Times Quick Cryptic 1696 by Joker

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

With honourable mentions to 9ac and 10dn, COD goes to 18ac which took some crunching and took me just over my 10 minute target, but did so with humour. In fact, the whole puzzle was fun from start to finish – thanks Joker.

ACROSS

1. Filthy place where cops lose criminal (8)
CESSPOOL – anagram (criminal) of COPS LOSE.
5. Caught pub returning seafood (4)
CRAB – caught (C), pub – bar – returning – RAB.
8. Perfect one to buy and sell (5)
IDEAL – one (I), buy and sell (DEAL).
9. Little piggy’s end not a lie, tragically (7)
TOENAIL – anagram (tragically) of NOT A LIE. A big smile when this definition became clear. It refers to the nursery rhyme This Little Piggy Went to Market which some very casual research has established was published in 1728 as the first line of The Nurse’s Song. The first known full version was in 1760 in The Famous Tommy Thumb’s Little Story-Book.
11. Wolf upset plain herder (11)
PHILANDERER – anagram (upset) of PLAIN HERDER.
13. Marks yearbook carving out name by hand (6)
MANUAL – marks (M), yearbook ANnUAL – carving out name (N).
14. Shot from gun (6)
CANNON – double definition – the first being the billiards shot.
16. Admit Ophelia sits awkwardly (11)
HOSPITALISE – anagram (awkwardly) of OPHELIA SITS.
18. Behaved amourously – when papa’s wife fainted (7)
SWOONED – this was my LOI and pipped 9ac to COD. At number 9 in Collins’ list of definitions, spoon is to kiss and cuddle. Behaved amourously is therefore SpOONED and we have papa (P) as wife (W).
19. Man found around western part of Wales (5)
GWENT – man (GENT) found around western (W).
20. Half completed building (4)
SHED – half completed finiSHED.
21. A little scary – a tidy figure going to support building, perhaps (8)
CARYATID – a little of s(CARY A TID)y. When I spotted the hidden it turned out to be familiar to me. I’d heard the word but couldn’t have said that it was a column, used to support an entablature, in the form of a draped female figure.

DOWN

1. Company not out to make money (4)
COIN – company (CO), not out (IN). I once received a phone call starting – caller – are you in? Me – yes. Caller – ah, you’re not out then.
2. Means of crossing forest location between streets, working east (8,5)
STEPPING STONE – this went in from definiiton so I was interested to work out – forest location (EPPING) between two streets (ST ST) working (ON), east (E).
3. Shake oil paint apt to run (11)
PALPITATION – anagram (to run) of OIL PAINT APT. I first wondered was which way round the definition and the anagram indicator were and later whether a single shake could be a palpitation.
4. Revealed non-professional expenditure (6)
OUTLAY – revealed (OUT), non-professional (LAY).
6. An errant merge gone wrong could lead to this? (13)
REARRANGEMENT – anagram (gone wrong) of AN ERRANT MERGE.
7. Rubbish round Madrid arena (8)
BULLRING – rubbish (BULL), round (RING). I thought the clue would have ended in a question mark – but I liked it anyway.
10. Searingly? Wearingly? They both do this delightfully (11)
ENDEARINGLY – they both END with EARINGLY.
12. Stress English politician has income support initially (8)
EMPHASIS – englsih (E), politician (MP) has (HAS), (I)ncome (S)upport.
15. Girl‘s a new doctor in South Africa (6)
SANDRA – a (A), new (N) and doctor (DR) all inside South Africa (SA).
17. Where horses are beginning some training under direction (4)
STUD – (S)ome (T)raining (U)nder (D)irection.

54 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1696 by Joker”

  1. This was harder than usual. I didn’t quite understand SWOOONED, my LOI. I had the same problem with PALPITATION, wondering how it meant run, before I realized I had the clue backwards.
  2. At 13 minutes I found this tough. Most of the time lost was on the anagrams, many of them long ones that I needed to write down to work out. I also took a while to make sure I got the substitution the right way round in 18ac. I was considering SEMI at 20ac before the second checker ruled it out. NHO CARYATID.
  3. Got all the first four and then nothing else on the first pass and finally crossed the line in 24m. All green but a slog to finish. Felt like too many anagrams and some definitions that felt like a reach. Could be because of the length of the solve but this was the first time I’ve felt bored by a crossword – very surprised this was a Joker puzzle.
  4. Quite a lot of anagrams which always slows me down.

    Also got stuck on bullring, I was fixated on ballroom, and LOI cannon.

    Liked hospitalise and philanderer.

  5. DNF after 20+ mins

    Struggled mightily with long anagrams. Felt a bit of a slog at times and never did get SHED. But COD if not clue of the month ENDEARINGLY, so thanks Joker for a great and totally new clue.

