Times Quick Cryptic 1627 by Oink

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
After a slow start at the top of the grid, I found the rest yeilded more easily so finished in an average time. I’ve never heard of the type of drama at 2dn but with all the letters could make a reasonable guess, and my LOI was 3dn (should have looked at the setter’s name!). COD to 9dn – bravo.

Definitions underlined.

Across
1 Confirm you might find cricket lover here? (6)
ATTEST – a cricket lover might be ‘AT {a} TEST {match}’.
4 Visit prison reported to be pretty (6)
SCENIC – sounds like (reported) “see nick” (visit prison).
8 Supplies cut short by supporter for time being (13)
PROVISIONALLY – PROVISIONs (supplies) without the last letter (cut short) then ALLY (supporter).
10 Fatuous characters in Twain anecdote (5)
INANE – hidden in (characters in) twaIN ANEcdote.
11 Stuff your face and get too hot in Bow? (7)
OVEREAT – ‘overheat’ (get too hot) said with an East London accent (in Bow), so dropping the ‘h’.
13 Escape from party with top-class athlete (2,1,6)
DO A RUNNER – DO (party), A (top-class), and RUNNER (athlete).
17 Band in blissful state (7)
NIRVANA – double definition.
18 Subject those people start to enjoy (5)
THEME – THEM (those people) and the first letter of (start to) Enjoy.
19 Fair-minded democrat beaten up in side street (13)
DISINTERESTED – D (democrat) then an anagram of (beaten up) IN SIDE STREET.
21 Half-cut priest dined in grounds (6)
ESTATE – half of the letters from (half-cut) priEST, then ATE (dined).
22 Solicitor in bed, drinking whiskey (6)
LAWYER – LAYER (bed) contining (drinking) W (whiskey, phonetic alphabet). ‘Layer’ here refers to a course, bed or stratum.
Down
1 One who helps a posh couple? (2,4)
AU PAIR – A, U (upper class, posh), and PAIR (couple).
2 Doctor Who ranted, making a sort of drama (3-6)
TWO-HANDER – anagram of (doctor) WHO RANTED. A play, film, or television program with only two main characters.
3 Scoundrel found in southern port? (5)
SWINE – S (southern) and WINE (port).
5 Tory heading European research centre? It’s a worry (7)
CONCERN – CON (Tory) on top of (heading) CERN (European research centre).
6 Row endlessly about nothing (3)
NIL – LINe (row) missing the final letter (endlessly) and reversed (about).
7 Ostler occasionally attending shy creature (6)
COYOTE – every other letter from (occasionally) OsTlEr next to (attending) COY (shy).
9 To guard against infection I clean out potty (9)
INOCULATE – anagram of (potty) I CLEAN OUT.
12 Seriously, it’s too soon to hold retreat (9)
EARNESTLY – EARLY (too soon) containing (to hold) NEST (retreat).
14 Opposed to a holy man pocketing reward (7)
AGAINST – A ST (saint, holy man) containing (pocketing) GAIN (reward).
15 Propositioned general, a little uneasy (2,4)
ON EDGE – hidden in (a little) propositiONED GEneral.
16 Romantic proposal (6)
TENDER – double definition.
18 Article gets thank you letter (5)
THETA – THE (article) and TA (thanks).
20 Drunkard finding nothing in street (3)
SOT – O (nothing) inside (in) ST (street).

42 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1627 by Oink”

  2. A little over my 30 minute target but nonetheless enjoyable. I cocked up SCENIC (managed to get ICONIC somehow in my rush to finish) and spent a long time grappling with PROVISIONALLY which tripped me up, even though looking back at it it’s quite a straightforward clue. I’ve never heard of a TWO HANDER either but just worked through the anagram, thinking mistakenly for a time that it likely started with THE. That wasted some time too.
    Thank you Oink.

