Times Quick Cryptic 1859 by Wurm

Author   JohninterredPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

A fairly gentle quick crossword, I think, from Wurm today to ease us into the weekend, although there are a couple of tricks that might catch some. Lots of anagram practice here, with an anagram element to no less than 6 clues. Not that I’m complaining.  I was held up at the end by 12A and my last one in 4D, but still finished within my target time. COD for me was the witty cryptic definition at 11D. Thank-you Wurm! So how did you lot get on with this? [Edit: I see I was an outlier in finding this not too hard. As the comments below show, it really is quite tricky in parts].

Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is Phil’s turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the latest crossword here and the answers here. Phil has included a bit of a topical theme. Can you spot it? Enjoy! And if anyone is interested in our previous offerings you can find an index to them here.

Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, deletions and “” other indicators.
Across
1 Island people in specialist trial (10)
EXPERIMENT – I (island) MEN (people) “in” EXPERT (specialist). My first one in.
7 Shepherd initially caring for flock (5)
SWARM – Shepherd “initially” WARM (caring).
8 Divine drink within reach around court (6)
NECTAR – NEAR (within reach) “around” CT (court).
10 Member on stage (3)
LEG – Triple definition.[Thanks Penfold for pointing out that “on” is not just a linking word].  The first, ‘member’ = ‘limb’ is a crossword staple. The second is the cricketing term for the “leg” side. The third usage is as in a stage on the Tour de France, for example.
12 Consistency in contract (9)
AGREEMENT – Another double definition.
13 Wise to have statue moved (6)
ASTUTE – (statue)* “moved”.
14 Fuss about the French in Spanish city (6)
TOLEDO – TO DO (fuss) “about” LE (the, in French). The city famous for its steel-making and swords.
17 Establishment no-one has a pop at (9)
ORPHANAGE – Cryptic Definition. Pop = father. So if you don’t have a pop you are an orphan. If you are an orphan, you don’t have a Pop. Nice one.
19 First vessel from the east (3)
TOP – POT (cooking vessel) reversed “from the east” -> POT. From the east means reversed as it’s an across clue.
20 A tricky maths complaint (6)
ASTHMA – A, “tricky” (maths)*.
21 Passage the writer will read aloud (5)
AISLE – Sounds like “aloud” I’LL (the writer will). Groan. The more groanworthy the homphone, the better the clue, in my opinion.
23 Arouse hostility against one deviously (10)
ANTAGONISE – (against one)* “deviously”.
Down
1 Country lad as lover distraught (2,8)
EL SALVADOR – (lad as lover)* “distraught”.
2 Climber in training area (3)
PEA – PE (physical education; training) A (area).
3 Sheep bit castle defenders here? (7)
RAMPART – RAM (male sheep) PART (bit). A bit of a chestnut, I think.
4 Prayer from crew on capsized craft (6)
MANTRA – MAN (crew, the verb), ART (craft) reversed  “capsized” -> TRA. My last one in, fooled into thinking it started MEN and the craft was a sort of ship. Nice one, Wurm. Anyone else have trouble with this one?
5 Hotel in pleasant position (5)
NICHE – H (hotel in the NATO phonetic alphabet) “in” NICE (pleasant).
6 Criminal covers same ground in cellar (8)
BASEMENT – BENT (criminal)  outside “covers” (same)* [ground]. Sneaky wordplay where you need to separate “same ground” to get it.
9 The PM arose to change prevailing mood (10)
ATMOSPHERE – (The PM arose)* “to change”.
11 Our mutual confidant? (8)
GATEPOST – Cryptic Definition….. “Between you, me and the gatepost…”. That made me smile. COD for me.
15 Lear’s daughter in good heart leaves for season (7)
OREGANO – REGAN (King Lear’s daughter) “in” the middle two letters “heart” of gOOd. MER (minor eyebrow raise) at ‘leaves for season’ as a definition for the herb, but season (n)  is flagged as ‘seasoning (obs.)‘ in Chambers, and seasoning (vt) as ‘to add herbs, spices etc…‘, so I guess that was just my ignorance.
16 Graduate pens two articles in plant (6)
BANANA – BA (graduate) outside “pens” AN, AN (two articles).
18 Like bird with greyish appearance (5)
ASHEN – AS (like) HEN (bird).
22 Runner seen in Lusk Island (3)
SKI – Hidden “seen in” LuSK Island.

