Times Quick Cryptic 1810 by Mara

62 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1810 by Mara”

1. They finally got around to separating the NEW from the HAMPSHIRITES, although too late for Jack and me, among lots of others. Anyway, not a problem here. I didn’t notice the preponderance of double definitions and anagrams; but then I don’t notice much in these unless something slows me down. 4:23.
2. I had a bit of a chill up my spine when I saw NEW HAMPSHIRE. Was there some discussion about the space in that word last week? I didn’t check the blog later on.
   1. The Crossword Editor later sent us grovelling apologies for an error in the enumeration which he said he had picked up prior to publication but somehow that wasn’t followed through. After publication the error (which was also in the printed edition) was corrected on-line to (3,12). Vinyl advised that ‘Newhampshirite’ is sometimes used in the US press, but the only examples I could find on Google were in email addresses and URL’s where words are often run together although best-practice is to use a dash or underscore.

      Edited at 2021-02-15 05:28 am (UTC)

3. ….perhaps as indicated in 1 across! I finished in less than 5 minutes, but spent 30 seconds proofreading, finding one typo which would have ruined my score – total time, 5:07.

   I started by biffing slowpokes, only to think again. Everything else went in smoothly, with chestnuts like hopscotch, Orlando, and averse. I expect nearly everyone to finish today, unless they don’t know esplanade.

   Edited at 2021-02-15 04:54 am (UTC)

4. Up early this morning, and what a treat. 8:37. A new PB knocking 16 seconds off the old one. WOD SLOWCOACH (not me!) and COD FOLIAGE. My thanks to Mara and to Jackkt

   Edited at 2021-02-15 06:58 am (UTC)

   1. You beat me by 1 second, but mine was 4 minutes inside my PB at 8:38. Almost too easy today?
5. If I were the Buddha, I would be seated cross-legged, left hand in my lap palm up, right hand over the knee with fingers touching the ground. If you want an extra challenge this morning, explain why.

   FOI 1ac SLOWCOACH and after a clockwise tour LOI 12ac SOAP. COD 6d CAPRI. PB 20m 50s. Thanks to Mara and Jack.

   1. Calling the earth to witness Buddha’s attainment of enlightenment, but …?
      1. ….but his meditations were interrupted by the arrival of the demon Mara with his army and his daughters. They set about distracting the Buddha to prevent his enlightenment. When he touched the Mother Earth to be his witness, a Goddess appeared and, by wringing the waters out of her long hair, drowned Mara’s armies, allowing the Buddha to reach enlightenment. This mudra (set of gestures) is called, inter alia, “Subduing Mara”.

         Now, I hope I’m not committing hubris. Those whom the gods would destroy……..

         1. Interesting about Mara.
6. Pretty much a top to bottom finish, ending with MARTINI simply because it was the last clue I looked at. All wrapped up in 6.35.
   Thanks to Jack
7. FOI 1A: SLOWCOACH
   LOI 23A: HEY

   A simple start to the week.

   Thank you to jackkt and Mara.

8. I thought I would try a couple of clues on my phone before going to bed. FOI SLOWCOACH followed mostly in some order as I kept waiting to grind to a halt which didn’t happen. A quick glance at the clock showed a surprising 40 minutes as I popped in the last clue only to be pleasantly surprised to see Success, 19:50 and realised the 00.40 was the time!
   First time I have broken the 20 minute barrier.
   Thanks Mara and Jack although no problem with the parsing today.
9. Quite a nice puzzle but with a few head scratchers for me so 5 mins over target. I was so sluggish I didn’t even see SLOWCOACH until I had some crossers so it was a fair self description this morning. Thanks, both. John M.
10. Pleasing to stop the clock on a well known date (1314) even though time was impacted a little by the cricket.

    FOI and COD SLOWCOACH, always good when 1A and 1D go in as the first two. A bit of a mess in the SW after putting WINDS for WINDY, hence LOI was HEY. Nothing else too troubling, I saw ESPLANADE recently, maybe in the 15×15?

    Success again on the Jumbo Cryptic on Saturday.

11. A satisfying start to the week, giving me optimism for tomorrow.

    Thanks Jack and Mara.

