Times Quick Cryptic 1670 by Mara

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

A fairly straightforward 10 minute solve with rather more double meaning clues than usual – 6 in all.

As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]. I usually omit all reference to positional indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.

Across
1 Trick turning over gigantic pastries? (9)
STRATAGEM : MEGA ((gigantic) + TARTS (pastries) reversed [turning over]
6 A quiet wood (3)
ASH : A, SH (quiet)
8 Wheel around old ship (7)
COASTER : CASTER (wheel) contains [around] O (old)
9 In parturition, a tale of birth (5)
NATAL : Hidden [in] {parturitio}N A TAL{e}
10 First of hurdlers entering slowest heat, surprisingly, be the best (5,3,4)
STEAL THE SHOW :  H{urdlers} [first] contained by [entering] anagram [surprisingly] of SLOWEST HEAT
12 Spare cash initially wasted, minor problem (6)
SCRAPE : Anagram [wasted] of SPARE C{ash} [initially]
13 Doctor in cape, fighting (6)
COMBAT : MB (doctor) contained by [in] COAT (cape)
16 Awfully smart, set for a degree (6,2,4)
MASTER OF ARTS : Anagram [awfully] of SMART SET FOR A
19 Holiday back in Geneva, electrifying (5)
LEAVE : Reversed [back] and hidden [in] {Gen}EVA EL{ectrifying}
20 Confiscated by club, the awful knife (7)
MACHETE : Anagram [awful] of THE, contained [confiscated] by MACE (club)
22 Very good one! (3)
ACE : Two meanings, the second as in playing cards
23 Device no writer put in line (3,6)
TIN OPENER : NO + PEN (writer) contained by [put in] TIER (line)
Down
1 Send packing container (4)
SACK : Two meanings
2 Incumbent of parish welcoming a source of energy (7)
REACTOR : RECTOR (incumbent of parish) containing [welcoming] A
3 Add   measure of alcohol (3)
TOT : Two meanings
4 Dance, finding last of money in jar (6)
GYRATE : {mone}Y (last) contained by [in] GRATE (jar)
5 Maine’s not, unfortunately — this state? (9)
MINNESOTA : Anagram [unfortunately] of MAINE’S NOT
6 Letter, a ticklish thing (5)
AITCH : A, ITCH (ticklish thing)
7 Idiot with success concealing dreadful flaw (7)
HALFWIT : HIT (success) containing [concealing] anagram [dreadful] of FLAW
11 Turkish leader taken in by a gift, currently (2,7)
AT PRESENT : T{urkish} [leader] contained [taken in] by A + PRESENT (gift)
12 Fly endlessly around African country — and another one? (7)
SOMALIA : SOA{r} (fly) [endlessly] containing [around] MALI (African country)
14 Bird in icy north (7)
BITTERN : BITTER (icy), N (north)
15 Ordinary   public land (6)
COMMON : Two meanings
17 Heading for stairs, step in room (5)
SPACE : S{tairs} [heading], PACE (step)
18 Bottom, come up (4)
REAR : Two meanings
21 Catch officer (3)
COP : Two meanings

51 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1670 by Mara”

  1. I found (or made) this difficult for some reason. Well, one reason was that I read 12ac’s ‘spare cash initially’ as SC, leaving RAPE to be accounted for, which of course I couldn’t. 9:09.
    3. I took it as S + C + RAPE in the sense of wasting, or raping, the countryside say. Strictly though that would have been raped, so I guess you are right.
  2. North west was difficult: coaster, sack, stratagem, gyrate.

    I don’t equate sack with send packing, more like send away.

    COD stratagem.