64 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1859 by Wurm”

  1. It’s not that if you don’t have a pop you’re an orphan; you might have a mom. If you’re an orphan, you don’t have a pop. LOI GATEPOST; it took me a moment to remember the phrase. A MANTRA isn’t a prayer; or does Chambers say it is? 5:35.
    1. Quite right. Thanks Kevin. Blog amended. As for mantra = prayer, no it’s not in Chambers but Collins has… “a hymn or portion of text, esp. from the Veda, chanted or intoned as an incantation or prayer”.
  2. Not too difficult apart from ORPHANAGE and GATEPOST which held me up for ages. 13:25. Thanks Wurm and John.
    1. Yes. Of course. Not sure how I failed to underline “leaves for”. Thanks. Blog updated.
  3. Clearly out of step as I found this really hard, all green in the end after 23m of struggle for third last on the early leaderboard. King Lear’s daughter was very hard to dredge up, couldn’t parse BASEMENT (although now it’s been explained it’s a very good clue), GATEPOST also took an age, I have heard the expression but not for many, many years, couldn’t see EXPERIMENT until it had to be — I fell right into the trap of looking for something like Jamaicans- couldn’t get warm for ‘caring’ because I was stuck on tend or similar and Pop for father only came to me once I saw ORPHANAGE fitted. Loved ASHEN. One of those puzzles that is great fun in retrospect.

    Edited at 2021-04-23 06:46 am (UTC)

  5. I’m with mendesest, as I found this the hardest QC for a long time. After about 10 minutes half the grid was empty and I had no idea how I was going to get any further. I was getting flashbacks to when the QC was first started!
    Sheer bloody mindedness got me there in the end but I needed a crowbar to dig out EXPERIMENT, PEA, MANTRA, TOLEDO and GATEPOST.
    With hindsight it was all fairly clued and I can’t see why I found it so hard, so well played Wurm and the PDM for ORPHANAGE was a delight.
    Finished in 21.34
    Thanks to John
  6. Wow, this was a real tough one, threw in the towel at 40 mins with ORPHANAGE and GATEPOST left. ‘Establishment’ is a very vague definition and I knew it would be some kind of cryptic, but could not see it. Was also looking at ‘pop at’ as an anagram indicator with the preceding 9 letters looking promising with the 4 checkers I had in.

    NHO that expression with GATEPOST, this clue seems pretty tough for a QC.

    Let’s talk about OREGANO, the only daughter of Lear I knew is Cordelia, I had to look up the others. Then the misdirection of ‘good heart’ where G and H were promising, and the term ‘season’ for a herb, when surely the word ‘seasoning’ is the correct term. This takes misdirection too far for me.

    TOLEDO also a tough clue when a 6 letter word for fuss and a 4 letter city looked promising.

    Is a Leg really a member? Pea a climber? Too many staples/clichés for me.

    COD BANANA although I was convinced that setter would not choose two of the same article, so while looking up Lears daughters I also checked Bathea, and Mathea as I am sure I have some of those in my garden.

    1. A part or organ of the body; esp. a limb or other separable portion

      ‘Limb’ covers arm and leg.
      Peas are climbing plants.

    2. “… the misdirection of ‘good heart’…”

      I actually had more of a MER at that ungrammatical construction than the use of ‘season’. Not that I mind it personally — I see such devices as mere crosswordese when they appear in the Guardian or FT – but I was surprised to see it in a Times crossword. I mean, if that’s allowed why not things like ‘middle class’ = A, ‘first course’ = C, etc.? I see no difference functionally.

      —AntsInPants

    3. I did wonder if Regan popped up today to celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday and death, both 23rd April, St George’s day, but no sign of a dragon.
  7. I so nearly gave up on this with six in the lower half to go, but persevered, and they finally, slowly, dropped into place. GATEPOST and ORPHANAGE required some serious lateral thinking, AISLE was my LOI. Despite knowing the daughters the O first letter checker confused me and I was playing with anagrams to try to make sense of it. 14A with a final O had me fixated on “ado” as the fuss, so not much progress until I had more checkers and a rethink. And several others were tricky.
    BASEMENT should have been obvious but wasn’t. Not sure about MANTRA, but all good clues and I was grateful to finish albeit without much dignity. Thanks to Wurm for making me think hard.

    Edited at 2021-04-23 08:40 am (UTC)

  8. … with some long pauses staring at the grid and several clues only parsed after I had written them in — 17A Orphanage being one (a very clever clue and like Merlin I looked for some time for an anagram of NO-ONE HAS A), and 15D Oregano another (needed to consult Mrs S to check King Lear’s daughters). 14 minutes in all, definitely a Friday workout.

    COD to 11D Gatepost — complete blank as to how the clue worked until a very nice PDM after all the checkers made the answer inevitable.

    Thank you to John for the blog. Very much looking looking forward to the fortnightly Special (which I do resist doing until Saturday morning!)
    Cedric

  9. I could not believe johninterred’s comment. Fairly gentle? Really? We’ll see if the ‘normal’ solvers agree.
    I found it tough from the very start. I have no wish to offer a tedious blow-by-blow account of my difficulties but it was half an hour before I managed to complete it. COD GATEPOST — brilliant!
    Once I stopped worrying about the time, I found much to enjoy — some wonderful clues — but a Quick Cryptic? Not in my book. Thanks to Wurm for a fine ‘mini-15sq’ and to John for a good blog apart from being totally out of step with me, at least. John M.

