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

Checking the blog in preview, some of the clues seem to be highlighted in yellow. Another display issue which I don’t think I have any control over. If this is how it appears to you then I hope you’ll be able to read it OK.

ACROSS

1. Charles is after small framework for vehicle (7)
CHASSIS – Charles (CHAS), is (IS) after small (S).
5. Period of not eating quickly (4)
FAST – double definition.
7. Crystalline mineral reduced, alongside old book of a certain size (6)
QUARTO – Crystalline mineral reduced (QUART)z, old (O). A book with pages a quarter of the size of the sheets of paper from which they’re made/a size of cut paper 10in. by 8in.
8. Tiny amount shortly consumed by South African once a big drinker (6)
BOOZER – tiny amount shortly (OZ) consumed by South African (BOER).
9. Liberal British newsman pursues fake diamond (5-6)
BROAD-MINDED – British (BR), newsman (ED) follows an anagram (fake) of DIAMOND.
10. Manage awkward dame OK (4,2)
MAKE DO – anagram (awkward) of DAME OK.
12. French lass left in charge (6)
GALLIC – lass (GAL), left (L), in charge (IC).
14. Pay police on base (4,3,4)
FOOT THE BILL – base (FOOT), police (THE old BILL).
17. Formal jacket fixed centrally during day before party (6)
TUXEDO – fi(X)ed inside day (TUE) before party (DO).
18. Young hooligan goes round a horse, childishly worried (6)
NAGGED – Young hooligan (NED) goes round a horse childishly (GG). Nho Ned which is why this one went in unparsed but fairly certain. Collins has Ned as a hooligan/a young working class man who dresses in casual sports clothes. It seems to be used more in Scotland a Wikipedia tells us that in 2003 Scottish Parliament considered condemning the use of the word as it was insulting to young people as it stood for non-educated delinquent – which appears to be a widespread folk etymology and a ‘backronym’ (NHO that either) arising long after the term came into use. So, now you know – on with the blog.
20. A small bird mating (2,2)
AT IT – a (A), small bird (TIT).
21. Do a turn, roaming circular building (7)
ROTUNDA – anagram (roaming) of DO A TURN.

DOWN

1. Conservative runs high-class vineyard (3)
CRU – Conservative (C), runs (R), high-class (U). This does refer to the quality of wines but the main definition from Collins is (in France) a vineyard.
2. Part of breathing apparatus to display intact, reportedly (7)
AIRHOLE – display (AIR), homophone (reportedly) of intact (WHOLE).
3. Blade finally opens a series of letters? (5)
SWORD – open(S), a series of letters (WORD).
4. Brother or sister returned one’s flashy jewellery (7)
SIBLING – returned one’s (I’S = SI), flashy jewellery (BLING).
5. Jack retained by car manufacturer — it’s common in Norway (5)
FJORD – Jack (J) retained by car manufacturer (FORD).
6. Telephone function Eddie resolved in half of Spalding (5,4)

SPEED DIAL – anagram (resolved)) of EDDIE inside (SPAL)ding.
9. Stock market investor and Olive perhaps prosper eventually (4,5)
BEAR FRUIT – stock market investor (BEAR), olive perhaps (FRUIT).
11. Old-fashioned crucifix lifted in the open air (7)
OUTDOOR – old fashioned (OUT), crucifix lifted (ROOD = DOOR).
13. Staying in bed later than usual, telling stories at home (5,2)
LYING IN – telling stories (LYING), at home (In).
15. Open to view — how a pullover might be worn (5)
OVERT – a pullover might be worn over (OVER) a (T) shirt.
16. German artist terribly stern (5)
ERNST – anagram (terribly) of STERN.
19. Important date in October added (3)
ERA – in Octob(ER A)dded. Era is not just a period but a period of time considered to be of a distinctive/important character.

51 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1581 by Breadman”

  1. Enjoyable and relatively straightforward, despite a couple of new words to me – NED and ROOD in particular spring to mind, whilst QUARTO I only had a vague memory of. The wordplay was very fair though so these didn’t delay me for long. I particularly enjoyed the heavy drinking South African and a nod to 9d and 14a. Finished in 8.21 with LOI NAGGED.
    Thanks to Chris
  2. As Chris has said, a model of the QC. Fuelled only by two espressos I found that a little harder than yesterday and finished in 10:16 to make me the back marker on the blog so far. No biffing though! ROTUNDA brought back childhood memories of Norwich Castle Museum; “ned” memories of a BBC Scotland comedy series “Chewing the Fat” which had a running gag about some neds. All thoroughly enjoyable.

    FOI CHASSIS, LOI OUTDOOR, COD GALLIC. Thanks to Breadman and to Chris for an excellent blog.

