Times Quick Cryptic 1790 by Orpheus

Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Solving time: 10 minutes with one wrong answer. When blogging I noticed there are rather a lot of containment clues – 7 out of 14 Acrosses and 3 Downs. I don’t think the puzzle would be easy for all so I look forward to reading how you all got on, especially those of you who are still finding your feet in the world of cryptic puzzles.

Our aim here is to encourage and support all solvers who wish to improve their skills, regardless of their current ability, and I’d like to thank all bloggers and commenters, new and old, who contribute to that.

Note:  04:30 GMT 19 January 2021. I have taken the rare step of disabling further comments since discussion of the crossword  puzzle has long ceased and there is argument continuing about other matters. That is not what this forum is for.

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 Reflect and act as go-between? About time (8)
MEDITATE : MEDIATE (act as go-between) contains [about] T (time)
6 Heroic tale from South Africa about a guerrilla leader (4)
SAGA : SA (South Africa) contains [about] A + G{uerrilla} [leader]
8 Excellent    form of punishment (4)
FINE : Two meanings
9 Roguish artist’s friend, caught breaking in (8)
RASCALLY : C (caught – cricket) contained by [breaking in] RA’S + ALLY (artist’s friend)
10 Gather by old retreat in Scottish battlefield (8)
CULLODEN : CULL (gather), O (old), DEN (retreat). I didnt know this meaning of cull found in SOED: verb trans. Gather, pick, (flowers, fruit, etc.). The battle took place in 1746 and I have visited the memorial at its site.
12 Entomological specimen at university in Pennsylvania (4)
PUPA : UP (at university) contained by [in] PA (Pennsylvania). You need to be ‘up’ at university so that you can be ‘sent down’ if you disgrace yourself!
13 Rubble found by young socialites touring Rhode Island (6)
DEBRIS : DEBS (young socialites – débutantes) containing [touring] RI (Rhode Island). The last presentation of débutantes at Court was in 1958.
15 Intrusion of popular Head of Art accepted by staff (6)
INROAD : IN (popular), then A{rt} [head] contained [accepted] by ROD (staff)
17 Exchange prisoners from the East (4)
SWOP : POWS (prisoners of war) reversed [from the East]
19 Stupid-sounding moggy beginning to eat salt (8)
SILICATE : SILI sounds like “silly” [stupid], CAT (moggy), E{at} [beginning]
21 Filmed report showing gatecrashers finally invading recent dance (8)
NEWSREEL : {gatecrasher}S [finally] contained by [invading] NEW (recent) + REEL (dance)
23 Woman comes back to have a meal (4)
DINE : ENID (woman) reverses [comes back]
24 Report of one purchasing shelter for cattle (4)
BYRE : Sounds like [report of] “buyer” (one purchasing)
25 Small Spaniard, possibly, or a native of Omsk? (8)
SIBERIAN : S (small), IBERIAN (Spaniard, possibly)
Down
2 Gourmet‘s dog tucking into last of nice baked dish (7)
EPICURE : {nic}E [last], then CUR (dog) contained by [tucking into]+ PIE (baked dish)
3 Perfect declaration of one involved in trade (5)
IDEAL : Plus we have a cryptic definition of the alternatively spaced I DEAL
4 Bearing of man who’ll succeed when speaking (3)
AIR : Sounds like [when speaking] “heir” (man who’ll succeed)
5 Eat in less irregularly that’s vital! (9)
ESSENTIAL : Anagram [irregularly] of EAT IN LESS
6 Beat a retreat in one’s car periodically (7)
SCARPER : Hidden [in] {one}S CAR PER{iodically}. SOED advises this was probably orginally from the Italian scappare = escape or, get away, but later reinforced during or after the First World War by rhyming slang ‘Scapa Flow’  = go. I have my doubts about the second suggestion but it’s nevertheless quite interesting.
7 Dance composed by young woman before work (5)
GALOP : GAL (young woman), OP (work). A lively ballroom dance in 2/4 time. I’m not sure there is a rule about it but it seems the dance is most usually spelt with a single L whereas the fast pace of the horse takes two. Both words come from the same source.
11 Catastrophes involving policeman’s plants (9)
DISASTERS : DI’S (policeman’s – Detective Inspector’s], ASTERS (plants)
14 Ceremony welcoming pilot officer’s return (7)
RIPOSTE : RITE (ceremony) containing [welcoming] PO’S (pilot officer’s) return
16 Woman representing a nation? (7)
ANTONIA : Anagram of [re-presenting] A NATION
18 Puny little child, happy at last (5)
WEEDY : WEE (little), {chil}D + {happ}Y [at last]  I was a bit careless here, plumping for WEENY.  I wouldn’t say I biffed it because I did consider the wordplay but evidently not closely enough. ‘Weeny’ is perfectly valid as a ‘little child’ and anything small so I thought it might also mean ‘puny’, but I realised that it wasn’t a double definition clue and ‘happy at last’ needed to be accounted for. So in my haste I decided that “wee’n”might be short for ‘wee one’ meaning “little child”  leaving the y from ‘happy’ to complete the answer.
20 Tree leading journalist planted in estate, perhaps (5)
CEDAR : ED (leading journalist) contained by [planted in] CAR (estate, perhaps)
22 Look at first of bodies and throw up! (3)
LOB : LO (look at), B{odies} [first]. The surface reminded me of TV series such as Silent Witness and Waking the Dead in which a lot of throwing up goes on at the sight of bodies.  Not recommended viewing for supper time!