    Edited at 2021-04-23 09:46 am (UTC)

  10. I started as usual happily identifying the anagrams but then gave up 3/4 of the way through the rest as much of it was too hard for me.

    But as usual I appreciated the explanations and vaguely hope that some of it sinks in one day.

    It appears that nearly half the words in the English language can be used as an anagram indicator. I started to make a list once and add to it each time I found a new one, but gave up when it overflowed the notebook page I’d put them in, and now just enjoy the challenge of identifying them.

    Thank you Wurm and John.

    Diana

    1. Agree, Cedric and I were sure that “pop” could be another anagram indicator. No worse than “drunk” “floating” “travelling” etc.
  11. My first DNF for a few weeks with ORPHANAGE and GATEPOST, both un-biffable even with alphabet trawls and the missing checker didn’t help.
    My rule on anagram indicators is that any word or phrase (or nothing) can be one, just as the initial letter of any word can be a valid abbreviation. Counting the letters is usually my first step.
    Thanks to John for sorting out what I thought was a difficult QC.

    Brian


  12. FOI: 8a. NECTAR
    LOI: 4d. MANTRA

    Time to Complete: 71 minutes (average, 75)

    Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 22

    Clues Answered with Aids (3 lives): 1a, 11d

    Clues Unanswered: Nil

    Wrong Answers: Nil

    Total Correctly Answered (incl. aids): 24/24

    Aids Used: Chambers

    This is another crossword that I almost gave up on but continued to completion. There were a few tricky clues that got me thinking before the penny finally dropped.

    1a. EXPERIMENT – I could not get this one without help. For island I kept thinking “Man”, and for people, “Race”, but that lead me to all sorts of words that would not fit. Eventually Chamber’s came to the rescue. One life used.

    11d. GATEPOST – My second life used. I stared at this word for ages, and it just would not come to me. I have heard of the expression “between you, me and the gatepost”, but I did not think of it until I had help.

    14a. TOLEDO – Is not this where Kenny Rogers tried chatting up some woman in a bar?

    1d. EL SALVADOR – It took me a while to get this one. I tried thinking of countries with the letter V in them, and did initially think of SALVADOR, but it would not fit. I had forgotten the prefix EL.

    4d. MANTRA – My last one in, and I was led awry by thinking of MEN for crew rather than MAN.

    An enjoyable crossword with some tricky elements. But a completion on this sunny Friday morning. To the candy store!

    Edited at 2021-04-23 10:29 am (UTC)

    1. If there was any doubt as to your improvement, finishing this quite tricky offering should banish it.
      2. Hi Phil

        Thanks again for another excellent crossword – we really enjoyed it.

        I think we picked up on your patriotic theme.

        Enjoy the sunshine

        “The Avengers”

    2. Great to see you managed this when so many struggled! Onwards and upwards!
  13. Just into the SCC at 20m and some seconds, with GATEPOST stubbornly refusing to parse (I really like it now I understand it). An excellent puzzle from Wurm, where I was blaming yesterday’s second jab for my stupidity until I came here. Thanks incidentally for all the messages of support yesterday — so far so good with the reaction, nothing like as bad as after the first AZ jab. LOI EL SALVADOR where I just didn’t notice the (2,8) numeration, and was looking for a 10 letter country. Well done Wurm and John, thanks both.
      1. Disgust with his ineptitude probably. He’s been threatening to give up at regular intervals of late, and I wish he’d just get on and do it.
  14. On side with all those who found this a tough challenge. After three quick solves in a row, this one took over half an hour. FOI nectar. There were some write-ins — asthma, antagonise, El Salvador, niche, ashen leapt out at me. Then came the grind. I like anagrams, but had a tussle with atmosphere. Could remember only two of Lear’s daughters, and not the one I needed. Husband to the rescue there. I put gatepost in a couple of times and rubbed it out, then decided it must be right. Swarm and pea were unsettling somehow. My last ones in were orphanage and banana. I couldn’t see a word in o_p_a___e. I checked opp on the computer grid and it gave me a red square for the first p, and only then did I see it. I had lliana in mind for the plant but orphanage clarified it for me. I checked in the dictionary afterwards and found liana has just the one “L”. And of course LL won’t do for a law graduate, either. I thought this was a lovely puzzle, and all the clues apart from the write-ins could be a COD for me. It was a bit of a shock after the last three, which seemed to suggest I was building a modicum of skill. Back down to earth, but consoling myself that it’s all a question of being on the wavelength. Thanks very much, John, and Wurm. GW.
  15. 150% of target so not easy for me. Like others, I was slowed massively by ORPHANAGE and GATEPOST.

