Times Quick Cryptic 1827 by Jalna

70 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1827 by Jalna”

1. I needed 14 minutes to complete the grid, missing my 10-minute target again. Like our blogger I also suffered from being unable to identify the team at 1ac early on, and having to solve bottom up. If I’d realised it was going to be an anagram I would have persevered as I know the names of all the main UK clubs through years of sitting through football results on TV as a child. Not that I was interested in them, but they were always read out just before ‘Children’s TV’ on a Saturday afternoon, and seemed to go on for ever.

   I was expecting a Nina in that Felix puzzle but couldn’t find one. It may help to know that his last four Ninas have had Dickens themes but I think we can rule that out this time. Before that there was one on Paddington Bear, two with numerical themes, one featuring vowel patterns and one on the Peasant’s Revolt.

   Edited at 2021-03-10 05:41 am (UTC)

2. Biffed INCISOR, never got around to parsing it. LEYTON ORIENT took a lot of time, since I’d never heard of it. 8:41.
3. 10 mins on all the clues apart from LEYTON ORIENT, then 10 fruitless minutes looking for it. The checkers left many ways to fill with vowels and consonants, so alphabet trawls didn’t work. I missed the anagram, and was looking for other cognates for “ball”. When I used to listen to football scores I think they were just called “Orient”.

   No other problems today, shame as was heading for a good time but “them’s the breaks”

   COF TARTARE

   1. Me too. I DNF because of LEYTON ORIENT.
   2. Hi Merlin. I keep seeing references to an alphabet trawl. Is this a systematic process or just doing what I sometimes intuitively do and simply go through in my mind possible candidates for missing letters?

      Any enlightenment would help. Many thanks.

      Stephen

      1. You have the right idea. I occasionally use paper and run through the alphabet trying to see what letters might work in the spaces. When there are two blanks it doesn’t take too long. With 6, like today it’s not systematic, and not very effective.
         Shoulda seen that anagram indicator.
         1. Many thanks, Merlin.
4. … before finally twigging 1a LEYTON ORIENT, but that was only after staring at -E-T-N/-R-E-T for an absolute age. (Do they even still exist? Like others above, I only know the name due to the football results being trotted out every Saturday afternoons as a child, with my dad becoming increasingly despondent as he checked off his Littlewoods Pools coupon!)
   A bowl-of-porridge-and-two-coffees crossword for me today. Despite finishing I seem to be slowing down, which is a worry.
   My favourite clue today was 24a NATIONAL DEBT.
   Have a good day all. I’m just off to batten down the hatches.

   Edited at 2021-03-10 07:51 am (UTC)

5. Leyton Orient were called Orient from 1966 to 1987 and have an interesting history of name changes before that.
6. Can see STUBBS and FREEMAN who wrote up a history of the Anglo-SAXON state. Not sure whether there are any other references in the grid though…
7. I’ve seen Yeovil play at Orient a few times but I still couldn’t solve the clue until I finally changed ‘port’ to MOOR. I remember thinking ‘port’ was a bit more than a ‘space to tie up a boat’ but confidently put in in anyway. That frustrated TARTARE which in turn gave deprived me of the crucial final checker for the team — I’d been at the wrong end of the clue. I’ve found all the QCs hard this week. Only one on the first pass of acrosses and that was wrong (see above) which is my worst ever. Downs were more forgiving and the wavelength was gradually found. Other long hold ups were SPARTA and IN THE CLUB where I missed the anagram and again thought it was a weird definition — oops.
8. I found this hard going with the elusive football team requiring an alphabet trawl at the end. Once the penny dropped I saw the anagram, which was frustrating. I also had trouble in the SE with SPARTA, POSTERN, RESUMED and MOLE being slow to succumb. Finished in 15.01.
   Thanks to william and Jalna for the workout.

9. Trickiesh

   I’m keen on footie but LEYTON ORIENT was slow to reveal itself

   Some easy clues but there were a few that I needed a checker or two for

   Thanks all

10. Didn’t see the anagram in 1 across and football is not my thing, so it was the last one in. Time was 24:19 so over my target again. Found it on the hard side this morning. Onwards and upwards ? Maybe.
11. Good puzzle on the harder side I’d say. Just over 13 minutes with 1a and 3d LOI.
    Not sure about the Nina but there are lots of words formed from the end of one clue to the start of the next; scuff, flax, cantle, seas, east, tune, unend, tour, suns, hit etc. Also several male names; andy, angus (twice in 8d and 19a), onan as well as the mentioned surnames of stubbs and freeman. But I see no theme. Perhaps you can do this with lots of puzzles?
    Thanks blogger and setter
12. Oh dear, the third day in a row not finished. Perhaps lockdown is beginning to have an effect…

    NHO Leyton Orient or Neonate and found the parsing too difficult for many others, so am thankful for the explanations from William.