    And in other news, I have a letter published in the paper today.

      1. The Second one on ID cards, in reply to a letter yesterday from a South African.

        Two Firsts this Week: First letter in The Times, and first completion of The Times cryptic in a decent time.

        1. Ah, interesting.
          (Irrelevant aside: went to the Semaphore Tower at the weekend. Wonder when it will be finished)

          Edited at 2020-09-08 05:51 pm (UTC)

  6. At 21:52 just over my target. Lots of long anagrams which slowed me down . COD must be ENDEARINGLY , fabulous clue. Hate girl’s names but this one was straightforward . Thanks for the info on the nursery rhyme Chris. Thanks Joker.
  7. … which is remarkable as I am, unusually for me, among the earlier posters today. Finished in 16 minutes but it felt a slog and with no less than 4 very long anagrams (and a couple of only slightly shorter ones) the puzzle felt unbalanced. Fine if you like long anagrams, but …

    I also put Semi in at first for 20A, and got 3D the wrong way round, trying to find an anagram meaning “to run”. A fine piece of ambiguous misdirection! Never parsed 18A Swooned, but was not at risk of mixing up the P/W exchange and entering Spooned instead because I’ve not heard of the latter. A case of ignorance coming to my aid and I wonder how many solvers will be tempted to enter Spooned instead.

    10D Endearingly a fabulous clue and my COD, by far the standout in a rather mixed puzzle.

    Thanks to Chris for the blog.

    Cedric

  8. Another step up the learning curve.
    Couldn’t parse 18A, missed 21A altogether, ENDEARINGLY made my day, and spent ages on the anagrams. About an hour before I gave up on 21A which annoys me as I knew what it is.
    Thanks Joker and Chris for the insight.
  9. I thought this was a very fine QC. Not easy but fun and a satisfying 16 mins. I started slowly and jumped around the grid which was an advantage because a smattering of crossers made the excellent long anagrams much easier. I instinctively thought that a caryatid was an insect or a shellfish (!) but it had to be the answer. I liked TOENAIL and SWOONED but ENDEARINGLY made me smile and was my well-deserved COD. Thanks Joker and Chris. John M.

    Edited at 2020-09-08 08:27 am (UTC)

  10. It was one of those days where I could identify the anagram fodder but couldn’t see the solution. All the long anagrams required a lot of checkers and given the rest of the puzzle was tricky it took some time to get the checkers in place. I had no idea what was going on with SWOONED which I biffed from definition and like Jack I also thought of ‘semi’ before SHED. I liked 10d ENDEARINGLY. FOI CRAB and LOI (at 15 mins) COIN because of a typo at 1a sESSPOOL. Thanks Chris for explaining SWOONED.

    Edited at 2020-09-08 08:34 am (UTC)

  11. If I were the angry kind, I’d be furious at yet another ambiguous clue, which could easily and arguably have two answers, SPOONED / SWOONED. With such a high premium attached to not getting pink squares, it is most annoying.
      1. I guess it would be “Behaved amorously” = SPOONED, but when Papa is made into Wife, then it’s fainted (SWOONED). Which isn’t as natural a construction but is still just about tenable.
        1. The hyphen after “behaved amorously” appeared to me to cut that off from the rest of the clue. I therefore took it to be the definition and altered my original SWOONED to spooned. Possibly the most ambiguous clue of 2020 so far.

          Didn’t enjoy the puzzle much and was already over target when I wasted two minutes coming to the conclusion that my correct answer was wrong. Not amused.

          2. The punctuation is irrelevant. The cryptic reading of “when papa’s wife” is clearly ‘when P is W’, which means you would need to infer ‘in’ before ‘fainted’ to have SPOONED as the answer. No inference is required the other way around, so that’s surely the more logical answer, isn’t it?
            1. Totally agree with robralfe. Either answer is perfectly valid. I guessed correctly as it happens but it’s not a good clue
              1. Perhaps it is a little like the current attitude towards offensive remarks. Whether or not a remark is deemed offensive seems to depend entirely on what the recipient thinks of it, with the intentions of the person making it totally ignored.

                So it is with this clue: whatever poor old Joker thought when setting it is irrelevant; the mere fact that this discussion is taking place and that some have found it potentially ambiguous means that, by definition, it is ambiguous, and so open to criticism.

                Who would be a setter!

                Cedric

                1. And here I was thinking that us cryptic crossword solvers are among a small and shrinking set that should be encouraging the rest of the world to read closely, rather than just taking it however we see it on first glance and then complaining about it…

                  Edited at 2020-09-08 05:55 pm (UTC)

  12. Hadn’t come across caryatid so it was an inspired piece of biffing that lead us to the solution. Lots of anagrams which we like. Sadly no specific time to submit today because of an interruption – wasn’t our slowest, wasn’t our fastest. Thanks Joker – we enjoyed it.