  3. Wow, welcome to the week. 28m. Only four on the first pass of acrosses but it didn’t feel like it would be too bad but I just couldn’t get a foothold in the NW and those clues took up two thirds of my solving time. STRATAGEM fell first but even those first letters didn’t help much, held up by every single clue up there – even SACK and TOT. Made the same SCRAPE mistake as those above starting with SC. Even at 28m I managed my fourth pink square in six solves, through carelessness again, sticking in an E for an A in STRATAGEM (which I just tried to do then too so I think even after parsing it’s just a word I can’t spell).
  4. If there’s a pink square with someone’s name on it it’s usually mine but – unlike a couple of esteemed solvers it seems – I came in all green in 8.32 despite feeling that I was somewhat stumbling around the grid. Pre-coffee too. And no pastries, (other than the ones in 1ac).

    Rather liked the surface for 6 across

    Thanks setter and Jackkt

  5. I also struggled with the NW. I didn’t readily equate trick with stratagem or jar with grate. So well done Mara for ‘stratagem-ing’ me – which only grates slightly.
  6. … in 12 minutes here, with 8A Coaster the LOI and only one not parsed; DNK/forgot caster = wheel. Otherwise not seriously held up and I seem to have avoided some of the traps others have highlighted.

    I’m sure I’ve seem Stratagem before, only last time it referred to huge prostitutes!

    Thanks to Jack for the blog
    Cedric

  7. I inadvertently clicked on the Times for the Times bookmark before starting the puzzle and read Jack’s comment about the preponderance of double meaning clues. I can only assume that aided my solve as I came home in just under 1K. My FOI was ASH followed by a clockwise solve. I biffed TIN OPENER from checkers and I didn’t fully parse SOMALIA before moving on. The NW corner proved the toughest with my final entries COASTER, SACK and STRATAGEM which I parsed post submission. Thanks Mara and thank you Jack for explaining SCRAPE.

    Edited at 2020-08-03 08:32 am (UTC)

  8. Is there anyone who did the jumbo on Saturday and can put me out of my misery. I got the answer but have no idea what the clue is on about. It was “demon has man at heart scared”. Hope I’m not breaking any rules or inviting a spoiler.
    1. You’ll have to wait until the deadline for submitting solutions is past, I’m afraid. This is a prize puzzle, remember?
      1. Fair enough. I thought that might be so. sadly all the answers can be googled even on the day as you probably know so personally I’ve stopped submitting them. Thanks though
        1. I agree about there being no fun in submitting competition crosswords, even if you have done the whole thing without any aids, which would be the only time I’d consider doing it. You have no idea whether other people have the same scruples!
          1. I think I’ve got it now. I worked out what the answer had to be and I found out I was right on Saturday but until today couldn’t fathom why (beyond the one word indicator). I’m not that impressed as it happens but it sort of works and an extra degree of lunacy is allowed at that level isn’t it 🙂 Thanks for your time
    2. With no quickie on a Saturday (must do the alternative versions from here) after racing through the Telegraph cryptic I thought I’d have a crack at the Jumbo. An hour later a very sparse grid. I knew the Telegraph was more straightforward than the Times but the amount of improvement I still need to do – I’ve only been at these 10 years – is enormous! If you got all bar one I’m very very impressed!
      1. Thanks – I had to return to it several times but that particular clue was irritating because I knew it was right but until today couldn’t fully justify it.
        1. Have you got it yet? Just think about a bit of Lincolnshire dialect used in the 80s! Won’t say any more 😉😉
          1. yes I got it at the time thanks, but with cryptics I like to be totally sure of the clueing and I had forgotten something until today. The penny dropped when I was thinking about something completely different.
            1. Ah – sounds very cryptic!! I misunderstood your comment. I know what you mean about getting the parsing tho – I’m always hopeful the penny will drop 😅
  9. I’m another who couldn’t parse SCRAPE, and I was unable to get a firm foothold anywhere in the grid. Spent too long thinking 4D might be “gavote” before finally getting COASTER to correct that illusion.
    Missed my target, not a great start to the week.