    Luckily our moles remain just outside in the field as, unlike William, I really don’t want them on our new lawn.

    Diana

    Edited at 2021-03-10 09:21 am (UTC)

    1. You are very lucky, we have a field next to us and last year they were a real pest.
13. Another DNF for me, and another puzzle that I just lost interest in.

    Surprisingly I did manage to answer 24a NATIONAL DEBT and 2d ECONOMISE, among others.

    Did not know the word POSTERN.

    5d. RIFLE – When i read this clue I was absolutely certain I had seen the same clue in a previous puzzle.

    My first puzzle by Jalna. Not a good introduction for me to this setter.

    1. Agreed. I only knew POSTERN through a Thomas Hardy poem, and even then it took some trawling up. :

       When the Present has latched its postern behind my tremulous stay,
       And the May month flaps its glad green leaves like wings,
       Delicate-filmed as new-spun silk, will the neighbours say,
       “He was a man who used to notice such things”

14. What an odd QC. Couldn’t get a serious foothold in the top half (1a needed a flash of inspiration or years of listening to football results and I experienced neither). The grid didn’t help. Many clues were perfectly fair, on reflection (for example my last two — SPARTA and POSTERN) but they just didn’t click for ages, for me at least.
    A slow slog that took me 25 mins in the end and didn’t really make for a satisfying solve. Sorry, William, but after this I really can’t be bothered to look for a Nina. John M.
    P.s. The use of the expression ‘in the club’ is perhaps an indication of the age and sex of the setter.

    Edited at 2021-03-10 10:07 am (UTC)

15. … and it took me 14 minutes to finish. Several clues seemed to contain multiple cryptic elements (eg 21A Incisor), perhaps more than many QCs, so quite pleased that all parsed as well. I think this is only the third puzzle by Jalna I have completed, and it appears to be my fastest — for which probably one ought to read least slow — finish.

    SE corner was sticky for quite a time, though like many, my actual LOI was 1A Leyton Orient, which should not have taken me the time as I follow London football and have been to see games at their home ground.

    Many thanks to William for the blog. No idea on the NINA alas though — never my strong point.
    Cedric

16. A nice head-scratcher this, a proper puzzle. I’ll declare an approximate twenty minute effort, probably slightly less. FOI neonate. I had economies at 2d so could not get 18 a until disinterested husband suggested economise. A breakthrough. I had port at 8 ac but moor in mind, but could not see why it was left. I had to put moor in as tartare was clear. Leyton Orient went in but I did not see the anagram, it was biffed. NHO emo. Couldn’t see why incisor was yellow. All clues fair with hindsight, such a gift. Thanks, William, for much-needed clarification, and Jalna for a very good puzzle. GW.
17. Cannot see it. Given that Felix loves Dickens (died 8 June ) and the crossword includes Schumann (born 8 June), I began to wonder but saw nothing else.
18. Like others, my LOI was the to-me obscure football team. Had to do an alphabet trawl. Did not recognise Fluid as an anagrist.

    The rest went in steadily. Also put Port instead of MOOR but had to change. Liked MOLE though not IRL. Amused we had both SPARTA and the Trojan War this week. What did some one say about the setters being retired classicists?

    Thanks for much needed blog, William. Afraid there was a lot of biffing today.

    Edited at 2021-03-10 10:46 am (UTC)

19. Well this took me to nearly double my 15 minute target, and I was within range of a DNF. PORT was the main culprit, as I was convinced it was right, even though TARTARE was lurking at the back of my mind. I was also slow to see the ORIENT, GROTTO and POSTERN. Setter 4, Rotter 0 as the pools announcer might have said.

    I’m going to have a longer look for the Felix NINA now.

20. I saw my LOI ELITE just as I was about to give up at 30 minutes, with the across clues proving difficult. I didn’t get an across until 14A Oliver, but the downs were a bit easier.
    I often struggle with infrequent setters, perhaps we could have a few more from Jalma as I enjoyed this one.
    Thanks to William for the blog.

