Times Quick Cryptic 1667 by Oink

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Not my fastest time for an Oink, but I can’t tell if that’s the result of me being offline for a week or so, or if it’s really a tester. I put my LOI 22ac in with shrug and worked out what was going on jut now, but 11ac also took some staring at. Today’s piggy reference is a bit more sinister than usual…

Thanks Oink!

Definitions underlined.

Across
1 Workman needing new ear doctor (9)
DECORATOR – anagram of (new) EAR DOCTOR.
6 Pretend son’s out, getting meat (3)
HAM – sHAM (pretend) with ‘s’ (son) missing (out).
8 Animal droppings disturbed one in cell? (7)
DUNGEON – DUNG (animal dropings), then an anagram of (disturbed) ONE.
9 Alluring woman’s anger in outskirts of Saigon (5)
SIREN – IRE (anger) inside the first and last letters (outskirts) of SaigoN.
10 In which monarch might be trapped? (9,3)
BUTTERFLY NET – cryptic definition.
12 Strong stuff from vulgar licensee (6)
GARLIC – hidden in (from) vulGAR LICensee.
13 Society girl knight rejected? Rubbish! (6)
DEBRIS – DEB (society girl) then SIR (knight) reversed (rejected).
16 System Iranian got so wrong (12)
ORGANISATION – anagram of (wrong) IRANIAN GOT SO.
19 Move slowly, freezing in empty cell (5)
CRAWL – RAW (freezing) inside the first and last letters of (empty) CelL
20 Determined to be a worker on embankment (7)
ADAMANT – A, then ANT (worker) on DAM (embankment).
22 Veteran is fooled from time to time (3)
OLD – every other letter of (from time to time) fOoLeD.
23 Magazine’s prose arranged with tact (9)
SPECTATOR – anagram of (arranged) PROSE with TACT.
Down
1 Two parties, one completely dead? (4)
DODO – DO (party 1) and DO (party 2).
2 Defeat a hard nut, did you say? (7)
CONQUER – sounds like (did you say?) “conker’ (hard nut).
3 Regret road followed by Jean-Paul Sartre? (3)
RUE – ‘road’ in French (followed by Jean-Paul Sartre?).
4 Holding catch up by river (6)
TENURE – NET (catch) reversed (up), then URE (river).
5 Strong engineer lies inert (9)
RESILIENT – anagram of (engineer) LIES INERT.
6 Only 50% bother about fish eater (5)
HERON – the second half (only 50%) of botHER, then ON (about).
7 Notes very small rhinoceros’s bottom (7)
MINUTES – MINUTE (very small) and the last letter (bottom) from rhinoceroS.
11 Large tins especially for instruments (9)
TRIANGLES – anagram of (especially) LARGE TINS.
12 Malcontent with love for Marx? (7)
GROUCHO – GROUCH (malcontent) and O (love).
14 What might be read as warning to the mob? (4,3)
RIOT ACT – cryptic definition.
15 Visiting Budapest, a terrific capital (6)
ESTATE – hidden in (visiting) budapEST A TErrific.
17 Fancy £1000? (5)
GRAND – double definition.
18 Prison resistance? It’s over (4)
STIR – R (resistance) and IT’S all reversed (over).
21 A case for Poirot? That would be appropriate (3)
APT – A with the first and last letters of (case for) PoiroT.

43 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1667 by Oink”

  1. A time to be proud of… washes away my shame for making a mistake on the 15×15.
  2. Got in a tangle in the NE by putting in SONATAS from SO for notes before manageng to overlook that neither NA nor TA then fitted the clue. Even though this was an Oink and the clue referenced meat, that S made HAM very tricky and combined with failing to look at the other end of BOTHER for the 50% that took me seven minutes to untangle, so I eventually finished in 17m. Six on the first pass of the acrosses but I had spotted two anagrams even if I couldn’t immediately solve them, so I felt good as I came to the downs which I found harder than the acrosses today. Enjoyed this one despite the self-inflicted problems. Very impressive time, Jeremy, I had to scroll a long way past your name on the leaderboard to find mine.

    Edited at 2020-07-29 05:49 am (UTC)

  3. Nice puzzle. 8 minutes, and a relief to achieve my target again. Poor Oink, turned into HAM this time out!
  4. Very enjoyable and relatively straightforward with my biggest issue being an inability to think of a three letter type of meat – despite assuming that it would be pig related. I decided to leave the NE until the end and when I came back the H from HERON finally broke the deadlock and MINUTES followed swiftly thereafter. Finished in 9.00.
    Thanks to william
  5. I was pleased to finish just under my target at 19:31 as anagrams are more difficult on the phone, and this puzzle had one 12-letter and three 9-letter ones.
    COD was CONQUER, a homophone which actually works for once, and my LOI was APT, where I had visions of another ‘bet/bat’ debacle!
    Thanks to Oink for an excellent puzzle, and to William for the blog.

