Times Quick Cryptic 1761 by Joker

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

A good puzzle, over which I puzzled for 11 minutes. Never seemed to really get going but enjoyed it never the less.

FOI 8ac, LOI and WOD 16ac, COD 17dn – thanks Joker.

ACROSS

1. Great success concerning voucher (6)
COUPON – great success (COUP), concerning (ON).
5. Cluster round king for morning meal (6)
BRUNCH – cluster (BUNCH) around king (R).
8. Instrument popular with wine around (8)
CLARINET – popular (IN) with wine (CLARET) around it.
9. Stuff beginning to rot in river at Cambridge (4)
CRAM – (R)ot inside river at Cambridge (CAM).
10. Hazel’s maybe about to hit for six? (4)
STUN – Hazel’s (NUTS) backwards.
11. Work, eastern treat that’s funny – The Mikado? (8)
OPERETTA – work (OP), eastern (E), anagram (that’s funny) of TREAT.
12. Petrol has this running at once (6)
OCTANE – anagram (running) of AT ONCE.
14. Returning insect is eaten by another helplessly (6)
FEEBLY – returning insect (BEE) backwards inside (eaten by) another insect (FLY).
16. Whitechapel killer in empty factory finding trifles (8)
FRIPPERY – WOD – Whitechapel killer (RIPPER) inside (F)actor(Y).
18. Ceremonial mass held by father (4)
POMP – mass (M) held by father (POP).
20. Mineral providing some chemicals (4)
MICA – took a while to remember this mineral – inside (providing some) che(MICA)ls.
21. Depressingly little put into do-it-yourself (8)
DISMALLY – little (SMALL) inside DIY.
23. Make a case for three successive letters to finish (6)
DEFEND – unusual clue (to me anyway) – three successive letters (DEF) to finish (END).
24. Grant, say, protecting an island songbird (6)
CANARY – COD – currently top of the championship! Grant, say (CARY) around an (AN). Hmm – Canary Islands surely?

DOWN

2. Young bird allowed to follow wingless fowl (5)
OWLET – allowed (LET) to follow f(OW)l.
3. A rapacious creature, I managed hospital area under parking (7)
PIRANHA – I (I), managed (RAN), hospital (H) and area (A) all under parking (P).
4. Sister with new uniform, head of nurses (3)
NUN – new (N), uniform (U), (N)urses.
5. Swimming style has fat go quickly (9)
BUTTERFLY – fat (BUTTER), go quickly (FLY) as in time.
6. Relative is foul when last two letters never arrive (5)
UNCLE – I believe this is (UNCLE)ar – as in a foul anchor – without the last two letters. Others with greater experience have pointed out that a more obvious explanation is foul=(UNCLE)an.
7. Property of informal talk on telephone (7)
CHATTEL – informal talk (CHAT) on telephone (TEL).
11. Old writer expired not achieving closure (4-5)
OPEN-ENDED – old (O), writer (PEN), expired (ENDED).
13. Bright red vehicle belonging to me (7)
CARMINE – vehicle (CAR), belonging to me (MINE). Not your everyday colour.
15. Give a reason for changing axle pin (7)
EXPLAIN – anagram (changing) of AXLE PIN.
17. Walk around Lake District? (5)
PLACE – walk (PACE) around lake (L). COD – the surface is so good that I took some time to separate Lake and District.
19. Damage on outside of round large tooth (5)
MOLAR – damage (MAR) around round (O) and large (L).
22. Bag search regularly reveals it (3)
SAC – regularly in (S)e(A)r(C)h.

51 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1761 by Joker”

  2. Biffed OPERETTA and UNCLE (I figured it’s UNCLEan rather than UNCLEar; I don’t see how ‘unclear’ would work). I knew of Jack the R, of course, but had no idea that he was in Whitechapel, and flung in FRITTERS, making PLACE impossible, of course. Finally noticed what the S had done to BUTTERFLY, corrected to FRIPPERY, and all was well. I don’t see a problem with CANARY, Chris, if the definition is ‘island songbird’; which is not the most felicitous definition, since the world is lousy with canaries. But a vowel was needed for AN. 5:29.
    1. My reasoning was that if an anchor isn’t clear of obstructions then it’s called a foul anchor and poses a nautical headache to retrieve. I’m very happy to add foul=unclean.
  3. 8 minutes. No problems. I agree it’s UNCLE{an} at 6dn. Jack the Ripper’s crimes are commonly referred to collectively as the Whitechapel murders
  4. Lovely puzzle today, only six on the first pass of acrosses and nothing that yielded too freely but all green in a little over 9 which is much, much better than many of late. I enjoyed building up PIRANHA and was wrong-footed by MOLAR where I missed that ‘outside’ and ’round’ were both present and so was looking for a 4 letter word for damage to put the L into but once it was the only one left M_L_R didn’t give much room for error. Paused to parse FEEBLY and was glad of it as I’d whacked in FEEBLE on first reading but also interested that having DIY and SMALL on first reading I still needed checkers to get to DISMALLY.
  5. FOI: 5a BRUNCH
    LOI: 23a DEFEND