    Brian

21. A grim DNF for me. SE corner just beyond me. A poor day.
22. Hard yards today. This took me 22:23 with LOI LEYTON ORIENT. I too have been to their ground but was slow to get this; slight doubt about O = ball but we’ve probably had it before.
    Prior to that a few hold-ups including POSTERN which I parsed as STERN = Back, plus something else for Sign. But I couldn’t see the something else so had to guess. Also had PORT at 8a for a long time.
    Can’t see the nina either. Lots of double letters and unchecked Us but no theme clear to me.
    David
23. I’m not sure it qualifies, but it is a connection. There is a painting by George STUBBS entitled ‘FREEMAN, the Earl of Clarendon’s gamekeeper, with a dying doe and a hound’, painted in 1800. I can’t find any other references to George Stubbs’ work elsewhere in the grid though. Maybe someone else can see something more concrete.
24. I’m sorry to read so many fellow solvers feeling discouraged today, though I sympathise : this wasn’t easy at all.

    What I found tricky:
    -anagram indicators I’m less familiar with : 1A ‘fluid’ and 13D ‘free’ — would have made things easier had I realised what these were.
    -3D thought myself sooo clever for having ‘tar’ in mind for ‘sailors’ but of course went for ‘TARS’ rather than ‘TAR’ x2, so totally stuck here.
    -15D GROTTO: find these clues the most difficult — was trying to take part of (mostly) the word NASTY rather than a synonym of NASTY ( GROTTY, in this case.)

25. Bucking the trend I did spot Leyton Orient early — it seems to be either them or Crystal Palace nowadays — however, I came a cropper on 20ac and put in “Piscean”. I had an inkling it was wrong, but DNK “postern”. So a disappointing end to 30 minutes of a challenging puzzle.

    Main issue for was me was putting “Port” in 8ac, even though I knew 3dn had to be “Tartare”. Too much staring and contemplation rather than ditching the obvious and restarting.

    Lots to like though, even if I was being a little slow.

    FOI — 5dn “Rifle”
    LOI — 20ac (but wrong)
    COD — 13dn “In the club” — just twigged it as I was writing this…

    Thanks as usual.

    1. Snap! Didn’t see your comment before I posted my own. 🙂
       1. I was just so happy that I had spotted the “astrological” potential of “sign” that I refused to even consider it could be something else. Although I have to admit I was struggling for different types of gate.
26. To put people out of their misery, in case anyone is wasting their time trying to spot the Nina in the above grid, it is our son’s primary school teachers: not one that would be obvious to anyone, so I probably should not have mentioned it!

    F.

    1. Thanks for that, Felix. I’d been working on a theory based on INCONSTANT and RELATIVITY and as a non-scientist I’m mighty relieved I no longer feel obliged to pursue this finding other connections or try to explain it! It was your Nina in QC 1576 that set me down that road, not that I understood it even when it had been pointed out.

       Edited at 2021-03-10 11:53 am (UTC)

    2. I wish that I had a Miss Lax and Mr Vacant at my primary school.
27. A slow start with the across clues, but the downs were more accommodating. Orient then stood out, but I still hesitated because I didn’t see ‘fluid’ as an anagram indicator for ages. However, my big problem was 20ac, where I was convinced the sign was Pisces, but could only come up with Piscean and decided to pull stumps at the 30min mark. Obviously wrong, but I just couldn’t think of anything else. CoD to 21ac, Incisor. Invariant
28. First one I’ve given up on in a while. Finished the coffee before the puzzle and wasn’t enjoying it enough to bother completing.

    Edited at 2021-03-10 11:47 am (UTC)

29. Online says Jaina. Less obscure british soccer teams, please! Very enjoyable nevertheless. Thx all. 😀
    1. It’s Jalna (JALNA)
30. DNF despite seeing Orient having got the down checkers

    I can’t remember a Jaina puzzle before but I really struggled

    DNK Postern and other clues had some serious head scratching

    COD to National Debt which apparently is now at its highest level

    1. Not the place for a long discussion of economics but it’s interesting how present-day focused we all are, and how ready to be downcast by our current position. When it comes to the UK’s national debt as a percentage of GDP, in the 270 years since 1750 it was higher than today’s admittedly quite elevated figure for no less than 150 of them — ie well over half! Including every year in the first half of the 19th century, a period when Britain was in its pomp and the most powerful nation in the world.

       Cheer up — we have been this much in debt (and more, much more) before and survived …

       Cedric

       1. If you can stay calm when all around you are panicking…

          … you’ve probably misjudged the situation. 🙂

31. Challenging. I felt this had a 15×15 vibe, especially as I had just come from a slow but steady solve of that one, and didn’t find this any easier overall. All pretty fair cluing but I seemed to get the wrong end of the clue more often than not — just not on the wavelength. Very deep into SCC territory by the time I finished.
32. Bucking the trend I was on wavelength for that one. Wrote down the anagrist for LEYTON ORIENT and by magic it appeared. Then I did INNOVATION, so I was well set.

    Some excellent clues and a refreshing change of style. I really enjoyed that one.