    Brian

  6. A nice puzzle from Oink and I thought it was a genuine QC for a change. I could have been quicker but at least I managed to be within my target for a change at 13.07. The long answers seemed to appear quickly. I liked DUNGEON, OLD (when parsed properly, not just biffed), CONQUER and STIR. My LOI was TENURE. Now to go back to see if their are any more hidden piggy references.** Thanks both. John M.
    ** Unfortunately, I could only get half an old spot……..☹️

    Edited at 2020-07-29 01:13 pm (UTC)

  8. I managed to parse everything today before submitting including my LOI TENURE which I thought was tricky.
    FOI HAM; no major hold-ups but the clues were well crafted as always from OINK. COD: another vote for DUNGEON. Time: 12:57.
    David
  9. Fun puzzle and I enjoyed the HAM! It felt like a lot of anagrams while doing it but on counting back it was only 5. All done in 8:11 which I’m guessing will be 2 Phils today in the absence of Kevin.

    FOI DECORATOR, LOI DEBRIS, COD BUTTERFLY NET. Many thanks Oink and William, and congratulations to Jeremy!

    Templar

    1. Not a bad estimate – 2.15P.

      Since I’m under 4 minutes, but only 25th on the leaderboard at the moment, the inference is that it was on the easier side.

      FOI HAM
      LOI CRAWL
      COD BUTTERFLY NET ( I wonder if anybody biffed “butterfly nut” ?)

  10. I completed the puzzle in 8 minutes (but forgot to submit on the leaderboard due to an untimely phone call from my son) with LOI 4d TENURE. DODO was my FOI which then gave me DECORATOR. I wasn’t sure about raw meaning freezing and estate meaning capital but hey-ho. Thanks to Oink and William.
    1. Technically capital is just your money and estate is all of your assets but close enough for xword land
  11. Just inside target of 15 minutes by a whisker. I too struggled equating ESTATE to capital, but it came in the end. FOI DODO then DECORATOR, and steady enough after that. Nice puzzle and blog thanks.
  12. Saw Oink’s name and hoped I would be in for a relatively easy ride, so I tried at first to go fast and skipped over the first three when the answers didn’t come to mind immediately. FOI was thus SIREN and I was pleased to then get BUTTERFLY NET and most of the other acrosses quickly. However, the downs were a bit chewier, and though I reached the last of them after thirteen minutes, I could tell it wasn’t going to be a pb day. It could still have been a good day though, had it not been for 4d. I had been held up a bit by 2d, 8a, 7d and 6a (though once I’d got 7, I got 6), but I reached one to go by about 23 minutes. TENURE took nearly 20 minutes on its own though, so I only finished on 42:29, way over target. Mind you, it’s still the closest I’ve got to my target this week and I enjoyed this far more than yesterday’s puzzle. CsOD to 7d and 12d. Bit of a MER to the use of especially as an anagrind. I think I might have come across it before, but I don’t see how it means mixed up. Anyway, thanks to Oink and William
    1. I do enjoy your blogs – they very much match my experience: keep them coming!

      Philip

      1. Thanks Philip. I usually seem to be the slowest to post on here, but I figured there must be other people out there who take as long as I do or longer and who might be encouraged to know not everyone can always do these in under half an hour.
        1. You’re not the slowest … my times are a tad too embarrassing to put up yet. But good to know there are others like me who take as long to read half the clues as it does for some (read K and P) to complete the puzzle.
          Cheers
  13. DODO was my FOI and I made steady but slow progress, finishing with OLD in 11:21. TENURE, CONQUER and RESILIENT held me up longer than they should have. Thanks William and Oink.
  14. A swift 18 mins for me today with the piggy “ham” reference coming towards the end.

    Personally, I thought this was on the easier side, with nothing too taxing. Not sure whether you can really call a “triangle” an instrument, it’s a simplistic piece of percussion, but no doubt it qualifies.

    FOI – 1dn “Dodo”
    LOI – 7dn “Minutes”
    COD – 2dn “Conquer”

    Thanks as usual.

  15. Such fun, as another Penny is wont to say!* I really enjoyed this, with so many great clues that it’s hard to choose a COD. I really liked OLD, DEBRIS and STIR. The only clue I thought was a tad weak was 14d – it’s barely cryptic, just a straightforward definition. As Penny would say: ‘What I call the Riot Act’.

    Not particularly fast, as I dotted around the grid, so came in a couple of minutes under par. In fact, I’m glad I didn’t rush this one, so I could really savour the experience. Of course, having seen Oink’s name, and then the clue for 6a, it was fairly clear where the porcine answer would go, but did HAM jump out at me? Well, no, it didn’t – how embarrassing.