12. I was not a 1a today. FOI SLOWCOACH. LOI MARTINI. 5:48. Thanks Mara and Jack.
13. A somewhat brisk, for me, 12 minutes with only CAPRI going in unparsed at the time. The hip state took a little time to show itself but no real holdups. A nice start to the week, thanks Mara, and Jackkt.

14. FOI: 8a FOLIAGE
    LOI: 16d OPENER

    Time to Complete: 61 minutes

    Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 26

    Clues Answered with Aids (3 lives): Nil

    Clues Unanswered: Nil

    Wrong Answers: Nil

    Total Correctly Answered (incl. aids): 26/26

    Aids Used: Nil

    What a great start to the week; another completion. Number 5.

    This was a great puzzle, not just because I completed it, but the clues were very fair and not at all obscure.

    The two clues that took me the longest were 17a and 16d.

    16 – OPENER. At first I had penciled in RUNNER. I am not too familiar with cricket terms (though really I should learn them as I understand they are a staple diet of cryptics). I thought of a batsman being a runner, as in he runs after he hits the ball. I also reasoned that some doors have a runner in them, such as those that slide open and closed. However, when I entered my penultimate clue (17a), it clearly was not runner. The new word started with an “O”. Now, I have heard of the cricket term OPEN, and therefore was able to complete this crossword.

    A great crossword for beginners, such as me, I feel.

    1. Well done on another solve.
    2. Ditto! Not that I’m technically a beginner but I still feel like one.
    3. Well done. I read your comment about using scrabble tiles for anagrams with interest. Not that everything is about racing through these, but you will find that your mind starts to see things differently with time. I always used to randomly jot letters down or use the circle technique that Jack mentioned. And then Kevin once stated that he didn’t write out the QC anagrams- but he would/may for the 15×15. So I started trying to see them more by studying the letters and I now I get quite a high percentage without resorting to pen and paper (or tiles).
       One other small thing — I always used to cross the number off on the paper when I got the answer. Not any more. I have found that to be unnecessary.
    4. Runner is indeed a recognised cricketing term.

       Wikipedia explains it thus:

       In cricket, a runner is a team member who runs between the wickets for an injured batsman. This is covered by Law 25 of the Laws of Cricket. When a runner is used, the batsman stands in position and plays shots as normal, but does not attempt to run between the wickets: the runner runs for them.

15. Not a member of the SCC today. I got all the across clues on the first run through apart from 8 and 10, and when the downs started to go in equally quickly, I could sense a pb was on the cards if I could keep going. In my haste I wasted a bit of time trying to find an answer for 14d to fit into what I had for 15d, but soon I was up and running again. With the downs done – so I thought – I had less than 8 minutes on the clock but crosswords are definitely not over till the fat lady sings. If the last clue is a stinker, it doesn’t matter how fast you’ve done the rest. Working out what 10a was held me up a bit, but once I’d taken out the letters of SECTION, I saw the INTER bit and that just left 7a. Should have seen the anagram sooner of course, but I missed it completely. I had to write down the possibilities: FAL_A_E, FEL_A_E, FIL_A_E and FOL_A_E before I thought FOLIAGE and then saw the alternative meaning of ‘leaves’. Only then did I see it was an anagram. I stopped my watch on 9:53 with a feeling of smugness and then looked in horror at the blank middle letter of 22d which I had forgotten to do. Luckily, after I restarted the watch, I only took an additional 5 seconds to read the clue and fill in the A giving me a new PB, by over a minute, of 9:58. FOI 1a, LOI 22d, COD 6d (and 22d for being so quickly gettable). Thank you very much Mara, and Jack.
16. FOI SLOWCOACH, then worked steadily through. SOAP and SOFA LOsI . Liked CAPRI.

    Nice to have a quick start to the week, so thanks, Jack and setter.

    Edited at 2021-02-15 11:29 am (UTC)

17. A nice flow to this one. Somewhat under five minutes. FOI Slowcoach, second was “time,” then a great series, filling in the gaps as I went. LOI “soap” needing a quick alphabet trawl, then an amused groan for not seeing it earlier. COD foliage. Thanks Jackkt and Mara. GW.
18. … and like other I posted a faster than average time at 7 minutes. I did not notice the preponderance of anagrams and DDs in the clues while solving but that might help explain my time as they seem to be my strong suit.