    FOI LEYTON ORIENT, LOI MOLE, COD ELITE (brilliant), time squeaked under 10 for 1.1K and an Excellent Day.

    Many thanks William and Jalna.

    Templar

    PS did anyone else briefly wonder if 13dn was going to be UP THE DUFF?!

    Edited at 2021-03-10 12:54 pm (UTC)

    1. Up the duff, in the club – such evocative phrases 😂

       Congrats on the time!

33. After a near PB yesterday, I guessed today’s QC might be hard work – especially when I saw it was by one of the less frequent setters. And so it proved. I found the across particularly problematic early on, and half an hour in I was bracing myself for an inevitable DNF. However, bit by bit the clues fell and solving 19a (POSTERN – from where I dredged that word up, I don’t know) was key to me completing the puzzle. I needed all the checkers for 1a (LEYTON ORIENT) and my LOI was 18a (AHEAD). My COD has to be the cryptic definition at 24a (NATIONAL DEBT).

    Many thanks to william_j_s for his excellent blog and to Jalna for a testing and enjoyable challenge.

34. I didn’t have too much trouble with the puzzle. LEYTON ORIENT jumped out once I had the crossers. I finished with RESUMES and MOLE. Then I pressed submit at 9:20 and my laptop stopped responding. It had been a bit sluggish all morning. After a while it came back and let me press the second submit button, but gave me a time of 10:17. Then I discovered Windows was trying to update the system. It failed and totally crashed the laptop and I’ve just spent the last 3 hours getting it running again. After a lot of messing about, the update that was failing to install seems to have completely vanished. I wonder if %*”&* Microsoft have withdrawn it in the meanwhile. There are several references in Google to KB5000802 causing problems! Rant over. Thanks Jalna and William.

    Edited at 2021-03-10 01:23 pm (UTC)

35. Kannapolis Cannon Ballers? Lansing Lugnuts? Yes, those are all genuine US professional baseball teams, I didn’t make them up, but I wonder how likely a UK solver would be to come up with them. I felt the same way about Leyton Orient, but I did eventually solve the puzzle in 13:38. Nothing else was terribly hard, although neonate and postern may be stretching it. I nearly biffed pastern, too.
    1. Back in my youth, during a Summer trip to the States, I once watched the AAA baseball team based in Scranton, Pennsylvania. I think they were called the “Red Barons”, and affiliated with the New York Yankees. No idea what was going on, but an enjoyable experience.

       However, I think you make a valid point for anyone who doesn’t originate or live in the UK.

    2. plymouthian1 As they are 14th in the 4th tier/division, I did think that they were more of a 15×15 clue!
36. Despite taking nearly twice as long as my target, I thought this was a most enjoyable crossword. In fact, after putting my pen down, I said out loud ‘Well, that was fun!’

    As we’ve commented in the past, tackling and completing something a little more challenging can be much more rewarding than whizzing through in a few minutes. I think this may be the first Jalna I’ve finished with any confidence tbh! So many cracking surfaces today – 6d EMO really amused me, LEYTON ORIENT, INNOVATION and MOLE were excellent too, and looking again, I now find that it is going to be really difficult to pick a COD.

    Like others, LEYTON ORIENT was my LOI, and I too should have got it much more quickly, having lived in the area for a few years. I realised it had to be a football club but it clearly wasn’t Crystal Palace!

    FOI Economise
    LOI Leyton Orient
    COD In the club

    Many thanks to Jalna for the fun and to William for the clear explanations.

    Thanks too to Felix for putting us out of our misery. Ironically, because he is known for ninas, I did spend a few minutes looking for one to no avail at the time – I’m glad I didn’t waste any more. In-jokes are all well and good but really? Unless we had kids at the same school, we never had a chance 🙄

    1. I spent ages looking for that Nina … I was convinced it was something to do with physics because of “relativity” at 1dn, and searched the internet for physicists called Schumann!!
37. Very tricky today, taking me 26 minutes over lunch. Knew LEYTON ORIENT but it still took me some time with some of the checkers in place. Rather an obscure team for a crossword I thought (sorry Orient fans!). NHO NEONATE or EMO but luckily these were fairly straightforward. Didn’t fall into the port trap at 8ac but didn’t know which way round the answer had to be until I solved 3dn fairly late on. Also spent a lot of time on 7dn before I could see what was going on with the clue. Thanks to Jalna for an enjoyable puzzle and to William for assistance with the parsing for GROTTO and INCISOR, which I had biffed.

