Times Quick Cryptic 1856 by Breadman

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Quite a tough work out from Breadman today which took 11 minutes. I found the word play quite tricky in parts (e.g. 13dn), had trouble with the font at 21ac and needed all the checkers to get LOI – the long anagram at 24ac. Only travels in Scotland allowed me not to make a spelling slip at 1ac.

Good luck!

Definitions are underlined.

Across
1 Racing driver somewhere in Scotland facing simple plant (8,4)
STIRLING MOSS – somewhere in Scotland (STIRLING – not Sterling), simple plant (MOSS).
8 Departed from port (4)
LEFT – double definition.
9 Accomplished musician excited Tom’s ear (7)
MAESTRO – anagram (excited) of TOMS EAR.
11 Authoritarian Conservative is brought in quickly (7)
FASCIST – Conservative (C) and is (IS) brought inside quickly (FAST).
12 Mark’s overcome by a certain World War One battle (5)
SOMME – Mark (M) is overcome (surrounded) by a certain (amount) (SOME).
14 Headwear initially tested in the city (6)
TURBAN – (T)ested, in the city (URBAN).
15 Formality of celebrity and Companion of Honour (6)
STARCH – celebrity (STAR), Companion of Honour (CH).
18 Duck‘s colour that is reflected (5)
EIDER – colour (RED) and that is (IE) – reflected/backwards (EI DER).
20 Charlie, unaccompanied, eating unknown Italian food (7)
CALZONE – Charlie (C), unaccompanied (ALONE) eating (outside) unknown (Z).
21 Worker on Iago, heartless character in Shakespeare (7)
ANTONIO – worker (ANT), on (ON), (I)ag(O) – heartless (without the middle). So Iago with an I is a character in Othello. I thought at first  this was lago (with an L)  which is an Italian lake. For the record, Antonio is a character in The Merchant of Venice.
23 Express disapproval with mass roar (4)
BOOM – express disapproval (BOO), mass (M).
24 See boiler suit troubled pioneering aviator (5,7)
LOUIS BLERIOT – see (LO), anagram (troubled) of BOILER SUIT. Looked like an anagram, felt like an anagram, and, by golly, it was an anagram – just not including the letters SEE which would, anyway, have been too long. LOI. He made the first flight across the Channel and so won £1,000 in 1909.
Down
2 Cherished walk around firm (9)
TREASURED – walk (TREAD) around firm (SURE).
3 Wine held by barman is termed uplifting (7)
RETSINA – held by barm(AN IS TER)med – uplifted/upwards.
4 Batting partner who’s doing a stretch (6)
INMATE – Batting (IN), partner (MATE). A stretch inside a prison.
5 Visitors ignoring temperature estimate (5)
GUESS – visitors (GUES)t(S) – without temperature (T).
6 Lofts stripped frequently (3)
OFT – l(OFT)s stripped of the outside letters.
7 Small nucleus with these distributed record of game (10)
SCORESHEET – small (S), nucleus (CORE), anagram (distributed) of THESE.
10 Unorthodox climbers might fall thus (3,3,4)
OFF THE WALL – anyone climbing a wall a falls would be off the wall.
13 Old European explorer hurt fellow on equestrian pursuit (5,4)
MARCO POLO – hurt (MAR/spoil/damage), fellow (CO as in co-conspirator), on top of equestrian pursuit (of a ball) (POLO).
16 Ring pub, finding traffic obstruction (4,3)
TOLL BAR – ring (TOLL as in a bell), pub (BAR).
17 Train group of dolphins (6)
SCHOOL – double definition.
19 Arena’s gymnastic equipment (5)
RINGS – double definition – the first is the plural of arena – with a deceptive ‘. Also, arena’s could be read as RING’S.
22 Greek character‘s teacup regularly avoided (3)
TAU – (T)e(A)c(U)p.

64 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1856 by Breadman”

  1. I was doing fine at first then ground to a halt with my last two which I had nho – 24ac & 16dn. I guessed 24ac – had Louis then googled, but put talk bar for 16dn. My reasoning, after a week in South Wales with little phone reception, was that the lack of a bar could be an obstruction in phone traffic. Of course the actual answer was far less convoluted. I also hadn’t seen “co” used in this way before but biffed Marco Polo. Many thanks Chris for explaining and Breadman

  2. Nice mix of clues which made it a fun puzzle to solve. NHO TOLL BAR but couldn’t think it could be any other solution. We finished in 11 minutes.

    FOI: STIRLING MOSS
    LOI: TOLL BAR
    COD: CALZONE (and, coincidentally, Mrs Peel’s favourite pizza)

    Thanks to Breadman and Chris.