98 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1790 by Orpheus”

  1. I put in SWAP at first but the wordplay made no sense. SWOP made sense for the wordplay but I’d never heard of it. Had to go with the wordplay. Similarly I’d never heard of BYRE but it had to be right.

    Incidentally, I see a lot of good solvers on the leaderboard have errors today. It would be nice to hear about the traps people fell into, as we did with your WEENY. (Ahem.) SWAP nearly did me.

    Edited at 2021-01-18 02:55 am (UTC)

  2. I started to type in SWAP but corrected it midway. Fortunately (here, anyway) I could think of only one Scottish battle, so CULLODEN before I could parse it. But I slowed myself down by flinging in WIMPY (imp=little child, don’t ask me about the W), and it took me a while to see that there was a reason I wasn’t getting 21ac. Surely the setter could have said ‘one who’ll succeed’ rather than ‘man who…’? 6:42.
    1. I’m not quite sure of the point you’re making, Kevin but is it that the distinction between heir and heiress should be off limits even in a crossword puzzle?
      1. That was it. Not off limits, of course; but I do think that one should avoid using gender-marked terms where gender is not at issue and where a gender-neutral term is available. (I wouldn’t normally use ‘heiress’, come to think of it. “She’s the heiress to a large fortune”?)
        1. I’m sure I have seen that or very similar in many a headline over the years and at some point in the reports that followed the gender of the person has been referred to, so I don’t see why it would be a problem disclosing that information up front by use of the word ‘heir’ or ‘heiress’. I’m fully aware that the -ess suffix is out of favour in certain professions (most notably acting) and I understand this to some extent (given that I’m an oldie who is expected to re-think so much that previously was taken for granted, much of which I accept without question as times and attitudes change) but I find it hard to believe that beneficiaries of Wills would be sensitive to such concerns, just as long as they get the dosh!

          Edited at 2021-01-18 08:19 am (UTC)

        2. If you put “heiress” into Google and click “News”, Kevin, you’ll see that the word is very much alive and kicking on this side of the pond.

          Samples of the delights that await you just from the last 48 hours include “James Packer’s heiress niece Francesca Packer Barham steps out in skintight leggings and $995 heels” (Daily Mail, where else?) and “DNA under fingernails links British ex-soldier to Riviera heiress kidnapping, court hears” (Daily Telegraph).

          1. Also worth pointing out that only an heir (a male) can “succeed” to a title such as Duke, Earl etc. So if we are talking about succeeding, then “heiress” would be wrong. This has been addressed by the Royal Family but not by the Peerage.
          2. I am heartily in agreement with Jack and Mr. Templar regarding American intrusion into
            what is essentially a British institution, The Times Crossword.Regarding the -ess suffix, Kevin is dragging his Political Correctness (PC Kevin) into a forum that doesn’t appear to share his concerns.

            And on the very day that the Chief Moderator, who is also American, asked us all to avoid politics on the TFtT blog.

            Is that aimed therefore at us Brits only? I note that the House of Commons where ‘Churchillian’ rebuttal is a popular sport and is a far more raucus assembly than the House of Representatives in Washington.

            And was it not Jeremy, who I believe is also from US, who blasted me with a very bad word or two last year when I deigned to criticise one of his early blogs. He was warned for his expletive by the Chief Moderator.

            Under these circumstances, should we be not be informed of our first amendment rights?

            America is going through a particularly difficult period presently, and I sympathise deeply and hope the Biden inauguration passes off peacefully.

            We Brits have not given cause for complaint since August 1814. That was in retaliation after the city of York (Toronto), Ontario, was plundered and torched in 1813. The Upper Canada Mace was removed to Washington and not returned until 1934.

            Of course we all want a liberal and happy blog, but will we all eventually have to dutifully ‘thank the setter and blogger’ or take the fifth, in order to pass muster. I sincerely hope not. Meldrew.