    30 Minute Mark: 12 answered
    60 Minute Mark: 24 answered
    Time before use of aids time: 38 minutes.

    Total Answered: 24 of 26

    I was so close to completing this in under my 60-minute target. I started off really well, but it was 10a and 11a that had me stumped.

    I was particularly pleased with my efforts on 16a, 18a, 21a, 23a and 13d, as I answered these all by working out each part of the clue.

    13a CARMINE: I thought that the last four letters would be MINE (belonging to me). 3-lettered vehicle could have only been a few options. When I thought of adding CAR to MINE, it sounded as if it could be right, though I was not aware of a colour called CARMINE. A quick check in the dictionary of the word carmine indicated a bright red colour. So, I entered that as my answer.

    My best effort so far. So close to completing it.

  6. … with an 11 minute finish for this very nice puzzle. But not without an initial groan when the first pass of the acrosses yielded only 2 answers – “Here we go again”, I thought “even Joker feels the need to join the recent trend and toughen up”. Fortunately not the case but – Editor are you listening? – a reaction driven entirely by one’s confidence in the expected standard of these puzzles being shot to pieces by recent weeks.

    The down clues gave me a toehold and then the acrosses all followed well enough – a well constructed puzzle, therefore, which was not too easy and where the clues needed both wordplay skills and the checkers, but which was very fair. I particularly liked 23A Defend, which has a clever clue-construction new to me. LOI was 10A Stun – it took me an alphabet trawl to find the word (fortunately there are surprisingly few words that go -T-N, and for once the answer wasn’t the name of crosswordland’s favourite school), and then a moment or two more to work out the parsing, but as with all good clues, it’s obvious when you get it.

    Many thanks to Joker for remembering that is is a Quick Cryptic and giving us a fair, enjoyable puzzle not a wrestling match, and to Chris for the blog
    Cedric

  7. Lots to enjoy here and nothing too tricky either, with COUPON and all it’s offshoots going straight in to get me off to a quick start. PIRANHA is one of those words I always struggle to spell correctly but the very clear wordplay helped me out today.
    There were no serious hold ups as I made my way clockwise around the grid before ending with OCTANE, one of many excellent surfaces. Plenty of COD contenders but DISMALLY just pipped FRIPPERY for me as it nicely sums up my DIY efforts. Finished in 8.17.
    Thanks to Chris and Joker.

    Edited at 2020-12-08 08:34 am (UTC)

  8. For some reason this took longer to parse than it did to complete and never spotted Cary at all. Several pleasing clues, FEEBLY, OWLET. No problem with FRIPPERY after spending years there, similarly CRAM for the same reason. Thanks Joker and Chris.
  9. I started learning cryptics last summer and the blogs and your comments have been invaluable – thanks to all who make this such a great resource and a lovely place.

    A rare smooth solve for me, NW to SE more or less in order.

    FOI: 1a COUPON
    LOI: 24a CANARY
    COD: 7d CHATTEL – may be a chestnut (although new to me) but it made me see a familiar word in a fresh and fun way

    6:28 for 1.2K and by my standards a Very Good Day

    1. Oh wow – beating the blogger and lots of old hands – that’s a Very Good Day by anyone’s standards! (In fact on my scale that would be an Excellent Day.) Well done and welcome.
    2. No need for modesty, nby. A Very Good Day by any standards! Congrats on reaching this time after a such a short immersion in the QC. John.
  10. I enjoyed this but was relieved to gradually accelerate after a very slow start (not least because I tried to be clever by filling in RE (for concerning) as the first two letters of 1ac and only realised my error when I couldn’t finish it and saw OWLET for 2dn. Doh! Another puzzle where my acceleration largely correlated with a build-up of crossers.
    LI were FRIPPERY and FEEBLY. Relieved to be back to a 14.55 – just within my target. Thanks to Joker and Chris. John M.
  11. Like Cedric I found the acrosses much more resistant than the downs – seven unsolved acrosses after first pass, which is a LOT, but then all the downs went in apart from PLACE to even things up.