    Templar

  3. Got there in something over half an hour. Went down all sorts of cul-de-sacs with 9a and effectively biffed NAGGED with horse = nag as DNK ned. Also DNK rood. Would never have parsed the final T in OVERT.
  4. At last, I was on the setter’s wavelength. Nice puzzle after a run of tougher QCs. Well under 2/3 of my target. In fact I was half a minute quicker than Chris (which is a welcome first). I liked QUARTO, NAGGED, SIBLING, BOOZER, and AT IT but not overjoyed by AIRHOLE. LOI was OVERT. I expect a run of quicker times today – many thanks to Breadman for a fair QC and, having biffed a couple, my thanks to chris for his usual helpful blog. John M.

    Edited at 2020-03-31 08:26 am (UTC)

  5. A few tricky moments in this puzzle. I kept coming back to 18a which became my LOI. NAGGED not parsed and NAG as horse in mind. DNK Ned. FOI CHASSIS.
    I did manage to parse everything else including the difficult QUARTO.I have learnt ROOD from crosswords. COD to BROAD MINDED. Time 11:43. David
  6. IMHO (as used by our blogger) is actually in the grid (middle column). A very nice pangram puzzle with lots to enjoy. I don’t have a time today, as interrupted by our postie delivering face masks, but I would guess easily within target (excluding checking for the pangram).

    FOI CRU, LOI OVERT, COD BOOZER. Thanks Breadman and Chris.

  7. It has been a while since I recorded a sub 7 mins solve but I achieved it today. My final two in were BOOZER and QUARTO. Had I not dithered over the parsing of BOOZER and the existence of QUARTO I would have scored a PB. There was a lot to enjoy today. Thanks Chris and Breadman.
  8. An enjoyable puzzle. I started with CHASSIS and finished with NAGGED, which indeed nagged at me for a while, as I didn’t know(or had forgotten) that meaning of NED. Liked FOOT THE BILL and BOOZER. 7:47. Thanks Breadman and Chris.
  9. 24 mins with about 10 spent on nagged.
    Why does nagged = childishly worried?

    COD sword.

  10. ….I thoroughly enjoyed both puzzle and blog, so thanks to Breadman and Chris.

    Currently joint 14th on the leader board. I had FOOT THE BILL marked for COD, but the fruity chuckle I emitted at 20A changed that.

    FOI CHASSIS
    LOI NAGGED
    COD AT IT

  11. I parsed this as (James) DEAN backwards round GG with ‘goes round’ doing double duty.
  12. I thought there was some out of the ordinary cluing in today’s offering from Breadman, and all the more welcome for it. Started in the NE corner and worked (slowly) clockwise round the grid. Nagged took a long time to parse, as did loi Broad Minded, after just over 30 mins. However the smile 20ac, At It, produced means that it has to be my CoD. Invariant
  13. I enjoyed this a lot, especially the pangram. It’s a shame we wont get to go to the BOOZER any time soon, so that has to be COD for me. 04:22.
  14. Much more approachable than the last couple without being easy. However, did not get NAGGED even with N-GGE- in. NED = hooligan not known.
  15. A great puzzle today with some lovely clues. Managed it in 20 mins which is approaching personal best territory.

    Only concern was 18ac “Nagged” which I couldn’t parse properly and “Ned” as a young hooligan (which I DNK). Does anyone “Speed Dial” anymore?

    Quite a few clues could have been COD – 9dn “Bear Fruit”, 9ac “Broad Minded”, 14ac “Foot the Bill” come to mind but it has to go to the cheeky 20ac “At It” which made me chuckle.

    FOI – 1dn “Cru”
    LOI – 18ac “Nagged”
    COD – 20ac “At it”

    Thanks as usual

    1. I would have thought that we all speed dial when we call someone from our contacts by touching the phone symbol next to their name?
      1. True – but I was thinking of those older phones where you could save a series of telephone numbers in a memory from 1 to 10. All you then had to do was hold down a number on the keypad and it made a rapid dialling noise before connecting.

        I think it was actually called Speed Dial as well.

  17. At 6:11. LOI was NAGGED, which went in on a wing and a prayer. AT IT made me chuckle, more of a Private Eye than a Times clue?
  18. I did not feel this was easy, also felt two of the clues were misleading particularly for newbies. Broad minded is not 2 words at best hyphenated. A bear illustrates a seller not an investor, a bull is an investor at least that is my understanding. Maybe in crossword land such inaccuracies are acceptable and I need to learn that for the future.
    1. Welcome Newbie!

      All comments/questions welcome. If you register for a free LiveJournal account a) you will be known to others and b) will get an email prompt should anyone reply to you.

      As to the questions:
      Broad-minded is how Collins dictionary has it – thanks for raising this a as I realised I’d missed the hyphen in the blog – now corrected.
      A bear thinks the market is going to fall so attempts to sell high and buy cheap – so they are investors.