    Many thanks to Jack for the blog, appreciated as always even though less needed today than most days.
    Cedric

19. FOI SLOWCOACH, then no major problems until LOI HEY which I had not parsed fully.
    On paper in 07:30 ish.
    My favourite was FOLIAGE. A fairly gentle puzzle which should please some of the beginners.
    David
20. Another sub-10 at 9.20 — I wonder if the complaints about difficulty levels of a couple of weeks ago are starting to have an effect as puzzles filter through to the paper. Certainly, there was nothing here to frighten the newbies. My only pause was 15d where I had foolishly entered CRY instead HEY and found myself looking for a word to fit xNxTxC, but I quickly realised my error and corrected. Like others, I liked FOLIAGE best. Thanks both!
    1. Cry was my first thought too.
21. I don’t time myself but this was my fastest completion ever by some distance. I normally do these later in the day so I suppose the early bird means an end to this slowcoach .
    Graham
22. Agree with all the above – very fast for me at 5:22.
23. A bottom up solve as I struggled to get on wavelength in the top half of the grid. Still I managed to come home in 7:18 with LOI SOFA.
24. Pretty straightforward and all in at just under 11 minutes, almost warp speed for me. First ones in were the two 1 clues, across and down, and that’s always encouraging.

    I know this is no news but the longer you do this, not only do you get quicker and better at solving, but the more readily you see write-in clues that you’ve seen before. For me today, that included HOPSCOTCH, CAPRI, SOAP, CUT, WINDY, AVERSE. I didn’t even have to think about them. For people like poison wyvern, I hope this brings encouragement.

    It’s nice beginning the week on a high. There were some that gave me pause for thought. I stared for a while at TIME, not seeing how it could be right but knowing that it had to be. Ditto PUPIL, where I really wanted the clue to say “one who studies ” because it sounded so awkward. COD for me is FOLIAGE because I like clues which misdirect by subverting the word class.

    Thanks, jackkt, for the blog. I too noticed how many of the clue types were similar. And thanks too to Mara.

    1. Hi Lisa — I’ve been trying to reply to your email from last week but am having problems sendng messages, so have resorted back to the site. I didn’t want you to think I was being rude! I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed the book and am passing it on to some friends, so many thanks for the recommendation 😊 Penny
       1. Hi, Penny. Don’t know what’s going on with the LJ messaging, (!!) but thanks for letting me know that you enjoyed the book. X
25. A rapid 9 minutes and a new PB. Not sure whether the puzzle was on the easier side or if I was just having a good morning, but either way I’ll take it.

    Enjoyed lots of the clues, especially 1ac after the various conversations over the last week or so. Only real hold up was the last one, 12ac “Soap” — couldn’t get “mop” out of my head at first.

    FOI — 1dn “Sofa”
    LOI — 12ac “Soap”
    COD — 5dn “Hopscotch” — nearly went down the hokeycokey route.

    Thanks as usual.

    1. A sub-10! Well done.
       1. I’m bracing myself for the inevitable fall to Earth with no doubt a plethora of 30+ mins times and dnf’s to come 😀
26. A gentle start to the week. Worked through it with no real problem.
27. If others are anything to go by, I seem to have missed out on a sitter here, limping home after a sedate 22mins. And that would have been longer still without the New Hampshire primer from the 15×15. Held up along the way by Tonga (if all else fails…), and an initial Coy for 23ac. Such is life. Invariant
28. Finished extremely quickly (for me) in 24 minutes, but forgot to go back and fully parse my solution for 18d (WONKY), which I knew may not be correct. If I want to keep my overall solve rate above 50% I simply can’t afford to fail relatively easy puzzles like today’s QC.

    I had PROMANADE in for 11d for a while, thinking the mis-spelling was an error by the setter, but getting INTERSECTION (10a) later on made me realise my error.

    Mrs Random experienced no such problems and breezed home, all correct, in 21 minutes.

    Thanks to Mara and jackkt.