    A really super puzzle with lots of excellent clues – shout out to FRIPPERY, DISMALLY, PIRANHA and FEEBLY.

    FOI CLARINET, LOI OCTANE (didn’t spot the anagram, durrr), COD DEFEND (such a satisfying PDM) but with hot competition, time 1.8K for a Good Day.

    Many thanks Joker and Chris.

    Templar

  12. Finished but stuck temporarily on LOI Octane, failing to see anagram.
    Frippery was clever, had a sudden penny drop there.

    FOI Nun. Biffed but couldn’t parse Defend. V clever too.

    Easier than of late!

    Edited at 2020-12-08 10:11 am (UTC)

  13. Back to more like normal, with an 11 minute solve and no particular problems. I too was looking for RE-something in 1a, couldn’t immediately see the answer, and quickly switched to looking at the early down clues, with all but CHATTEL going straight in, giving a great start. LOI FEEBLY, where I thought of fly, bee, ant and bug on reading the clue, but couldn’t perm the right combination of two from four, so moved on to return later. COD FRIPPERY, WOD CHATTEL (tried to make chatter fit initially). Thanks both!
  14. Another perfect QC from Joker. I was happy to finish in 16 minutes, 4 under my target as it seemed more difficult than that.
    My LOI was CARMINE, there was always a Carmine in a box of paints.
    Thanks to Joker and Chris, and to the editor for getting the QC back to normal!

    Brian

  15. I found this better after a couple of tricky days. I got to the blog late yesterday so didn’t bother chipping in. I thought there was an unkind response to one anonymous contributor who was told basically we aren’t interested in your suggestions. I enjoy this puzzle and it generally suits me but there is no doubt in my mind that it is geared at a mainly male population of a certain vintage. I’m on the fringes of that generation so I’m generally ok. My son who is in his early 30’s and trying to get into cryptics would be lost on much of this. Today there was only one to be fair (Cary Grant) but some days he may as well forget it. Thanks for today though setter and blogger!
    1. I’m not really of the vintage either – however, I came to the conclusion that it was easier to rote learn a few terms that come up often.

      Yesterday for instance I came across “Qua” = “As” in another puzzle. Not sure if it’s Latin or something else, but I’ve made a mental note for the future. Of course, the problem is remembering them all!

      Edited at 2020-12-08 11:41 am (UTC)

    2. I enjoy this puzzle and it generally suits me but there is no doubt in my mind that it is geared at a mainly male population of a certain vintage.

      Quite agree. Luckily I’m of that generation, so that makes the puzzles that bit easier for me! But, fifty years ago I’m sure I was struggling and I imagine I was learning new words every day. Doesn’t happen that often now (SHAWM is one I remember recently, though I can’t remember what it means, but it’s sitting there in the wordstore waiting for another outing). I always assume that in 20 years time (assuming I’m still here) I will struggle as a new set of words, unfamiliar to me, comes into play. But what’s a setter to do? They can’t dumb it all down to find the lowest common set of words, and produce anodyne puzzles, so the younger ones will just have to grin and bear it 🙂 Unless we have a 20 year-old set on a Monday, a 30 yo on Tuesday, a 40 yo on Wednesday, a 50 yo on Thursday and a 60 yo on Friday. Then we can all have a good moan at some point :))

      H

  16. 6:47. Got stuck for a little while on STUN and CANARY – saw both words instantly, but couldn’t get the wordplay. Figuring out the grant bit took me far too long. Nice misdirection! Should have biffed them and I might have been sub-six minutes …

    COD CHATTEL, but not a great many contenders

    H

  17. No problems, except my LOI, MICA, where I knew the mineral, missed the hidden and tried to make the answer up from Chemical symbols, which took me over my target. Doh! 10:22. Thanks Joker and Chris.
  18. I knew as soon as I said these puzzles were getting more difficult we’d have an easier one. A satisfying 10 mins for me, with the only hesitation on 13dn “Carmine” and 23ac “Defend” (where I spent longer than I should on ABC, BCD…combinations). Enjoyed 14ac “Feebly” and 1ac “Coupon”.

