Times Quick Cryptic 1681 by Oink

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Very rapid progress – all bar the last two in just over 6 minutes. The 13ac/dn pair were LOsI. Finished in 7:27 – so A Good Day.

I found this extremely enjoyable. Crisp clueing and 16ac providing today’s porcine reference – with a few chestnuts for the stuffing.

ACROSS

1. Pub’s motto, possibly? (7,2)
BOTTOMS UP – a cracking start with this &lit. Anagram (possibly) of PUBS MOTTO giving something which could be the motto of a pub.
6. Englishman down under employing cleaner from the east (3)
POM – cleaner – mop – backwards – from the east – POM.
8. Religious leader‘s endless talk (5)
RABBI – endless talk – RABBIt.
9. Drinking and engaging in amorous activity? (7)
NECKING – double definition.
10. Two imbeciles at home revealing killer (8)
ASSASSIN – two imbeciles – ASS ASS, at home – IN. Roast chestnuts, anyone?
11. The drugs said to bring you comfort? (4)
EASE – homophone (said to) of drugs – Es.
13. Old judge will imprison one, that’s clear (9)
EXONERATE – old – EX, judge – RATE, with one – ONE – inside.
16. Nothing in pub for a snuffling customer? (4)
BOAR – nothing – O inside pub – BAR.
17. Alarmed, began to throttle first of louts (8)
STARTLED – began – STARTED containing (L)outs.
20. Money invested in Moscow perhaps (7)
CAPITAL – double definition.
21. Do they help one see the details? (5)
SPECS – double definition – the second of which is short for specifications.
22. Woman certain to boot Republican out (3)
SUE – certain – SUrE – without Republican (R).
23. Amateur plays Nero in disastrous fashion (9)
LAYPERSON – anagram (in disastrous fashion) of PLAYS NERO.

DOWN

1. Office admirer going round old city (6)
BUREAU – once you have the chestnut of old city (UR) then this falls into place with admirer – BEAU outside.
2. Boats carrying a number of instruments (5)
TUBAS – boats – TUBS Carrying a – A.
3. Something left out of old assignment (8)
OMISSION – old – O, assignment – MISSION.
4. Saintly men let loose in touching way (13)
SENTIMENTALLY – anagram (loose) of SAINTLY MEN LET.
5. Reportedly chose chap from Scotland (4)
PICT – anagram homophone (reportedly) of chose – picked.
6. Uncommunicative soldier (7)
PRIVATE – double definition.
7. Idiot half-cut lodger attacking one? (6)
MUGGER – idiot – MUG, half-cut lodger – lodGER. A mugger being someone, among others, who attacks people.
12. The French irritated by English game (8).
LACROSSE – the in French – LA, irritated – CROSS beside English (E). Another chestnut – RU rugby union and lacrosse feature regularly.
13. Test 50 per cent of people as a warning (7)
EXAMPLE – test – EXAM, half of peoPLE. The definition could be ‘as a warning’ as in ‘made an example of as a warning to others’.
14. Grab a customer pinching calculator (6)
ABACUS – inside the clue – gr(AB A CUS)tomer.
15, Inventor working after team set up (6)
EDISON – working – ON after team – side – set upwards – EDIS. This went in at ‘K’ speed.
18. Northern city shows the way, I hear (5)
LEEDS – homophone (I hear) of shows the way – leads.
19. Late up, along with others (2,2)
ET AL – late upwards – ET AL.

54 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1681 by Oink”