    Edited at 2020-06-03 06:16 am (UTC)

  3. Fat fingers ruined an already slowish day with two Ys where Ts should have been giving me 3 pink squares and last place on the leaderboard with ATTESY and COYOYE (which in turn gave OVEREAY). Even without that I was over 20m at 21.15. Started slowly with only 4 acrosses going straight in, all in the middle but downs went better and built from the bottom up before grinding to a halt. I had PROP not ALLY pencilled in for supporter even when ALLY became clear so finding a word for supplies became challenging but also for some reason couldn’t crack 1a, focusing on grounds rather than matches and SWINE where I was very well misdirected by ‘port’ – curses! Don’t think I’ve heard of a TWO-HANDER and not for the first time failed to remember TWO is a three letter word. An enjoyable struggle today, let down by carelessness and slow synapses, but mostly outsmarted by Oink!
  4. Just under 10 minutes. Held up by disinterested, provisionally and LOI the strange sounding two hander!

    Several contenders for COD, overeat, scenic, and inoculate.

  5. Another not-so-good performance from me. I missed the hidden in 15dn so spent a long time trying to justify the answer. Last two were 4ac and then 7dn. Tried very hard to get ‘can’ into 4ac. As for 7dn, I had seen the ‘occasionally’ but was trying to get some letters of ostler into the first half of the clue – it all came clear but in a long time – 13 minutes.
  6. Very enjoyable as always with Oink. I started with the downs today and found them easier than the acrosses, which I attempted from the bottom up. I was left with a lot of blanks in the NW and had to chew my pen hard before the last few dropped, not helped by having tentatively put SCAMP at 3dn (a port is a sort of camp … for ships … ish). Got there in the end in 12 mins or 1.3 Jacks.

    FOI AU-PAIR, LOI TENDER (I hate being left with no first letter on the LOI), COD SWINE because it completely did me, despite being the trademark!

    Thanks Oink and William.

    Templar

  7. The AU PAIR helped me on my way and I took the SCENIC route around the grid, PROVISIONALLY trying RYE for the Whiskey at 22a, but rejecting it after CONCERN that it wouldn’t help me reach the NIRVANA of a correctly ATTESTed puzzle. Good fun. Thanks Oink and William. Now I’m going to DO A RUNNER and head for the 15 x 15.
  8. Oh dear. I really struggled with this one. I was not on wavelength at all. My FOI was INANE and having lucked out at the top of the grid I skipped straight to the bottom. Even then I biffed ON EDGE and missed the hidden. EARNESTLY proved elusive as did INOCULATE. I didn’t spot the anagrind potty very quickly. NHO TWO-HANDER and LOI like our blogger was SWINE. Thanks William and Oink. 21 minutes.
  9. My FOI was INANE after drawing a blank with the first few. Then I got going but came to a halt over my last two 22a and 16d. I too assumed RYE was in 22a. Finally I rethought and got LAWYER and then had another think about 16d before TENDER came to mind. All done in 14:30. Very good puzzle. David
  10. A super puzzle from our porcine pal. I was very slow to start and found the southern half easier but it all fell into place gradually as I moved north. I thought I was reasonably quick but ended up 2 mins over my target. I can’t quote a K time again – I hope Kevin’s absence today and yesterday is temporary. I’m comfortable with my time, given so many quirky clues and with only one piggy reference (it was my LOI). Too many clever clues to pick out a COD. Thanks to Oink for another absorbing QC and to William for a concise blog. John M.
      1. Finally back on. More haste, less speed. What a nana! 🙄

        Edited at 2020-06-03 08:36 am (UTC)

  11. An excellent puzzle from Oink I thought. Unusually I found the across clues easier than the downs on the first pass through. FOI was PROVISIONALLY, which I was pleased to get as I don’t often get the long words straight away. I was almost all done by about 30 minutes, but TENDER took an alphabet trawl as did my LOI 3d. I almost gave in to the temptation to put SLIME in, hoping that lime had something to do with port (something to do with limeys maybe) but then made myself do another alphabet trawl and wondered about snide and spike before I got to N and suddenly saw the light. How did I not see that sooner? Stopped the watch on 42:25, so slightly over target. COD to 9d, though I missed how good it was until it was pointed out on here. Thanks Oink and William.
  12. Inside target today at 13 minutes despite a slow start, after the trials of the last two days. It felt slower! I have to give COD to my LOI SWINE, which fooled me and many others with its misdirection. Excellent puzzle again from Oink, and neat blog from William, thanks both.