    FOI – 1ac “Coupon”
    LOI – 12ac “Octane”
    COD – 16ac “Frippery”

    Thanks as usual.

  20. Worked my way steadily through this entertaining puzzle. Had to come back to a couple, but saw the light without too much agonising.
  21. FOI STUN. Quick after that and LOI OCTANE. Under 9 minutes on paper. Clear clueing and nothing too obscure. Enjoyed it. COD TO COUPON.
    David
  22. A straightforward QC from Joker that I made as difficult as possible by careless mistakes. Without 1ac, I spent a long time trying to think of a four letter fowl whose middle two letters could go in front of -let to make a young bird, before the inevitable pdm. Similarly, I changed a biffed Talc to Mica once I spotted Place, but then thought that was wrong as well because M by itself is not a chemical element… And so it went on: Chateau made Feebly a tad difficult and I struggled to parse Canary until I remembered Cary G. Grateful to finish after 25mins, with CoD to 16ac, Frippery, a nose ahead of Defend. Invariant
  23. “stinker” at 6:29.

    LOI OCTANE – failed to see that it was an anagram…., mistakenly had written OPERATTA, which held up UNCLE needlessly. Otherwise, a very good QC.

  24. My eldest son (early 40s) has been having a go at the QC and the Monday 15×15 with his wife ever since the lock-down Two-handed is an excellent way to progress quickly.

    FOI 1dn OWLET

    LOI 12ac OCTANE

    COD 24ac CANARY

    WOD 16ac FRIPPERY

    I was on the 7.45 this morning so arrived on time.

    I would further encourage seasoned setters to use the QC as a warm up for the main event. The more the merrier!

  25. We finished in 13 fun filled minutes. Really enjoyed it – a good all rounder. Thanks Joker.

    FOI: brunch
    LOI: mica
    COD: dismally

    Thanks for the blog Chris.

  26. FOI BRUNCH and LOI MICA with plenty to enjoy in between. I wrote in CANARY from checkers but struggled to parse it. I thought say indicated a homophone of a word meaning grant and I tried vocalising CARY before the penny dropped. My first thought for the hidden MICA at 20a was the word ‘nera’ but with CARMINE belatedly solved I realised I was looking at the clue the wrong way round. MICA is a new one for me. 7:24 for a very good day. Thanks to Chris and Joker.
  27. Finally a puzzle for us beginners. I like joker as he seems to set a good QC. Took about 30 minutes but satisfying to get it done
  28. Much faster time in fact no chewy clues at all today. Some clues lent themselves to biffing e.g. MOLAR, UNCLE. I had to pause with a initial B for a swimming stroke, as of course three start that way.

    Its pleasing when a clue is solved from its pieces, I had that today with CLARINET and FRIPPERY. So a good mixture of biff & check, double defs, anagrams and constructors.

    COD: CLARINET

  29. Nothing against any age group – I’m not far off qualifying for the 70+ and as I said it’s just about ok for me and as I’ve also said I mainly enjoy them. I get a bit irritated when the setters seem to reply on the Films and Tv stars of my youth or the decades even earlier. Not too many of them are accessible to younger generations. I’d quite like my lad to enjoy tackling them with me!
  30. ….as, having solved correctly on paper, I submitted “miler” for 19D thus ensuring that my stats take yet another kicking !

    A nicely constructed puzzle, with nothing contentious to prod the ATDC (Anonymous “Too Difficult” Club”).

    FOI OWLET
    LOI OCTANE
    COD CANARY
    TIME 3:30

  31. I often find Joker a tad tricky and thought today’s clueing was often ingenious but always clear. This made for a good puzzle for me to enjoy. Nothing really difficult once the clues were read correctly. On two I made life difficult by spelling Piranha as Piranah, and chattel as chattle but realised my errors when tackling the across clues so all ended well (!). FOI 9a Cram; LOI 23a Defend; COD 16a Frippery. Breaking off to walk the fields with the dog nearly broke the rhythm but did enable a good restart with 11a Operetta. Enjoyable blog too – thx.
  32. Fine puzzle with a good mix of clues – thanks Joker. I finished in 18 mins with all parsed except 6dn.

    FOI – 5ac BRUNCH
    LOI – 18ac POMP
    COD – 21ac DISMALLY

    Thanks to Chris for the blog.

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