    FOI Dodo
    LOI Conquer
    COD Spectator – as an ex-journalist, I really enjoyed the image of a tactful sub-editor
    Time 14 minutes

    Many thanks to Oink for a great start to the day, followed by a good outing to the 15×15. Thanks also to William for the clear blog

    * Miranda’s mum in the tv show, for those of you who may not be fans of sitcoms

  16. A very enjoyable 19mins, the last of which was spent toying between Act and Apt for 21d. After yesterday’s Bet/Bat debacle, I persevered with the parsing and finally saw how Apt worked – good enough for my CoD vote. Tenure and Minutes were the only other hold ups, though I suspect Stir might be on younger solvers’ lists? I did wonder at one point if Oink was setting up a pig squeal on line 2, but it seems Ham is the required pig token today. Either way, a nice puzzle, so my thanks to Oink and William. Invariant
  17. Should have gone away and come back again to Tenure.
    Liked Dodo and Butterfly Net and Dungeon.
    Had to be Stir but not heard it was another word for Prison.
    Many thanks.
  18. My thanks to Oink for another lovely puzzle. It was fun, smart and fair.My FOI was SIREN, 9 across, and after that, it was all pretty straightforward with some smiles along the way. My LOI , at just under 20 minutes, was TENURE, 3 down, and I was held up by that because I didn’t know the River Ure. Lots of candidates for COD today – I especially liked BUTTERFLY NET, DODO and MINUTES, the latter because the clue made me grin. Some super surfaces, too, although they’re so neat that it makes it harder to spot hiddens, such as GARLIC, my PLOI, which I just couldn’t see until almost the end. When I stopped the clock, everything was parsed apart from APT, so thanks, William, for sorting that one out for me, and thanks, for all the rest of the explanation, too.
    1. I’m sure there is more than one River Ure, but I used to live near the one that flowed from Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales through Ripon and eventually into the River Ouse.
  19. I found this very satisfying and thought I was going to finish within 10 minutes but TENURE took me to 11 minutes so not too bad!
    Some very clever clues – DEBRIS, SPECTATOR and HERON – but my favourite was MINUTES for being so amusing.
    It took me a long time to work out TRIANGLES but I managed to parse everything today which in itself is a success.
    Thanks to Oink and William.
  20. Definitely not on the wavelength today despite usually finding Oink’s puzzles at the easier end of the spectrum. Took me around 25 minutes to complete fully parsed. I enjoyed the tussle though so thanks to Oink for a neat crossword.

    FOI – 9ac SIREN
    LOI – 4dn TENURE
    COD – 7dn MINUTES for the mental image the clue conjures up.

  21. … as Oink as usual gave us a very nice puzzle. FOI 6A Ham, so the piggy clue done straight out of the starting blocks, and LOI 4D Tenure as I am another unfamiliar with the River Ure – but it could not be anything else. All done in 11 minutes.

    Generous of the Times to tip another publication in 23A!

    Given that I always solve on paper, how do I get myself included on this much mentioned leader board for solving times? Not that I will ever challenge the superstars…

    Thanks to William for the blog.

    Cedric

  22. Thanks. I’m an accountant so this probably explains why I didn’t put the two together.
  23. When doing the QC is one “required” to tackle all the across clues before starting on the downs? Or can you put them in any old order?

    It took me just over 5 minutes, but it occurred to me that I might be cheating as I get one clue and then tackle all the crossers. If I didn’t my time would probably be a good bit longer!

    1. There’s no rule! You can do whatever you like. I myself try all the acrosses followed by all the downs, because I like to look at each clue as a standalone proposition (so even though by the time I get to the downs I have a lot of checkers, I try to discipline myself to look at them only if I need to!). But it’s entirely a matter of taste and habit, and doing what you do couldn’t possibly be described as “cheating”.

      Do sign up for a Livejournal account by the way, so you get a regular username.

      Templar

    2. The method you’re using has stood me in good stead for over 50 years (thanks Dad !) and is the one I always advocate to new solvers. There is only one rule really – ENJOY YOURSELF !
      1. Thanks both for the reassurance that I’m not a rotter 🙂

        I do enjoy the QCs, but I also rather like the concise as there’s often a nina and spotting that is half the fun! And indeed it sometimes helps with the solving, though that probably is cheating.

        Any idea why, on a PC, there’s a bottom line constantly showing messages in a Cyrillic script? Is this forum based in Russia?

        1. As Phil and Templar have said – there are no rules on how to tackle the crossword. I generally do it in quadrants – I couldn’t do it without checkers. So each to his / her own 😊

          I think you’ll find there’s a nina every day in the concise, but my goodness, they can be hard to see sometimes!

          No idea why Russian ads have appeared again, but I’ve been getting dating sites over the last few days!

        2. I’m afraid these Russians get everywhere. There are a few irritants that make their way in, including a dating site featuring mature Russian ladies. I just grin and bear it (the grin is optional).
  25. Another second enjoyable puzzle after yesterday. FOI 1d DoDo LOI 4d Tenure COD 11d for the not so diminutive Triangle. I remember watching a celebrated percussionist form one of the big London orchestras demonstrating how versatile and necessary the triangle is in classical music. Some lovely misdirections too. Well done to Oink and to a concise blog too.
  26. but obviously not.

    Short 6 minutes if i remember correctly. Liked DUNGEON, finished with CONQUER, which I also liked.

  27. I did not find this as easy as most of the previous contributors did. Needed a good amount of help to get near to solving it.

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