    FOI – 14ac OLIVER
    LOI – 17dn SPARTA
    COD – 12ac ELITE

38. ….10 minutes before I sat down with this puzzle, Sheila’s granddaughter and her partner dropped by to tell us that she’s IN THE CLUB for the first time, and that. September will bring a NEONATE.

    This was quite tricky, but I got the footy clue at the second attempt — it actually describes the team pretty well, which probably accounts for them sacking their manager recently ! I once visited their ground (Brisbane Road) to see Altrincham in an FA Cup replay (which we lost).

    FOI MOOR
    LOI SPARTA
    COD LEYTON ORIENT
    TIME 5:21

    1. Congratulations on the In the Club news, Phil.

       Strangely I raced through this and had that “this is too easy to be satisfying” feeling (and I’m not a strong solver) before being held up on the last half dozen. I’m pretty well up on football but still struggled with, but eventually got, Leyton Orient. I’ve never been to Brisbane Road but often used to go Moss Lane to watch Alty (and went to school just round the corner).

       On reflection, a satisfying puzzle today. FOI MOOR, LOI POSTERN, COD LEYTON ORIENT.

       Thank you, William and Jalna.

    2. I was an Altrincham fan, and remember that match
       1. It’s a small world ! I remember the original game at Moss Lane better — we should have won, but an error by former Manchester United and England goalkeeper Alex Stepney cost us our chance.
39. 11:27 the resumed / mile intersection taking forever to reveal itself.

    Very enjoyable puzzle thanks William and jalna.

    In hopeless on NINAS and no help at all on this one I’m afraid

40. Nina: Put oil in cars?
41. We were doing well until we has 1a and 3d to do. Took another 10 minutes to realise port was wrong, and and an alphabet trawl for the second half of the football team. No problem with postern, an interest in castles years ago helped, they usually had a postern gate. Enjoyable puzzle, thanks Jalna and for the blog.
42. – badly. I put in LOI postern on 18 minutes and still couldn’t see why it worked – so thanks for the blog – so simple! Jalna provided a different puzzle today which was certainly a challenge. I shall approach any future ones far more carefully.

    As for the nina – there are an unsurprisingly large number of authors out there who have many book titles – which is the direction I was working away at. However, there are an even greater number of school teachers – rather obscure in the same way as the ocean is rather big and rather wet.

43. I found this really hard today and had to hunt round the grid to find somewhere to start. I eventually spotted disco, emo, in the club and other anagrams. However I decided it was a day to use my Crossword-Genie app as much as necessary and completed it all eventually. There were some clues I should have got without assistance but I felt it was a difficult puzzle.
    COD ‘to the point’ as I worked it out unaided!
    Blue Stocking
44. Tough but fun to do… A couple of new words – EMO and NEONATE but worked them out eventually but had to check they were valid. 1a I saw Orient from the crossers and so it had to be Leyton. That unlocked the rest of the NW where I had several pencilled answers that proved correct (with moor as an option for port at 8A). Then to tackle the SE again. I had 24a National but was unsure about Debt although it seemed obvious. 15a Grotto unlocked the corner and everything suddenly fell into place. I agree that finishing a tricky puzzle can be more satisfying – and this one was no exception. Several amusing answers eg 14a O-Liver once I forced myself to stick with the clue and banished my ear worm of Oklahoma. Also amused by 23a Mole. FOI 10d Innovation (it took me that long to get my FOI!). LOI 23a Mole simply because of the way the clues fell in turn. COD 1a Leyton Orient – took a long time for the PDM of a team name to occur. Great puzzle from Jalna and a useful blog from William.
45. Third DNF in a row.
    Definitely not on the wavelength today
46. I really enjoyed this. I started to attempt cryptic crosswords last March. This setter was new to me,and so I was filled me with trepidation, but a lovely surprise to DNF within only 25 minutes ha ha and I will forever remember Leyton Orient football team . I think I biff about half of the clues but with the help of this blog I hope to parse more. The language of cryptic crossword solving is a thing of itself !!! I think I said that right….
    1. You’re doing precisely the right thing in coming here to understand the clues that you either biff or miss out on — after over 40 years of doing 15×15 puzzles I still need to have things explained !

       Keep going, absorb the necessary knowledge along the way…..and, above all, enjoy it !

47. We didn’t get to this until Thursday. We were not on Jalna’s wavelength at all – took us absolutely ages. Lots of blank looks and head scratching resulted in a >30 minutes solve.

    FOI: moor
    LOI: mole
    COD: Leyton Orient

    Thanks Jalna and William.

48. Biffed nearly all the answers as the clues made no sense and still don’t. No complaints though- just not on this setter’s wavelength
49. I think 1ac qualifies as an &lit clue as well 😉

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