            1. Uh, don’t drag me into this. I suppose I have to respond now.

              I don’t remember the circumstances exactly, but my recollection is you were being a bit of a troll and I responded in kind. We were both asked to keep it civil, and all comments (yours and mine both) were removed, and my understanding was you were nearly removed from this community entirely. Which only goes to the show the the First Amendment has nothing to do with moderation rules for a blog!

              As for ‘heir’ vs ‘heiress’, my opinion is that there is nothing wrong with the clue as stated. It would be harder if ‘man’ was replaced ‘one’, because then the word we’re looking for could be either HEIR or HEIRESS (though only one works of course). By using the more specific ‘man’, it becomes clearer we are looking for the word HEIR.

              That being said, I also didn’t take Kevin as being political in the slightest — though only he knows his intentions. I took him to be saying, why make a clue overspecific if it doesn’t need to be? It seems anti-Ximenean, in a sense. I’m not sure whether I agree with this point, but I don’t think he’s being political.

              Edited at 2021-01-18 02:45 pm (UTC)

              1. Jeremy – as you didn’t enough have time to write a proper blog that day, you listed the clues in the order in which you completed them for that day.❅ I had removed myself from the community for six months prior to that.

                Sadly I thought getting a thumbs down from Poison Wyvern was inevitable.

                Only two days and all will back to normal.

                  1. It was the link your next comment to me that you should re-post. America is at odds with the truth at this moment in time. Meldrew
                    1. I’d be happy to repeat what I wrote to you but I’m not allowed to! Haha.

                      As my link shows, the problem with truth is not restricted to the states, I’m afraid.

            2. As too many of my compatriots, to the Republic born and thus not having to pass any civics tests to have citizenship, often need to be reminded, the First Amendment applies only to the federal government. Private entities can be accused of editorial bias, of propagandistic obfuscation, etc., but it is nonsense to accuse a social media platform, or any blog found therein, of infringing on the First Amendment.

              It is true that the amendment symbolizes freedom of expression, which is a value all Americans are held to venerate, though it is often invoked disingenuously while ignoring the less-popular values of critical thinking and reality-testing.

              Edited at 2021-01-18 09:20 pm (UTC)

              1. My dear Guy,

                I was being ironic – we Brits do not have a constitution, nor therefore a first amendment. Neither can we take ‘the fifth’. So I was being contemptuous of the American way. On the 15×15 last week, long time blogger George led with his appearing to regret the fact he took American citizenship.

                I am not happy about the appearance of American-led dictats being imposed on this forum, especially with no right of reply and that are disappeared within 24 hours.

                It is unfortunate that both blogs (QC aand 15×15) usually start the day with several American views which then set the tone: be it the ess- suffix; never heard of Scunthorpe or ‘spot the gerund’. Politically correct in the UK differs from that in the US. We do call cigarettes ‘fags’and you have ‘fanny bags’ etc. Both sides of the Pond, suffer from small time ‘golf-club fascism’, but the word ‘liberal’ in UK does mean liberal, not socialist and certainly not communist.

                ‘America First’ does not work here and thankfully it has failed, once again, in America. After a new POTUS arrives on Wednesday I hope believe that America will show the rest of the world a little more respect.

                Guy, you always have.

                Edited at 2021-01-19 02:39 am (UTC)

                1. I don’t know what there is to be contemptuous of in “the American way” insofar as it concerns freedom of speech. And although I had no say about where I was born and am not a jingoist, I am glad to have George as a fellow citizen and, on checking, to find that he didn’t regret his citizenship at all in that blog but merely stated that he is (as am I) ashamed of our country’s (outgoing) leadership.

                  I don’t believe you really mean to say that your objection to Vinyl’s strictures is rooted in your resentment of being told what (not) to do by an American—as if you wouldn’t have a problem if Peter B. were laying down this law. I can see nothing particularly American about the roughly demarcated rules (which I am probably overstepping here) that Jonathan has requested (not for the first time, I think) that we follow. I don’t quite get the prohibition on photos (which seems new), but I’m not in a mood right now to argue over something so trivial.

    2. Solid time of 1727, no alarms. BYRE was known from “All creatures Great and Small”, the show has had a reboot this year, apparently. ‘UP’ for University is 1950s Brideshead speak, now used for any visit. “Are you coming up for the Weekend?”

      LOI RIPOSTE
      COD: MEDITATE, still hard with all checkers in place.

      Also made good start to top half of 15×15 today, at QC speed. Although did not get over the line its certainly easier than usual, as is often the case on Monday.