29. I’m going against the grain here, as TBH I didn’t feel this was one of Mara’s finest. Usually I really enjoy the tightness of his cluing, even when I can’t unravel it, but today, as others have commented, there were a lot of similar clue types. I did enjoy some of the surfaces, particularly SLOWCOACH and ESPLANADE. But it’s nice to have a gentle start to the week and, as we have had a lot of stinkers recently, important to mix up the challenge. If you’d told me a couple of years ago that I’d find a Mara puzzle quite easy, I’d have been astonished 😅

    FOI Foliage
    LOI Opener
    COD Foliage
    Time 9 mins

    Thanks Mara and Jack

    I thought the biggie wasn’t too bad today — done in just under 30 minutes

    1. I second the comment about today’s 15×15 being fairly straightforward — though I was nowhere near as quick as Pebee.
    2. I took a bit longer than PeeBee but, after a slow start, I managed the biggie correctly in a little over twice my QC time. Thanks for encouraging me to have a go PB — my QC performance was pretty dispiriting today and I feel slightly better now. John M.

       Edited at 2021-02-15 05:21 pm (UTC)

       1. Hooray 😊 It’s always worth having a go, I reckon!
          1. Thanks. It is always helpful to have a bit of a push towards the biggie, especially if I don’t have a lot of free time.
             Btw, I do believe my time was a PB, PeeBee. 😎
             1. That’s even better news 👍
30. All very straightforward today and we finished in 7 minutes (thus equalling our PB). Thanks Mara, we enjoyed the puzzle.

    FOI: foliage
    LOI: arid
    COD: hopscotch

    Thanks for the blog Jackkt.

31. sub 4 minute time. Getting easier following comments here a couple of weeks ago, or do these things go in waves perhaps?
    Either way, not a lot to say. ESPLANADE and then SOAP were my last two in.
    3:46.
32. 12 minutes with Hey LOI. Fortunately remembered HE for fellow. Nice clues.
    Thanks all
    John George
33. A very fair QC today
34. IntersectiNO — oh dear. Nine on the first pass of acrosses which is good then rapid progress from there until I had to pause to get SNATCH. I’m letting me off the typo so I’m still claiming my 7.31 solve but annoying to have 2 errors from one (two?) careless keystroke.
35. A pleasant start to the week, no real holdups, so a quick time for us at just over 20m. Thanks to all.
36. ….points to how straightforward this was. I have to confess that I never add up how many (if any) different types of clue I employ in my monthly offering on here, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find a heavy leaning towards double definitions !

    FOI FOLIAGE
    LOI TONGA
    COD INTERSECTION
    TIME 3:03

    1. Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your weekend cryptic and, in fact, all of the ones that you and Phil have created for us. They seem to be set just right. (I have a target of 20 minutes and it took me 16:47.)
       So often a crossword is spoilt at the expense of the nina but yours was created beautifully. I loved all the surfaces – so smooth – most impressed. Thank you for taking the time to fill the weekend gap. If I didn’t know I would not think that an “an amateur” was preparing these crosswords; they are just as good and often better than our standard fare. MM
37. Another quick one for me. LOI CUT. I lied SLOWCOACH. 3:32.
    1. Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your weekend cryptic and, in fact, all of the ones that you and Phil have created for us. They seem to be set just right. (I have a target of 20 minutes and it took me 16:47.)
       So often a crossword is spoilt at the expense of the nina but yours was created beautifully. I loved all the surfaces – so smooth – most impressed. Thank you for taking the time to fill the weekend gap. If I didn’t know I would not think that an “an amateur” was preparing these crosswords; they are just as good and often better than our standard fare. MM
       1. Thanks. Glad you enjoy them as much as we enjoy compiling them.
38. Didn’t even finish the first course so must have been easier than usual.
    Vegetable quiche courtesy of Messrs Waitrose
39. Have to agree that Mara was kind today. A fast time for me too – I estimate 20 gentle minutes. 6a and 9d on first pass but then the S was easily finished off. Then the rest just fell into place without really having to think very hard at all. FOI 12a Soap. LOI 7d Talent. COD 13a Time for misdirection possibilities. Most of my further comments have already been well made by others. Thanks to Mara and Jacckt.
40. I suppose it’s obviously not NET but that’s what I had which made CAPRI particularly difficult, so this was a DNF but an enjoyable puzzle.

    Thanks,
    David.

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