    As well as Kevin being AWOL, I don’t think I’ve seen Horryd for a few days. I hope they are both well. Whoops! I see that they each commented on yesterday’s 15 x 15.

    Edited at 2020-06-03 09:05 am (UTC)

  13. ….turned this into a SWINE of a puzzle, and my poorest time for some months.

    Like Templar, I threw in “scamp” at 3D. I compounded the error by assuming that 8A began with “prop”. INANE sorted out the initial error, but I only discarded the prop much later.

    I only watched the old movie “Spring and Port Wine” a couple of weeks ago, but it didn’t cure me of not thinking of port as a wine – which it obviously is.

    FOI ATTEST
    LOI SWINE (that pig was well hidden !)
    COD AU PAIR
    TIME 6:28

    Edited at 2020-06-03 10:45 am (UTC)

    1. Was that the film with James Mason playing a Northern patriarch on Talking Pictures TV that I also stumbled across the other week? Didn’t help me with the clue either.
      1. That’s the one. I watched it largely for the shots of 1960’s Bolton.
  14. There was a lot to enjoy in Oink’s puzzle, which was a good job because it took me over 30 mins to complete – loi 16d Tender being responsible for several of them. I don’t usually like homophone clues, but when I eventually got 4ac, Scenic, it produced a smile and pushed its way into CoD spot, just ahead of its neighbour Attest. I also managed to completely miss the significance of 3d until I read the blog, so all in all a bit slow today. Invariant
  15. Couldn’t work out whether this was on the harder side, or me making a meal of it, but it took a good 45 mins to complete – with most of the early clues in the bottom half of the grid. None the less, I found it enjoyable and a good work out.

    I also hadn’t heard of 2dn “Two Hander” and it took most of the checkers before I could discount the first word as “The”.

    FOI – 1ac “Attest”
    LOI – 7dn “Coyote”
    COD – 19ac “Disinterested” – nicely defined

    Thanks as usual.

  16. Thought I would leave a comment to celebrate my first completely unaided completion! I have been chugging away through this past strange month and finally have something to show for it. Done in two sittings throughout the morning – perhaps normally I’m too quick to turn to this blog (thanks to all, you’ve been a huge help) or pa for support. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come!

    FOI: INANE
    LOI: TENDER (wasn’t convinced even with all the checkers, was relieved to see I hadn’t slipped up)
    COD: SWINE (Oink cements himself as my favourite setter so far)

    Thanks again to everyone on the blog, you’ve brought me many lockdown smiles – Brownee

    Edited at 2020-06-03 12:23 pm (UTC)

    3. Hooray – what a good feeling! Hope to see you regularly from now on 😃
  17. I found this one relatively straightforward, but was fortunate in that I’d heard of a TWO HANDER and quickly dismissed SCAMP before entering it. I finished in the NE with SCENIC and COYOTE, where I got stuck wanting to put FAY at the start of 7d. Completed in 9.27 with my favourites being SCENIC and INOCULATE
    Thanks to william
  18. used to be on the menu at a Gascon bistro in Farringdon.

    Delicious.

    A bit like this puzzle from Oink. A medium level puzzle for me, taking 7:43, with the porcine SWINE being my LOI, with the slight mental leap to get “port” to mean “wine”.

  19. Very pleased. FOI Do a runner. LOI On Edge as failed to see hidden word.

    I had never heard of the band Nirvana. Had a wandering life so some pop culture passed me by!
    But guessed the clue easily enough.