  3. I was a bit short on general knowledge today. Hadn’t heard of a GALOP, didn’t know where OMSK was and didn’t know CULL meant ‘gather’. But in PUPA and SILICATE there a couple of things I would have denied knowing that went in quite smoothly. Biggest hold up was not spotting that ‘representing’ was an anagram indicator and getting fixated on ‘antenna’ as the answer to ANTONIA – I think the unexceptional letters from the checkers stopped me seeing it. Took a while over FINE – it would have been a write-in had the clue been ‘acceptable punishment’. I was quite pleased when 22nd of 38 popped up on the leadersoard- but was then a bit deflated to see I’m the slowest all green solver so far!

    Edited at 2021-01-18 06:48 am (UTC)

  4. OMSK, Siberia, was in the news just recently when Navalany ‘Novichok’ was flown there, before going-on to Berlin for treatment. Now he’s back in a Russian Prison, after yesterday returning voluntarily to Rasputinland.

    FOI 6ac SAGA

    LOI 23ac DINE

    COD 17ac SWOP

    WOD 24ac BYRE – where Jesus was born.

    All four letter words! Time 13 minutes -far too long for a Monday.

    Edited at 2021-01-18 07:27 am (UTC)

  5. About 50 minutes. I was not familiar with GALOP (“Gavot did you say?”). FOI 6a SAGA, LOI 25a SIBERIAN, WOD GALOP as an addition to my vocabulary. Like Jack, I was puzzled by the wordplay in 18d WEEDY. I could not see whence the D came. COD that word which might also be clued as “Final farewell to old French innkeeper.” Thanks to Orpheus and Jack.
  6. Some interesting vocabulary today, but all fairly clued and I made fairly brisk progress until having a massive brain fade with LOI ANTONIA. Like mendesest I completely missed that it was an anagram and was looking for A followed by a country, it was only when I finally resorted to an alphabet trawl that the penny dropped.
    My other issue was wanting to put SWAP in for 17a as SWOP looked so wrong but, like Jeremey, had to trust the wordplay. Finished in 10.50 with WOD going to RASCALLY and COD to BYRE.
    Thanks to Jack
  7. 18:26 and I feel I should have been a lot faster. It was straightforward and yet there were at least eight that significantly held me up. I thought WEEDY was WEE+D(aughter)+Y. WOD SCARPER. We had skedaddle the other day and I liked that too. COD SILICATE.

    Edited at 2021-01-18 08:49 am (UTC)

  8. After a bad week last week, here and in life generally, this was a welcome if not simple solve within my 30 min target. As noted by others, several cases of needing carefully to follow the wordplay. GALOP in particular I had never heard of but had to be Liked the policeman’s flowers and pleased to have avoided the issues with the small child.
  9. Well you got the right answer, kapietro, so you’re one up on the blogger (i.e. me) on that one! It may be worth noting that D for daughter wouldn’t happen without the word ‘daughter’ appearing in the clue.
  10. Too chewy for me and took the best part of an hour. All seemed fair in retrospect as usual. Could not parse AIR and spent ages with repeated visits to get ANTONIA when I had resorted to Albania in a nearly empty grid, knowing it was wrong. Did not know CULL was to gather so assumed (incorrectly) that it was a setter’s laxity, or (correctly) it was too expand my knowledge. No issue with POW or WEEDY.
    Thanks Orpheus and Jackkt.
  11. 21A Newsreel just refused to come out today, not helped by having confidently put 22D as Tab assuming it was the first letters BAT that had to go upwards. Still not totally convinced that lob means throw up rather than just throw but I suspect that’s my lack of knowledge! 52 minutes all in all for a not very satisfying DNF. Next time!

    COD to 15A Inroad, for a nice surface and for the fact I finally remembered that staff also means rod as well as people!

    Thanks Orpheus and Jack

    1. Nice to know I was not alone with TAB/BAT and the consequent NEWSREEL problem. Ah well! I was lulled into a false sense of security by a fast start. John M.
  12. Right answer, wrong reasons but they all count – I too parsed WEEDY as WEE + D for daughter + Y, like kapietro. Jack’s parsing is much better. I had also toyed with WEANY (since a WEAN is a small child, at least in Scotland).

    What with that and one thing and another I was pushed out just over target by this very enjoyable puzzle. Many thanks Orpheus and Jack.

    FOI MEDITATE, LOI FINE (no first letter, only vowels as checkers …), COD DEBRIS (so neat), time 1.5K for a Decent Day.

    Templar

    (PS Vinyl – are we allowed to be just a weeny bit sharp with anons who come on only to say what a rotten puzzle it was and how unfair the setter was and how stupid it all is? They’re the only ones who get my hardy domesticated ruminant.)