    FOI: ideal
    LOI: caryatid
    COD: endearingly

    Thanks for the blog Chris (especially the explanation of swoon which was a definite, but obvious, biff on our part)

  13. Wow, hard yards today – only one of the long anagrams clicked at first glance and that slowed things up a lot. (Rather too many anagrams in this puzzle – 6 in all.) I also put SEMI for “Half completed building” (20ac), which was sufficiently convincing for me to take some while trawling S-O-M in 2dn before deciding it must be wrong. Plus some tricky definitions – “wolf” for PHILANDERER, “shake” for PALPITATION. I got to SWOONED quite quickly but by completely the wrong route, thinking of “wooed” for “behaved amorously” and going from there.

    FOI CRAB, LOI BULLRING (definitely should have had a question-mark), COD CARYATID (ah the hours spent at the Acropolis with my classicist mother), time 16 mins which in the absence of Kevin I am estimating at 4 Phils and a Poor Day.

    Thanks Joker and Chris.

    Templar

    1. It’s nearer 2 Phils, or would have been had my solution been correct.

      Edited at 2020-09-08 10:27 am (UTC)

    2. Now then Templar, I seem to remember you advising me not to measure in Phils earlier this year 😉😉 But since we are, at 8 minutes, I think I may have done this in just over 1 Phil, based on his comments – a never-to-be-repeated result for sure!

      Am on hols at the moment so am behind with crosswords and blog!

  14. FOI CRAB and a very quick start had me looking at the clock for a very fast time. But I slowed down although knew CARYATID and was happy with SWOONED having considered Spooned. I also had SEMI for 20a until Stepping Stone.
    About 11 minutes to get to my last two 7d and 14a. For 7d my first thought was Bernabeu but I might have been in the wrong city.Then I thought the word ended in O preceded by a word for rubbish. And I had earlier thought of Cannon for 14a but couldn’t parse it. It was my LOI unparsed with fingers crossed.
    Excellent puzzle. COD to ENDEARINGLY. 15:22.
    David
  15. So it was just me who first of all wrote in ‘bullshit’ for 7d?
    Soo realised my mistake! I enjoyed this as I love long anagrams, and my time wasn’t bad. Thanks for the info on CARYATID and explanation of SPOONED. ENDEARINGLY was delightful.
    1. I nearly biffed “Bollocks” – but it didn’t parse and I think the language was a little fruity for the QC.
      1. Ha ha – that crossed my mind too, and I also wondered whether “balls” was in there before deciding that the Times has not yet moved to Private Eye standards!
  16. I enjoyed this generally although stumbling in most of the places already mentioned, and finally falling to NHO 21a which I probably should have still have seen given the checkers, if I had looked harder at the clue. Oh well. 10d went in quickly but a great clue. Battled with trying to parse 18a across thinking it was some reworking around woo/ed but glad to see the explanation here.
    Plymouthian
  17. This felt anagram heavy, but luckily managed to get a few of the big ones early so came in at 25 mins. Overall, very enjoyable.

    DNK 21ac but the wordplay made it obvious. Also never parsed 18ac “Swooned” but couldn’t see what else it could be. Slightly surprised to see “Spooned” in there upon checking.

    The rest all came in fairly steadily, with the main hold up trying to think of a variety of wolf for 11ac and 2dn which was so obvious I’m embarrassed at the amount of time I stared at it.

    FOI – 1dn “Coin”
    LOI – 2dn “Stepping Stone”
    COD – 9ac “Toenail” – thought it was an 🐷 puzzle for a minute.

    Thanks as usual.

  18. This was a bit tougher than average and took me just over my target, with LOI, CANNON, giving me pause for thought, embaraasingly, as I’m a regular snooker player and didn’t equate cannon with shot! Liked ENDEARINGLY and SWOONED. 10:49. Thanks Joker and Chris.
  19. 16 minutes, which I was quite pleased with given the comments and times reported above. I did feel that it was like wading through alphabet soup with all of the long anagrams needing to be written down on paper, but some lovely light relief thrown in as well. Thanks Joker and Chris.
  20. Liked Endearingly. Got Caryatid without seeing hidden.

    FOI Crab LOI Swooned but could not parse swapping Papa for Wife, too subtle.

    Exhausted after all that effort!

  21. …which meant using pen and paper for the longer ones, taking my time up to 20 minutes.
    I couldn’t parse CANNON and hoped for the best with CARYATID. Luckily I guessed correctly with SWOONED and enjoyed working out STEPPING STONE.
    I have also chosen ENDEARINGLY as my COD which was indeed delightful.
    Thanks to Joker and to Chris for the helpful blog.
  22. I do not agree this was a fun puzzle, in fact I would say it was a terrible puzzle for learners. Far too many long anagrams, obscure definitions and in general clues that were appropriate for seasoned solvers. Not fun not conducive to learning and one to be missed.