    Must remember that supporter can indicate ‘ally’ as well as ‘bra’. Such a lot to learn.

    Liked Scenic.

    Thanks all round, as ever.

    1. I don’t know much of their material, but whatever you do you must look up (Spotify / YouTube etc) Nirvana and Smells like Teen Spirit – and play it loudly. Yes loudly.
      This probably won’t be your cup of tea but whatever your likings you should do this once….even if you then say, no. Actually I think it’s all I know of their material!
      Regards
      1. Listened to Nirvana but I don’t think I missed much apart from the handsome Kurt.
        Thanks for advice though!
  20. Very busy start to the week – so just couldn’t find time fit in the QC. However, we returned with vim and vigour today and polished off all 3 within our target time. Thanks to the setters and bloggers – we missed you….

    FOI: au pair
    LOI: tender
    COD: do a runner

  21. Another slowish day today – about 1.6 Jacks. Considering that all setters are playing by the same rules, it amazes me how different their styles are. I always struggle with Oink (similarly with Mara) and today was no exception. I even missed the porcine reference at 3d despite having scanned the grid for something piggy – dear oh dear 🙄

    It took a while to get started and progress was slow and steady, but I got there in the end. No problem with TWO-HANDER or SWINE, but biffing SCOTCH at 22a gave me a bit of a headache. Overall, though, it was a good and entertaining challenge, as usual.

    FOI Concern
    LOI Tender
    COD Inoculate, although Scenic came a close second
    Time 14:30

    WOD Disinterested (I get fed up when people say they’re uninterested when they mean disinterested, and vice versa!)

    Thanks Oink and William

  22. Felt slow, but ended up being just over 20 mins which isn’t too bad for me. Good to see SWINE, and hadn’t heard of a TWO-HANDER before but it made sense.

    LOI: tender – which took me a bit of time, even though it should be a chestnut.
    FOI: au pair
    COD: attest

  23. Slow today – took an age tosort out the unknown twohander, we were puzzled about 19a, never would have thought fairminded and disinterested were synonyms although we have to accept what the dictionary says. Thanks Oink, and to the other, as usual, helpful contributors.
    1. But yes they are normal synonyms. Problem is some people think uninterested and disinterested mean the same, whereas a disinterested person is someone not taking sides – they don’t have an interest in the issue.
      I like your dog, by the way.
  24. So many great clues, it’s hard to choose a COD but I think it has to be SCENIC as it made me smile.
    Like some others, I queried TWO-HANDER and I also spent a long time trying to parse ON EDGE.
    I biffed COYOTE, NIL and EARNESTLY so thanks to William for putting me out of my misery!
    Thanks also to Oink who kept me occupied for just over 15 minutes.

    Edited at 2020-06-03 05:14 pm (UTC)

  25. … with all done in 18 minutes but far from all parsed. One of those days what the blog was more than usually useful to explain what I had missed!

    Not heard of the band Nirvana in 17A, and the meaning of bed = layer in 22A also eluded me. Could guess but not parse 11A Overeat. But i did get 3D Swine fairly quickly, as I was scanning the grid for a porcine reference!

    So a very good workout. Thanks to Oink and William for a good blog that filled in my parsing gaps.

    Cedric

  27. This was around 40 minutes and that was after “giving up” after 5. But came back and it slowly all fell into place – so thanks Oink.
    Not much more to add to all of the other excellent comments. Actually I must look up disinterested – wasn’t familiar with that meaning fair-minded and vice-versa.
    Thanks all
    John George
  28. just over 7 minutes, with the NW area the last to fall, SCENIC, NIL and COYOTE in that order were my last three in. Luckily could see the long anagrams without the need to resort to pen and paper.
    thanks Oink and blogger
  29. One which I enjoyed was “Same Time Next Year” with Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn. That didn’t prevent it being my LOI! Thanks to Oink and William. KevinS

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