    FOI ASH
    LOI COP
    COD SOMALIA
    TIME 5:31

  10. Well, where do I start? Most of this was fairly straightforward and I got down to what I thought were the last two – 2d and 8a – after about 22 minutes, though like some others, I couldn’t work out why “rape” meant wasted. After several more minutes of trying various letters in 2d I finally decided that there might be some kind of parish “roster” that incumbents were on and that a “roaster” might be called a source of energy. I couldn’t for the life of me think of a ship, old or otherwise, that fitted I_A_T_R though, so eventually I wondered if my SHIP for 1d might not be right. I couldn’t think of anything else for that, but by blanking out the “i” as the first letter of 8a I did come up with COASTER and then SACK was obvious. I stopped my watch at 44 something, only to have to restart it again a minute later when I realised I hadn’t filled 6d in. Thankfully the answer came to me in a minute or so and I stopped my watch again at an even more ridiculous 45:26. Not that it matters of course, as I now find my “roaster” makes it a DNF. Oh well. Thanks Jack and, through gritted teeth, Mara.
  11. Nice comment Chris. 18 minutes for me, so it wasn’t easy in my view. NW was the hold up for me too, and I wanted to spell MACHETE with two Ts. No complaints though – beaten fair and square by Mara. Thanks Jack.
  12. Like others here, I encountered hold-ups in the north west corner plus in the parsing of SCRAPE. Having finished – at 25 minutes – I liked 1 across, STRATAGEM, so much that it is my COD (although like another poster on the site, I too would have spelt it wrong without the parsing to direct me). I also liked TIN OPENER, 23 across. Not only is this obviously a “device ” but isn’t it also something that “no [good] writer [would] put in [a] line “? I thought so, anyway, and it helped me find the answer almost immediately because I think it also means a crass or badly written beginning, as in having “a tin ear” with regards to what sounds right. Super surfaces today and lots to like. Thanks, Jackkt, for the blog and thanks too to Mara
  13. I seem to have had a major case of Monday morningitis with this one, with struggles all over the place, although contrary to other posters SCRAPE wasn’t one of them. Too many hold ups to list them all but finally untangling MINNESOTA broke the NW deadlock as it helped me realise that I wasn’t looking for a type of pastry at 1a. Finished with COASTER in 18.25.
    Hopefully I’ll have more luck with 15×15 which I see has a fairly low Snitch rating today.
    Thanks to Jack and well played Mara
  14. Also held up by the NW taking me over my target again to 11:23. Thanks Mara and Jack.
  15. A big fat DNF for me today with a number of clues not completed after 45 mins which is a first for quite a while.

    From reading the above it appears it must have been me rather than the puzzle itself as nothing seemed too difficult upon review. But, for whatever reason, it just wasn’t happening today and I didn’t seem to be on the right wavelength for the definitions. 1ac “Stratagem”, 4dn “Gyrate” and 8ac “Coaster” come to mind.

    I think Jackkt is spot on about the number of double meaning clues which I often find tricky (although I can’t really use it as an excuse). Other than that I will blame it on Monday morning and half listening to the radio at the same time!

    FOI – 3dn “Tot”
    LOI – DNF
    COD – 10ac “Steal the Show”

    Thanks as usual.

    1. Hi James
      Not just you. I usually get there in 25 but 7 unfinished clues today in NW and SE.
      I find clues like 13ac particularly difficult when a word from left field is merged with one in the clue. Can’t remember what these are called. There were several today.
      A tough but fair start to the week. Johnny
  16. just under 10 minutes here, but I did have to leave it, with COMMON left, and then on rereading the clue saw the answer instantly!
    like others I was misled by SCRAPE, but fortunately jar=grate has been in the 15×15 very recently.
    pleased with the helpful wordplay to spell STRATAGEM correctly- I will have to remember mega tarts!!
    Thanks blogger and Mara
  17. Like others, I found the NW corner hard, but got there in the end with a little help, even if I could not parse a couple of the solutions!
  18. Glad it wasn’t only me! Feeling very Monday-ish today, and had the same problems as everyone else, particularly in the NW corner. I think this was quite hard for a quickie, but we need a variety of challenges I guess. Having said that, I always enjoy Mara’s puzzles, and I can certainly do them more quickly than in the earlier days – that’s when I even finished them!