  1. A quick Quickie. I biffed EXONERATE, SENTIMENTALLY (trusting that the anagrist was all there), parsing afterwards. DNK NECK=drink, but assumed it was a double def. 3:48.
  3. 8 minutes. I too had some misgivings about BOAR until I remembered who the setter was but I suppose boars, and pigs more generally, make snuffling sounds, and ‘customer’ is just someone who has a particular characteristic or disposition as in ‘a cool customer’. And any looseness of definition is covered by the question mark.
  4. New found respect for the five minuters as I glanced at the clock having done the first two thirds as fast as I can go to see I was already at five. Luckily my answers were spread around the grid providing lots of checkers to help me fill in the blanks and finish in a quick for me time of 10m and all green this time. Held up by MUGGER, couldn’t get MUG from idiot despite knowing it and having seen it here many times and that was my LOI ahead of the 13a & d pair mentioned by chris in the blog. Bit crushed to find myself 31st of 35 on the early leaderboard after posting my fastest time for weeks.
  5. Ah well, let me be the first of the slower solvers. A good puzzle with a cunning mix of easy and testing clues. I thought I was on for a quick solve at first with a quick tour of the southern half but on returning north, I slowed. To cap it off, I stupidly entered ‘bottles up’ for 1ac (no, me neither). This led to a long search for my LOI until I saw the light and got the O and hence OMISSION. It pains me because 1a is a cracking clue. More haste, less speed. 17 mins. I should just relax and enjoy the ride and let the speedy solvers race on. Thanks to Oink and Chris. John M.

    Edited at 2020-08-18 06:36 am (UTC)

  6. 20 mins, feeling woozy today. Stuck on some chestnuts: Capital, exonerate, omission and example.

    I have seen Bottoms up before and google says Mara’s QC 1626 in June 2020 was the last outing clued as:
    Pub’s motto, questionably – this?

    Didn’t like the snuffling customer definition,
    Nothing in pub for a swine might have worked better.

    COD Layperson.

    Edited at 2020-08-18 06:37 am (UTC)

  7. Disappointed to record a rare DNF after a good 10 mins doing a double alphabet trawl for 11a (EASE).

    I’m still amazed that setters can discover/compose such great Clues as 1a.

  8. Under 6 minutes but SHE for SUE. Helps if you read more than the first word of the clue!

    Thanks Oink and Chrisw91

  9. Very big PB at 13.44 – I consider 20 mins speedy. Recognised some chestnuts and remembered the BOTTOMS UP from before. Now what do I do with all this time saved?
  10. Not quite as quick as others today. 11 minutes with the 13a and 13d causing me problems at the end. Despite BOTTOMS UP being my FOI and with the exception of SENTIMENTALLY I had to skip over all the first letter checked downs on my first pass. I also missed the hidden ABACUS so perhaps I just wasn’t on wavelength today. Thanks all.
  11. Very enjoyable. A few head scratchers as usual. Managed in my 30 minutes on par, just don’t know where the time goes.
    Can’t see an anagram in 5d PICT described here in blog but wasn’t troubled to solve it.
    Thought lay person was two words but never mind and setter’s name doesn’t show up on phone so missed Oink and thought BOAR was a bit of a stretch.
    Thanks to all.
  12. 07:25 here which must be my fastest time for an Oink QC. FOI PICT and LOI EXONERATE. Lovely QC level clues and quite a lot of familiar references-UR and RABBI/T etc.
    I completely missed the brilliant BOTTOMS UP anagram which has to be COD.
    David
  13. BOTTOMS UP was excellent.

    With one grandchild at Leeds uni and another on their way there I appreciated 18d.

    As a sailor, I reckon that describing a tub as a boat is stretching it a bit. But Edward Lear’s Jumblies managed it in a sieve so I suppose it’s just acceptable.

    Thank you Oink and Chris.

    Diana

  14. A nice easy one at 6:17, though it felt faster! I’ve only just caught onto Oink’s leitmotif 🙂

    Liked BOTTOMS UP, not come across that one before.

    H

  15. My target is to actually complete the quick cryptic so I was pleased with a 37 mins finish. After many months of being left with about 4 unsolved clues which I needed the blog for I now intermittently fathom all or am left with just 1 or 2. Determination is a fine thing. Thanks Oink!
  16. After the disasters of last week, I am delighted that this one is going so well (so far). Yesterday was 19 mins (and so under my 20 min target), and today was 14.01 – so a personal best (and the 1st time every under 15 mins, I think). I would probably be faster if I did not do this on my tablet while lying in bed, but it does get the day going for me!
    FOI Bureau
    LOI Mugger
    COD Bottoms Up
    Thanks to Oink and blogger

    Edited at 2020-08-18 09:04 am (UTC)