    Edited at 2021-01-18 10:17 am (UTC)

  13. Date: Mon, 18 Jan 21

    FOI: 6a SAGA
    LOI: 11d DISASTERS

    Time to Complete: DNF

    Well, if this is one of Orpheus’ Quick Cryptics, I would not like to tackle a 15×15 of theirs. I found this one incredibly tough. So much so that I really got nowhere. But I won’t harp on about it. Instead I would like to ask two questions:

    1. 18d WEEDY. The blogger showed that “D” was obtained from “child” ({chil}D.
    I do not understand how D means child. I looked up child in Chambers and the shortest it had for child was “CH”. I could not see where in the clue I was asked to take the last of child, for example. How does the solver get D from child?

    2. Yesterday I attempted a QC in the The Times Quick Cryptic Crossword book – volume 1 (puzzle 3) by Tracy (from 2014). A clue there was:

    Nothing left in safe (3,5)

    Due to some letters being present from intersecting answered clues, I managed to get the correct answer of “All Right”. But I do not understand how that answer is obtained from the clue. It appears that All is the opposite of Nothing, and that Right is the opposite of Left. I am not sure if this is intended as I see nothing in the clue that suggests taking the opposite of “Nothing left”. Also I do not understand what “in safe” could represent.

    Could somebody please explain how the answer to the clue was “All Right”.

    Thank you.

    Hopefully I will have better luck tomorrow.

    1. 1. Just to clarify. The “at last”, meaning take the last instruction, applies to both chilD and happY. Add that to WEE = little and voila!
      2. Assuming everything must be on one side or the other, if you have nothing on the left (NOTHING LEFT), then everything must be on the right… i.e. ALL RIGHT. They are synonymous.
      Hope this helps.
      1. Hi johninterred

        Thank you for your helpful reply.

        I guess the comma in the clue threw me.

        1. I think that we should always ignore punctuation. It’s just there to put us off! Another one is ‘s – sometimes we have to ignore it sometimes it’s important… Ho hum
    2. The D from ‘child’ is the last letter of the wotd, in the same way as the Y from ‘happy’

      Brian

      1. Sorry, not logged in, and for ‘wotd’ read ‘word’!
        Brian

        Edited at 2021-01-18 09:52 am (UTC)

    3. You should be able to find blogs for all the crosswords in the book. I did a search using the search box at the top right for “times_xwd_times quick cryptic tracy all right 2014” and found on the second page QC 18. As you go through the book you can also just try going through the archive forwards from the one you did before, (See the “View all archives” link under the calendar).

      Edited at 2021-01-18 09:57 am (UTC)

    4. I’ve posted this here before (it won’t let me register for some reason), but the Times quick cryptic is, in my opinion, a puzzle for experienced solvers to complete quickly. It’s absolutely dreadful for beginners with the number of obscure definitions and redundant words that regularly come up. I was regularly solving the Guardian and Private Eye 15 x 15s before I was regularly solving these.

      As for today. Never heard of BYRE, or UP meaning “at University”, or seen GALOP spelt with one “L”, or CULL meaning “gather”.

      1. Yes, I get what you are saying.

        I have attempted to solve The Times 15×15, and the Daily Telegraph and Grauniad equivalents.

        Of those three I do find the Grauniad to be the easiest. But surprisingly, at least for me, I find the Daily Telegraph the most difficult. It’s almost as if the Telegraph setters went to a different school of cryptic crossword setting. Their clues seem to be so different from that of The Times or Grauniad.

        1. My extravagence is having a Telegraph puzzles subscription as well as the Times. This is solely because while I finish the Telegraph most days I find the 15×15 another matter entirely. Come renewal time (Easter) I’m going to abandon the Telegraph and then will have to face up to my
          15×15 phobia – which is surely better than dropping to one puzzle a day.
      2. It’s a point of view and others may like to engage in discussing it, but would you please in any future posts add a name or pseudonym to distinguish yourself from other anons?

        If you are having problems signing up to Live Journal you may find this useful: Go to the link below and choose a username and fill in your details. You don’t actually have to post anything on your blog. If you log in you can post comments here and they will be tagged with your username. https://www.livejournal.com/create

        If your user name is rejected as you try to create it add a random number or two.

      1. “To be all right just meaning to be safe?”

        Ah, of course! Can’t believe I didn’t think of that.

        Thank you very much.