  3. Nearly finished it. Dolphins was a poor double def as it is not a school but a pod. And because of that I did not put it in. Getting better—-slowly
  4. Progressed fairly smoothly with this one having really struggled yesterday. Completed in 15 minutes having biffed SOMME, RETSINA and MARCO POLO – thanks for parsing these for me Chris. Slight hold up at 17dn where I was looking for a word with “pod” in the middle. Nice puzzle – thanks Breadman.

    FOI – 1ac STIRLING MOSS
    LOI – 23ac BOOM
    COD – 4dn INMATE

  5. I wonder if the Moderator could prevent inappropriate posts like this one from ‘johneere’ from reaching us?
    It is a misuse of this site in my opinion. John M.

    Edited at 2021-04-20 03:03 pm (UTC)

  7. I finished in 17 minutes to equal my PB, and it was my 10th successful QC solve in a row — my longest ever winning streak by quite a margin. All that in addition to some good deeds done for Mrs R’s parents … and a slice of Mrs R’s sister’s birthday cake still to come. I’ll need a lie down when I get home, followed by a quiet day tomorrow. Too much action after a year of hiding away.

    Oh dear! I’ve just remembered what follows the Lord Mayor’s show … I wonder how benevolent tomorrow’s setter is feeling.

    Many thanks to Breadman and chrisw91

  8. Got off to a racing start in more ways than one as I got STIRLING MOSS straight away (thankfully the possibility that I’d spelt it wrong only occurred to me when I read the comments on here and by then it was too late to worry, but I’d got it right anyway) and for a while I thought I might be on for a really fast time (sub-10???). I did slow down a bit, but I still finished in a 4th best ever 14:35. This inspired me to look back at my records (which only go back to last September, but I’m pretty sure I only did one time that qualifies before that) and make a top 10 fastest solves. Interestingly this one was Breadman’s third entry and no other setter is there more than once. I have to confess I am increasingly succumbing to the temptation to biff as I get better at these. A slippery slope I fear. Anyway, LOI RETSINA, COD 13d MARCO POLO. Thanks Breadman and Chris
    1. By all means biff, so long as you then parse. Essential for me to a) confirm the guess and b) enjoy the clue — I know most people don’t bother (some don’t even read all the clues…)
      1. Excellent comment. Satisfaction of speed is one thing, rounded enjoyment of the setter’s art is a greater pleasure. I’m sure there are those among us who enjoy both simultaneously.
  10. A new character added today as answers put in and parsed later
    What are / were all the suspended comments.
    Two courses needed today
    1. 23 posts attached to different threads of the discussion within a 13 minute time span suggests some sort of bot attack on the site. Evidently Live Journal picked up on this eventually, the only downside being that by suspending the account they have prevented us from deleting all reference to the postings.
  11. I also initially thought Sterling, interestingly Sterling Morrison is spelled with an E rather than an I
  12. ….STIRLING MOSS may be part of the reason that I’m 7th equal on the leaderboard so late in the day. Faster than Verlaine, but in Topical Tim’s slipstream. A very straightforward puzzle in my book.

    FOI STIRLING MOSS
    LOI RETSINA
    COD INMATE (also liked LOUIS BLERIOT)
    TIME 2:50

    1. That’s not a time – it’s a fleet (as of fleeting seconds). Congratulations!
      1. Thanks Chris — unfortunately I came to grief on the 15×15. Again. I think I’ve got Saturday’s right, but I’ve had three wrong in a row either side including Sunday’s prize puzzle. I think it’s my worst run since I first started in the late 1970’s.
  13. Interesting puzzle from Breadman – so thanks for that and for an enjoyable 35 minutes to wind down the day. Needed Chris’ blog to see the Co in Marco Polo so thanks for that help too. FOI 1a Stirling Moss – who else! LOI 19d Rings – for no reason other than it got left until the end. COD 14a Turban – had me looking for Topper, Bowler, hats with EC but really straightforward. Nice to see a reference to the great aviator and what a risk-taker too at 24a. 7d took a while – Score-sheet/cards/board all fitted at that stage. Liked 18a Eider and not Ruddy (sharing the available middle D). Good fun all round to end the day.
  14. Personally I’ve never used this term. I prefer péage. This is usually shouted as driver to the asleep navigator in the left hand seat when driving on the continent. Johnny.
  15. Following my mother’s death we have inherited her dog (we promised her we would take care of him and he is definitely enjoying the good life).

    I have taken to calling him IAGO after Roderigo’s accusation: “O damned Iago! O inhuman dog!”

    Because he is certainly an ‘inhuman dog’, and that description could only be Shakespearean. Of course a dog would be ‘inhuman’, and most writers would therefore reject it as being tautologically irrational. But Roderigo is dying and that is exactly the sort of irrational accusation a dying person might make in the confused throes of final agony. Only Shakespeare would get that far inside the skin of a dying man. And probably without even thinking about it.

    Total respect.

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