      1. Can someone tell me how I get email prompts if anyone replies to one of my posts please?

        Many thanks
        Cedric

      3. Bull and Bear refer to the market not the individuals. It is impossible to either buy or sell without a counterparty doing the opposite.
  19. Well, we completed it successfully in a reasonable time (not the 6 hours that popped up on the iPad screen on completion) but had to biff the last couple. Nagged was definitely entered on a wing and a prayer as we did not know ned.

    FOI: chassis
    LOI: nagged
    COD: at it 😅

    Thanks for the blog – very helpful

  20. Just realised I neglected to comment earlier, distracted by playing silly-buggers elsewhere.

    This one took me 12 minutes, missing my target by 2.

    Enjoyed the saucy humour of 20ac.

    NHO NED as hooligan, but at least it made a change from the more usual (and inaccurate) Ted.

    Not convinced by 15ac as I don’t think ‘T’ can be totally separated from the word ‘shirt’ when referring to the garment. It’s a weak clue anyway IMHO for using the word ‘pullOVER’.

    Edited at 2020-03-31 12:17 pm (UTC)

  22. Finished. Raced through at first then struggled a bit, AT IT being one of the last!
    Thanks all round.
  23. in no time at all as my quartz clock had run out of batteries!
    I was between 10-11 minutes. I actually banged in QUARTZ at 7ac without reading most of the clue, which made 3dn SWORD my LOI. I thought it must be an old Hungarian weapon, until the forint dropped.

    FOI 1ac CHASSIS (Eric Morecambe pronounced it chassit! Texaco ad with Emerson Fittpaldi and Ernie)

    COD 20ac AT IT! Matron! The Hendrick’s smelling salts!

    WOD 17ac TUXEDO named after the Tuxedo Park Country Club, NY state, where it was first worn in 1886 – as remembered from an Old Guinness Book of Records – a lovely way to boost the old GK.

    Edited at 2020-03-31 02:14 pm (UTC)

    1. During a meeting with American colleagues the word Chassis came up – they pronounce it exactly as spelt – I had no idea what they were talking about for a while
  24. … as it is now some time since I solved in under 12 minutes whereas I used to think my mark was more like 8-10. So either our setters are getting more crafty or my brain is getting slower. No doubt the latter, and I shall blame the lockdown.

    14 minutes today, with LOI 18A Nagged entered as a guess without being parsed. Nearly misled by 17A “… day before party” too, which left me wondering about eves. “Lift and separate”, I can hear more experienced solvers saying!

    COD 20A At it, a very nice short clue. Dare say there’s a bit of that going on as we are all housebound, wonder what the birth rate will be next Christmas!

    Many thanks to Chris and Breadman
    Cedric

  25. A similar experience to everyone else. Of course I didn’t notice the pangram but there were some very enjoyable clues with lovely surfaces -I particularly liked Make-do, Sibling Gallic and Foot the bill.

    FOI Cru
    LOI Nagged
    COD – At it (although round here it’s the woodpigeons)
    Time 14 mins approx (nagged took far too long)

    I think the biggie seems quite approachable today, but that is just IMHO!

    Thanks to Breadman and Chris – I’ve got the interesting highlights but it’s still quite readable. Whether I’ll still have the other type of highlights in 11 weeks time is debatable!

    Edited at 2020-03-31 03:34 pm (UTC)

  26. very enjoyable today! Got NAGGED but couldn’t parse it and like others thought the horse was the nag so thanks for the explaination. Never heard of ned so that didn’t help. Also didn’t know BEAR re stock exchange but once I had FRUIT it came.As others I enjoyed 20a and, as a newbie was quite surprised by it! Do I get emails if someone replies to my post? As usual thanks everyone.
  27. A most enjoyable puzzle. I laughed out loud at 20a and 15d. DNK Ned so that and era were my last ones in. Under 20 mins which is good for me.
    FOI 1a
    COD several candidates but I’ll go for 1d as it’s so neat.
    Thank you to Breadman and Chris for the blog. I would never have spotted it was a pangram.
    Blue Stocking
  28. Why the “once” in 8ac? There are still plenty of boers in SA eating boerewors around the braai. Is an ounce really a tiny amount? Quite standard in my book. If the setter is so unimaginative that he or she has to resort to Americanisms, surely they should be indicated in the clue? One of my pet hates is foreign proper nouns clued as anagrams. DoTW
    1. I think it’s small in comparison with lb, st, cwt and ton, the same way that gram is small in comparison with kg and tonne. Once is there just to help solvers who might be less familiar with the current situation – most would think of Boers as being in the past rather than present.

  29. Is there a link to Ned Kelly? Hooligan was of course an Irishman as were most of my forebears
  30. I like it!

    Perhaps this could be done intentionally to all clues in future?

    jb (1st official post)

    1. Welcome jb! As you’ll now have found, you get an email prompt to this reply. Enjoy!
  31. A puzzle that suited this newbie just fine. Not a pushover but no obscure words, no dubious definitions and no random abbreviations. Thanks to setter and blogger.

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