    5. All the puzzles in the books have been blogged here, so if you search the blog you can find the entry for the puzzle you are doing – I usually just look for the most unusual word in the clues and search on that. We found doing the books useful when we were starting, but my feeling is that book 1 which is from the early days of the QC is a bit more erratic in terms of difficulty while the setters were getting used to their audience.
  14. Just under my target, held up most by trying to find MEDIATE and my LOI, ANTONIA. I thought of BAT for 22D first, which fits an alternative wordplay, but not the definition so had to think again. Like Jackkt I’ve visited CULLODEN, so no problem with that bit of GK. COD to the silly moggy at 19A. Thanks Orpheus and Jackkt.
  15. I thought this was a high quality puzzle which required care -SWOP being the obvious example. I started with SAGA and ended in the NW with FINE. 11:54 on the clock.
    I liked the stupid cat clue but both AIR and LOB were brilliant: joint CsOD.
    David
  16. Very good start to the week – thanks setter and blogger. I put epicure in without being able to justify it. Thanks for the explanation – a bit at the tough end but quite fair. Are there any young Enids out there – havent met one for a few decades :)?
    1. There is definitely a trend for what we might think of as old-fashioned names – lots of little Elsies, Dorothys and Ediths these days it seems! My great grandmother was Enid and I think of the name as terribly dated. Give it time though …
  17. Errors:

    5D – ESSENTIIL – shoddy typo
    6D – SCAMPER instead of SCARPER – (rushed without thinking)

    Held up too long, along the way, by:

    SWAP – later corrected
    BYRE – originally entered as BYER before spotting error
    WEENY / WEEDY – I’m tempted to write WEAKY here too, to summarise my performance.

    Thank you, jackkt and Orpheus.

    Edited at 2021-01-18 10:32 am (UTC)

  18. I started off with AIR and IDEAL and then made my way in an anticlockwise direction, following the trail of letters as they presented new opportunities, making steady progress until I was left with A_T_N_A. An alphabet trawl eventually provided ANTONIA at which point I realised it was an anagram. That delay took me over my target to 10:49. Thanks Orpheus and Jack.
  19. This took me nearly half an hour but with no complaints. It was good fun.

    I hesitated a bit over FINE (excellent? ) and the parsing of PUPA (forgot what “up” meant ) and stuffed up for ages all attempts to solve 21 across, NEWSREEL, by putting in wimpy for WEEDY, 18 down. I’m glad I wasn’t the only one to trip up on this one. NHO of GALOP to mean dance and was briefly tempted to put in gavot instead but the wordplay was clear.
    Lots of great clues today. I particularly liked SILICATE, SIBERIAN and my FOI, EPICURE. I liked the subtle misdirection of “estate ” in 20 down, CEDAR, too.
    Thanks, jackkt, and thanks too to orpheus.

    1. I suspect it’s Fine in the sense of, say, grades of coins, where F is even better than Good.

      PS. Glad I wasn’t the only regular who struggled today!

    2. ‘Fine’ is also used as description of the condition of second-hand books. “As New’ is the top category, ‘fine’ = immaculate dustcover and spine, pages too etc. Then ‘Very Good’, ‘Good’ and on downwards through ‘Fair’ to ‘Poor’.
  20. I found this hard at first, but as the penny dropped here and there and a friendly grid the answers came steadily. Nice one. Guessed GALOP (straightforward clue) since never heard of it.
  21. I was pleased to complete this in 29 mins and thoroughly enjoyed it as a challenging start to the week. However, upon checking the blog I found not one, but three incorrect answers, all in the SW corner.

    I’m kicking myself over 17ac “Swop”. Like a few above, I fell into the “Swap” trap, thinking “Paws” was some kind of obscure phrase for a prisoner (I was fixated on domestic jails). But then I had “Tab” for 22dn (look = tabs on) and then put “Newsbeat” into 21ac which in hindsight used to be a news programme on Radio 1. All the more annoying as I nearly put Antigua for 16dn and was feeling rather pleased with myself.

    FOI – 8ac “Fine”
    LOI – 16dn “Antonia”
    COD – 19ac “Silicate” – but could have been many

    Thanks as usual.

    Edited at 2021-01-18 11:50 am (UTC)

  22. After a late start, I romped through most of this and was almost finished in a very good time. However, I had problems with my last four which took me into the SCC with 2 connected errors. I biffed ELDER instead of CEDAR and, at first, totally failed to recognise ANTONIA as an anagram (doh) wasting time on Armenia and Albania. When I got that sorted, I realised that TAB was wrong for 22d which made NEWSREEL impossible – same errors as rsdon. Well done Orpheus for stings in the tail of a largely straightforward Monday QC. Thanks, too, to jackkt for the usual excellent blog. John M.

    Edited at 2021-01-18 04:48 pm (UTC)

    1. Note. We shopped at W-rose this morning and I picked up the free Torygraph, as usual, for the Xword. Finished the Cryptic in less than two-thirds the time I spent on today’s QC. (and it is a 15×15). Perhaps I still have some little cells left (or maybe it was just a doddle today).
      But today’s Times 15×15 took me over three quarters of an hour.