  23. Found this tough as others have said, but although it had one or two obscurities, I was at least able to finish. My time of 50:55 represents a bit of a come down after completing the other September puzzles in just over 20 or less, except for a DNF last Thursday. FOI was CRAB, NHO CARYATID (I guess Joker was limited for choice once he’d put ENDEARINGLY in, of which he must have been proud), and didn’t manage to parse 18a (I did think it might have something to do with wooed but couldn’t see what). I didn’t parse 2d either, but that was a combination of eagerness to finish, forgetfulness and laziness. It’s actually a great clue in retrospect, though not as good as my COD 9a, which I thought might be implying that it was tragic that the piggy in question was not made into a pork pie (lie). As for 20a, I put in HALL first – H for half and ALL for completed, before changing to SEMI when I got the S. That somehow didn’t seem satisfying enough for Joker however, so I wasn’t surprised it was wrong. LOI was 7d, which I feared would scupper me as I was looking for the name of some famous (to others) opera house like La Scala in Milan which was unknown to me before I started doing these. I thought the rubbish bit was “bile” at first and once I got the ring bit I might well have stopped my watch with BILERING in there, but at the last second I saw the obvious answer. Thanks Chris and Joker.
  24. Talk about being word blind – I could see that 1ac was an anagram of Cops Lose and even knew it began with a C, but it was only at the end when I had all the crossers that Cesspool finally came to mind. I had had more than my fill of anagrams by that point, as well as a frustrating 5mins or so trying to parse 18ac, Swooned. I thought 10d Endearingly was the stand out CoD, but overall a frustrating solve that took me well north of 30mins. Invariant
  25. A tricky one! But long anagrams helped as I can usually get these quickly. Got stuck with SWOONED, just couldn’t get the wordplay so in the end I biffed it and was pleased when it turned out right.

    Like one or two others I opted for SEMI briefly. And also pondered BOLLOCKS and BULLSHIT before deciding, nah, not in The Times, surely.

    FOI CRAB
    LOI SWOONED
    COD ENDEARINGLY

    H

  26. all those long anagrams, which I am not allowed to write down. Took 14m and 30 something seconds – longest for a while.
  27. Too tough for me didn’t get any of the anagrams on first pass and so had no crossers. Gave up after 20 mins only about a third complete. No real gripes dnk caryatid or wolf in that context. I am only 65 so philanderer and cannon in billiards both vaguely known as some thing my grandad might have said half a century ago
  29. About 15 minutes – I did get 18ac right after deciding the definition had to be at the start of the clue, and although I did see that 20ac was SHED not SEMI, I never did parse it,
    However, at 15d, as South Africa is usually ZA, I had Zandra (eg Rhodes) for the girl – didn’t anyone else do that?
    1. Ah – I see that the internet country identifier is ZA, however none of the official names for South Africa can be abbreviated to ZA, which is an abbreviation of the Dutch Zuid-Afrika.
      2. I must have spending too much time on barred crosswords, where any country name is almost inevitably the clue to its IVR – should have remembered that wouldn’t have been right for a Quick !
  30. A similar experience to many others it seems. I struggled with the long anagrams and had to resort to pen and paper. I couldn’t parse SWOONED but, like Templar, assumed that it was based around WOOED, so Spooned never came into the equation for me.
    Finished in 13.49 with the unknown CARYATID and my favourite was TOENAIL
  31. I enjoy anagrams so this was a pleasure.

    Loved ENDEARINGLY

    But not happy with toenail. “This little piggy “ is surely the whole toe not just the toenail? Small children have minuscule toenails anyway – you can hardly see them.

    Diana

      1. Hmmm. Not sure about that – anyway it’s a hoof not a nail. Oh well I expect the dictionaries say they’re the same thing.

        You’re probably right, I give in!

        1. I’m with Invariant. I really enjoyed this clue when I realised it was the end of a little piggy as in toe from baby days – our sons rather than mine (my memory isn’t that good). One went to market, one stayed at home and one seemed rather incontinent!
  32. Tied to the second with my fellow blogger (and informal competitor) vinyl. I knew it would take a while because of the long anagrams, so I went more for care than time today.

    I, like some, put in SPOONED at first, and then, as I moved on, said to myself, “Hey, I better check the wordplay to see which way the change is supposed to go!”, and after reading carefully, confidently put in the correct answer. As some anonymous poster said before, how is “when papa’s wife” supposed to mean “when W is changed to P”? Oh, wlease. 😉

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