    FOI Ash
    LOI Sack
    COD Stratagem
    Time about 18 minutes

    Thanks Mara and Jack, especially for getting us out of a SCRAPE!

  19. with help from paper Crossword book as regards eg Minnesota.
    Not so easy for the slowies.
    Solved Reactor and Coaster eventually. Got stratagem fairly early but couldn’t parse, ditto Somalia.
    FOI At present and Common and Ash and Natal.
    LOI Combat (should have been easy)

    Helpful blog as ever.

  20. …but enjoyable all the same and not a bad time of 21 minutes, all things considered.
    I too had a problem parsing SCRAPE and GYRATE and I didn’t really get the ‘send’ meaning of SACK.
    However, I really appreciated STEAL THE SHOW, MASTER OF ARTS and TIN OPENER and my COD goes to AITCH for its comic value.
    Thanks to Mara and to Jack for the concise blog.
  21. with the NW corner, then came here, saw Jack described the puzzle as “straightforward”, sulked momentarily (not really), then read the comments to see everyone had the same issues with the same clues.

    9:22, with SACK being the last of a little set of clues that were holding out until I realised I wasn’t looking for a specific dance with a Y in it, and got GYRATE.

  22. Thanks to johninterred for the weekend special. Lots to smile at – I liked THUNDERSTORMS. 9:39. Looking forward to the next one 😊
  23. You got away with it today Kevin – over 5 minutes equals badge of shame for me (again !).
  24. I thought this was going to be a fairly gentle introduction for a Monday morning but the answers started to dry up when I was about half way through. I wasn’t held up in any particular area, there were just a number of clues dotted around that proved tricky. All done and parsed in around 20 minutes.

    FOI – 6ac ASH
    LOI – 17dn SPACE
    COD – 1ac STRATAGEM

  25. A late afternoon start after a long drive and 2 big food shops so I was not really in the mood. Excuses over, this wasn’t an easy start to the week. I just avoided the SCC and my time of slightly over 2K sounds good if you don’t delve deeper. My LOI was AITCH. Thanks to Mara for some nicely constructed clues and to jackkt for the blog. John M.
  26. An unexpectedly early start to the day, and what turned out to be a long search for a couple of large nuts and associated washers (why must everything be sold in packs of 25 or 50?) didn’t put me in the best frame of mind for Mara. However, what I thought was a slow 35 mins, doesn’t seem quite so bad looking at others, especially as a chunk of that was spent trying to parse SC + rape for 12ac. Nearly gave up with the NW, but once I stumbled onto 8ac Coaster, the other three hold-outs: Sack, Stratagem and Gyrate quickly followed. CoD to 23ac Tin Opener – too good a clue to languish at the bottom of the grid. Invariant
  27. A bit late in the day this, but a query regarding 6dn “Aitch” (and apologies if this has been discussed before).

    Is this the standard way of saying the letter “H”? I would normally pronounce it with an “h” in front, and would therefore have expected something to do with London or the “east end” in the clueing if this was not included.

    Probably overthinking but wondered if anyone else had considered this.

    1. Hi James
      Aitch is correct. However it is usually pronounced haitch in the north west of England and probably elsewhere. Where it is the heighth letter of the halphabet. 😀 Johnny
  28. No problems today until I just could not see 21d or 23a. My initial, unparsed, thought was Col for 21d but then I got Tin Opener and cop followed quickly. FOI Ash and COD Stratagem.
  29. 22 minutes..enjoyed this one..
    COD STRATAGEM-may be a old chestnut I suppose, but I do not recall it.

  30. I thought I was going to finish this one in 5 or so minutes, but sorting out SACK/COASTER took me to 7:11. Always surprised to solve a puzzle faster than Kevin.

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