      Edited at 2021-01-18 10:10 pm (UTC)

  23. My success rate with Orpheus is just 1:3, so I was delighted to finish today’s puzzle in just 32 minutes (very fast for me), especially as after 10 minutes I had solved only three clues. However, my delight was short-lived as, upon coming to this blog, I saw that I had CULLODAN for 10a. I should have taken more time to try and fully parse the clue (I didn’t see DEN for retreat), so it serves me right.

    DNK that, in terms of a dance, GALOP is spelled with one L, but I trusted my parsing on this one.

    Many thanks to jackkt and Orpheus.

  24. But of course LOB seemed really obvious when I saw the answer and I then got NEWSREEL.

    Found RH side easy but in NW had to look up Bearing and felt silly not to have thought of AIR. Also struggled with MEDITATE which again seemed obvious afterwards.

    FOsI SAGA, CULLODEN, DISASTERS, SILICATE, ANTONIA, PUPA, RASCALLY.

    Also liked DEBRIS, SWOP, EPICURE.

    Actually it was all pretty clever. Thanks for blog, Jack.

    Edited at 2021-01-18 12:15 pm (UTC)

  25. SWOP, because it is POWS (prisoners of war) backwards. Whereas SWAP is PAWS backwards, which is a word but has nothing to do with the prisoners mentioned in the clue.
  26. 21 minutes. I didn’t find this very hard, on reflection, but I was nevertheless rather slow! I didn’t know that meaning of CULL but remembered Culloden anyway and wrote it in. Thanks to all.
  27. Got about 75% done so felt pretty good about that. Never heard of Byrne. For some reason I could not parse fine. Had the I and e. My only explanation is that fine does not mean excellent. At least not in modern parlance. Still after last week this was a decent start.

    Thank you blogger. Tim

  28. Thrown by the ? At the end of the ANTONIA clue – think the anagram may have been more obvious without it (but fair enough). My POI. Then couldnt get HESITATE out of my mind for 1ac – was close to giving up but MEDITATE appeared from somewhere. In esteemed company with johninterred with the same final pair

    Avoided the bear trap with SWOP as thought of POWS before the definition. And I’ve been caught at least twice on 15x15s getting SCAMPER and SCARPER mixed up so skirted that one as well

    Did all but my POI and LOI in around 8 minutes but those two accounted for me going a few seconds over 10 minutes.

    Enjoyable. Thanks all

  29. Well I did manage to finish, but it was quite a struggle in places. The crossers from the ones I could write-in were not that helpful, so it was a slow process with long pauses between pdms. Eventually (after 30 mins or so) I was down to a couple in the NW (Mediate, Ideal) and SW (Riposte, Newsreel). I just couldn’t see these and needed a break to prompt Ideal, and hence Mediate, but the pair in the SW had to be dragged out kicking and screaming. Both were perfectly fair clues, but I was on the wrong waveband today. Invariant
  30. ….POW be PSOW ? Just being weirdly pedantic !

    I was another who failed to spot the national heroine ANTONIA ANAGRAM straight away, and almost missed my target.

    FOI SAGA
    LOI ANTONIA
    COD BYRE
    TIME 4:56

    1. When people say “POWs” in the plural sense they add an “s” to the “double-u”.

      Now that you’ve brought it up though – it does seem odd we do that.

      1. I once shared a coach ride to our off-campus University Halls of Residence with a colleague who was taking some potential undergraduates on a University tour. He persistently referred to them in the plural as the ‘Hall of Residences’. I’m sure he frightened off some of the more literate ones.
  31. Think of it in terms of “a fine example” of something or a sportsperson being “in fine form”.

    Of course when Mrs. Penfold says “fine” it rarely, if ever, means excellent.

  32. In so many ways but I’m referring to the fact that it took us absolutely ages to work out the answer to 16D. On reflection the answer was dead obvious but it must have taken a good few minutes for the penny to drop and we ended up completing the puzzle in 15 minutes. Thanks Orpheus – really good puzzle, we enjoyed it.

    FOI: meditate
    LOI: Antonia
    COD: silicate

    Thanks for the blog Jackkt.

  33. Struggling to fully complete a puzzle in 2021. I probably do one every other day on average so may need to increase my chances to succeed and learn more!

    Beaten by the NE corner today. 9 and 12 across and 6 and 7 down. Missing the hidden is annoying as those and anagrams are my usual bread and butter to get going.

    However on reviewing this blog, absolutely no complaints as ever.