    1. Congrats on your pb, I use an iPad which I’m sure is slower than paper. I use the polygon for getting up purposes – trying to get all possible words but being satisfied with ‘very good’.
      2. Thanks! Also got ‘very good’ today – and I usually give up at that point, thinking that I will never have heard of the remaining words……
  17. Feeling foolish because I got bottoms up but missed the fact that it was an anagram. Very good indeed!
  18. I biffed BOTTOMS UP from the P of my FOI, PICT, without noticing the brilliant anagram. Having noticed that Oink was the setter, BOAR bore no difficulties for me and I smiled and moved on. LACROSSE was my POI followed by BUREAU which had blindsided me on the first pass. 7:51. Thanks Oink and Chris.
  19. 11 minutes, should have been quicker if I hadn’t dawdled over EASE. I also didn’t like the definition for BOAR, and had it not been Oink as the setter, I would have questioned it further whilst solving. As Jackkt says, customer is synonymous with person when some kind of qualification applies, such as tricky or snuffling, so I suppose it just about works, but I still don’t like it. Thanks Oink and Chris.
  20. Enjoyed this as I expected to when I saw Oink’s name at the top. Again hoping for a pb, but there were just enough pauses to think to deny me by a couple of minutes. Still my 18:16 makes two sub-20s in a row and I’m not sure I’ve done that before. Can’t really see the problem with describing a boar as a snuffling customer. Surely a customer can be just someone or something that one encounters, so a bull might be a “tough customer” or a fox a “wily customer”. Anyway CsOD to 1a and 13a, LOI 13d. Thanks Chris and Oink.
  21. … (which my spellchecker tried at first to convince me should be a “puddle from Pink”!), for a 7 minute solve. I also think solving is faster on paper; any time I try on my smartphone it takes noticeably longer!

    It may be a chestnut, but I have not met Bottoms up as an anagram of Pub’s motto, and I think it has to be not just my COD but also of the year so far.

    I don’t know what the collective term for a lot of rabbis is but we have certainly seen a few in the QC in recent months. By my memory today’s is at least the third in relatively quick order.

    Many thanks to Chris for the blog
    Cedric

    1. Rabbinate.
      I expect someone will be able to come up with some suitable cluing.
      “Sounds like my child (baby/BB) is at home in time”?
      This probably explains why my average time to solve is 30 minutes rather than the speedsters here!
  22. So many clever clues, it’s hard to choose between them for a COD but I think it has to be 1A BOTTOMS UP.
    Others which made me smile were ASSASSIN (even if it is a chestnut) SPECS and LACROSSE.
    I didn’t know PICT but it was obvious from the wordplay and I also had a MER at TUB for ‘boat’.
    Other than that, plain sailing and just within my target of 15 minutes.
    Thanks to Oink and to Chris – great time!
      1. See the glossary at the top right of this page:
        MER – “Minor eyebrow raise,” a comment where you think the setter might perhaps be a little bit wrong, but (usually) isn’t. Invention of the term is attributed to Myrtilus (commenter and setter) and this is the earliest known example.
        2. Thanks for pointing me at the glossary link, I’d never noticed it. An amusing read 🙂 And now I know what VSCC is too!

          H

  23. A gentle offering from Oink but like other’s I would have been less confident about BOAR if I hadn’t been aware of the setter. Finished in 7.41 with LOI MUGGER and my favourites being NECKING and BOTTOMS UP.
    Thanks to Chris
  24. Your solution:
    “7. Idiot half-cut lodger attacking one? (6)
    MUGGER – idiot – MUG, half-cut lodger – lodGER. A mugger being someone, among others, who attacks people.”

    Unfair clue – ruined the whole thing for me. “Attacking one” = “Mugger” IS NOT CORRECT. This is the wrong part of speech. This would be correct for this part of the clue if the answer was “MUGGING” but then that would invalidate the rest of the clue.
    Unfair clue. Bad practice.

    1. Attacking one = one who attacks = MUGGER. Playing with the language is all part of what cryptic crosswords are about, hence the expression ‘wordplay’ used here every day.

      When posting here as an anon, could you add a name (real or invented) please?