    One day….
    Graham

  34. My first post! TheAbbot moniker chosen as I live in Abbots Langley in Herts. I have been trying the QC for year now and rarely finish it but I’m improving! Solved all of today’s bar 14d where I just didn’t twig ceremony = rite. A quick question, I get the paper version and see our US bloggers post comments early in the day in the UK where US time is at least 5 hours behind UK. Is the online QC available earlier than printed version? Much enjoying the blogs and helpful daily explanations of the puzzles!
    1. Welcome to TfTT, the abbot, and I know Abbots Langley a bit having lived most of my life in Stanmore originally and now in Leighton Buzzard. I hope you find the blogs useful and you will become a regular contributor having broken your duck.

      Time differences of blogs and comments can be confusing but the puzzles are all available to solve online at the same time i.e. midnight UK time.

  35. I found most of this fairly straightforward but spent an absolute age on MEDITATE and ANTONIA, to eventually complete in 27 mins. For 1ac I couldn’t get intercede out of my mind as the go-between part of the clue (yes, I know it’s got too many letters) and the crossers were unhelpful. For 16dn I completely failed to see that it was an anagram until I parsed it after the event!
    Did at least manage to avoid the SWAP/SWOP and WEENY/WEEDY traps. Good puzzle though – thanks Orpheus and thanks also to the blogger for confirming my parsings.

    FOI – 6ac SAGA
    LOI – 16dn ANTONIA
    COD – 19ac SILICATE

  36. Solving time: 13 minutes with one wrong answer. I actually got both SWOP and WEEDY but incorrectly biffed SCAMPER at 6d. Rather silly mistake to make! Thanks Jack
  37. Solved just within our target. LOI 16d, seeing the anagram after getting the answer. An enjoyable puzzle which to us seemed of medium difficulty. Thanks Orpheus and for the blog.
  38. A pleasant start to the week I thought, with nothing too challenging and some great surfaces – in particular PUPA and DEBRIS. Even the word I wasn’t so sure of – SILICATE – fell into place from wordplay. MEDITATE and ANTONIA took far too long!

    FOI Saga
    LOI Meditate
    COD Epicure
    Time 12 minutes

    Thanks Orpheus and Jack

    ps I found the biggie very approachable today, with one particular clue bringing one of our regulars instantly to mind 😊 Hope I haven’t given anything away.

    Edited at 2021-01-18 05:27 pm (UTC)

  39. stacks of comments today.

    Came to it late, did it in 6:08, all the while thinking it was quite sticky and that there were some traps.

    My LOI was FINE – double alphabet trawl. Fine is not equal to excellent in my internal lexicography!

  40. … so I have only just got to the puzzle – and I see more than 70 comments already!

    I thought this was a very nice puzzle, mostly mainstream and very doable but with one or two tricky ones. My LOI – deliberately because I could not parse it – was 18D Weedy, where like many I toyed with Weeny but in the end fortunately guessed correctly (it sounded marginally more plausible). I also biffed Cull in 10A Culloden – not a meaning of cull I had heard off but it sounded plausible and anyway the answer was clear enough.

    Other than that all was parsed for a 9 minute finish; of the other talking points others have raised, Orpheus’s helpful cluing enabled me to sidestep the Swap/Swop dilemma – he was very clear, I thought – but I did share the slight hesitation over Fine = excellent, and I remain slightly dubious despite all the explanations given above!

    Many thanks to Jack for the blog
    Cedric

    1. In my Chambers app the first definition of FINE is EXCELLENT (albeit followed by “(often ironic)”) so I think that lets the setter off the hook.
  41. For once I did this on my phone instead of printing it out. I came in just under 18 mins which makes me think it must be towards the easier end of the spectrum. I spent a long time trying to think of baked goods starting with e and countries staying with A before realising it was an anagram. COD was silicate which made me smile. Also DNK cull for gather but like others biffed it as the only Scottish battle I know ( and the old den). Thanks Jack for the blog.
  42. Found this a very interesting and satisfying puzzle. Sufficiently taxing to be worth serious thought but nothing obscure. Only 4-across and 3-down on first pass but only real head-scratchers were 21a and 7d. FOI 6a Saga. LOI 16d Antonia once I ‘d realised it was an anagram. COD 25a Siberian. No real problem with 10a Culloden as used to seeing/using cull as ‘to gather in/up eg harvesting fruit. Also as a frequent buyer of second-hand books from the internet markets, ‘fine’ meaning top quality, better than very good and usually the same as ‘as new’. 14a Byre I would have considered pretty fresh in people’s memory with Christmas being so recent. I seem to recall seeing Enid here not that long ago. So thanks to Orpheous and our very helpful Jackkt.

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