      Edited at 2020-08-18 01:07 pm (UTC)

  25. A potential 20 min solve was pushed out to more like 25 by problems with the 13ac/13d combination. Both should have been easy enough, but I complicated matters by initially wanting to include Oral and Reeve in my answers, so they became my last pair and still took a final couple of minutes. At least I avoided biffing Leapfrog for 12d… I’m sure 1ac will win the CoD poll, but I did like 7d and the simplicity of 19d. Invariant
  26. Agree with everyone here, except maybe anon who didn’t like 7d! A super puzzle, and all fair, I’d say. There may have been a few chestnuts – RABBI, ASSASSIN, EDISON and LEEDS for starters – but they were all so entertainingly clued that it was a pleasure to solve. I liked EXONERATE, and BOAR made me smile. Hopefully a crossword like this will encourage newbies!

    I nearly always solve on paper – I make more mistakes when I do it on my tablet, and I like being able to scan all the clues and grid together, being able to see how things fit as I go.

    FOI Bottom’s Up
    LOI Necking
    COD Bottom’s up – we may have seen something similar before, but I thought this was really *tight* cluing
    Time 9m

    Many thanks for the fun Oink, and Chris (especially for the chestnut stuffing!)

  27. Pretty much bang on my previous PB at 12 mins which was pleasing.

    Lots to like, especially my first one in “Bottoms Up”. Didn’t have an issue with 16ac “Boar” – I thought Boars did snuffle for truffles?

    FOI – 1ac “Bottoms Up”
    LOI – 6dn “Private”
    COD – 13ac “Exonerate” or 21ac “Specs”, both made me smile chestnuts or not.

    Thanks as usual.

  28. ….of 16A (maybe because of its expected pigginess). Read the clue again, think pubs, think pandemic. It’s 100% topical, and one of the cleverest QC clues I’ve seen in quite some time.

    I scratched my head over MUGGER, which isn’t obvious, but is perfectly fair. Under 4 minutes but it feels slow !

    FOI POM
    LOI EXONERATE
    COD BOAR
    TIME 3:52

    1. I get (had already got actually) the surface reading you’re alluding to, Phil, but still can’t share your enthusiasm. But each to their own; it was just an okay clue for me.
  29. We finished this lovely QC in 13 mins and enjoyed every one of them. Many thanks Oink.

    FOI: bottoms up
    LOI: mugger
    COD: necking

    Thanks to Chris for the blog

  30. Finished in 13 mins without parsing ABACUS (didn’t see the hidden) or LAYPERSON. No hold-ups to speak of and I didn’t have a problem with any of the clueing. Nice crossword, so thanks to Oink and to Chris.

    FOI – 10ac ASSASSIN
    LOI – 23ac LAYPERSON
    COD – 1ac BOTTOMS UP but I also really liked 6dn PRIVATE for its conciseness

  31. Could have been a quickie for me but after 5 minutes not getting BUREAU, I gave up. There’s always tomorrow. 🙂
  32. Fast solve for me. Around 10 minutes. Helped by having seen RABBI and SPECS clued similarly before.

    No problems with BOAR.

    Favourite clue EASE.

  33. I did this after returning from a lovely scramble and lunch along the Ardgour shores of Loch Linnhe, where I had spent a happy 30 minutes watching a large pod (?) of porpoises slowly work their way along not 20 yards out from the rocks. Their snorting noises were clear to hear, reminding me of their old nickname the “puffing pig” and of the fact that “porpoise” is derived from the Latin “porcus”. Then I come to Oink and BOAR! What a piggy day.

    Great puzzle. Just like Chris I ended on the 13s. Well under 10, might even have been under 2K (not sure – I had to deal with a plumber in the middle of it); a Good Day.

    FOI & COD BOTTOMS UP, LOI EXONERATE

    Thanks Oink and Chris

    Templar

    1. Sailing in Loch Fyne for several years, I appreciate the privilege of hearing such lovely creatures breathing. They are most common when the mackerel swarm – which also brings along the gannets plunging into the sea with such drama.
  34. Slowed myself down in the NE corner by getting POM for 6A but then turned it around and entered MOP for cleaner, which made 6D and 7D rather challenging. Being fairly new to QC means there are no chestnuts for me, something I must conker.

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