    John, I think 10ac (LEG) has to be a triple definition as “on” doesn’t work as a link but of course is the leg side in cricket.

    1. I disagree. I find it helps me to endeavour in my attempts to 1) complete a crossword, and 2) to better my time for solving.

      My current solving rate is approximately 1 in 5. My average solve time is 75 minutes, with my best time being 32 minutes. Yes, woefully short of the fast solver’s, but then again they have been doing these puzzles for years, whereas I have been trying to solve them for nigh on 5 months.

      When I see people posting fast times it gives me something to aim for. One day I too hope to be solving the QC in under ten minutes, and I look forward to the time I can post a sub-ten minute time.

  16. I had similar problems to others with Gatepost & Orphanage. I ended up giving up on Gatepost and then managed to get orphanage oncw I had the p which actually is a great clue. I barely have heard of the Gatepost expression, it sounds quite archaic.

    Also bit stuck on Lear’s daughters as could only remember Cordelia & Regan, and spent some time wondering if there was one with an O before clicking.

    Toledo is a beautiful old city with a Roman aqueduct and old city walls. Well worth a visit if you ever find yourself in Madrid.

    1. I cheekily bunged in GONERIL at first thinking G = good. The O from TOLEDO put me right.
  17. A real struggle today, with FOI El Salvador setting the tone when only Leg and Astute followed from all those first letters. Thereafter a very slow solve, with answers having to be teased out. Eventually just CoD Orphanage and Gatepost remained, but I needed a second long look at both clues before I saw what Wurm had in mind. Total time must have been in excess of 30mins. Invariant
    1. Well done on finishing at least. I also think this was the hardest for quite a while.
  18. … has come to a shuddering halt. I often find Wurm a tough setter, but today’s offering simply blew me out of the water. I wasn’t even close to finishing and, in the end, I gave up after a little over an hour with six clues still unsolved. I notice that our blogger regarded this as a “fairly gentle” puzzle to “ease us into the weekend”. My gast is flabbered!

    The clues that beat me were:
    EXPERIMENT: I got as far as EXPERT__N_
    MANTRA: I didn’t see MAN for crew or ART for craft
    GATEPOST: Completely stumped – I had no ideas at all
    ORPHANAGE: Never in a month of Sundays …
    OREGANO: I wish I knew some Shakespeare
    AISLE: I saw it was a homophone, but that’s all

    N.B. I’m afraid to say that even Mrs Random struggled today, eventually finishing in 84 minutes for her slowest ever successful solve.

    Never mind! We will console ourselves now by going outside to observe how/whether our new batch of (six) hens are integrating with our existing flock of eight. Re-sorting their pecking order always involves a lot of commotion.

    Thanks to Wurm and to johninterred for the much-needed blog.

  19. A treacle crossword for me — every clue taking an age to extract. Saying that I only had 3 to complete after 30 mins, but just couldn’t get them.

    Probably should have got 15dn, but the surface on “leaves for season” was too clever for me and my Shakespeare is sadly lacking. Similarly 17ac was very clever, but I couldn’t get military or balloon references out of my head. I don’t think I’d ever get 11dn “Gatepost”.

    At least there’s the weekend crossword to look forward to 😀

    FOI — 2dn “Pea”
    LOI — dnf
    CoD — 17ac “Orphanage” — didn’t get it, but very good.

    Thanks as usual!

    1. I had the O start and finish in Oregano, and none of Winter etc would fit, otherwise I would still be there, having no idea of Lear’s daughters’ names.
  20. That was a stinker. By which I mean an excellent puzzle, but way harder than usual. Crikey. I nearly fell off my chair when I read John’s blithe “well that was a doddle” opening!

    FOI EL SALVADOR, LOI GATEPOST, COD ORPHANAGE (I thought of music, of balloons and of lemonade … eventually PDM and much slapping of forehead), time … did it on paper so don’t know but it was definitely over 15 and thus 3+K and a Terrible Day.

    Many thanks Wurm and John.

    Templar

  21. Definitely on the tricky side although that is not atypical for a Friday. FOI EL SALVADOR as I was completely stymied at 1a thinking the definition was ‘island’. I did solve all but 3 clues in 10 minutes and then worked out ORPHANAGE (COD), 1a EXPERIMENT and finally MANTRA (I’m not keen on prayer as the definition). 12:43
  22. Who had a mer at johninterred’s assessment of today’s puzzle!

    Nothing to moan about, I was just nowhere near the setter’s mindset. I’ve had a decent run of sub 6 minuters this week.

    REGAN took a while to dredge, me not having read much shakespeare, especially as “leaves for season” doesn’t really make a lot of grammatical sense as a definition for a herb.

    ORPHANAGE and GATEPOST were the ones that really had me chewing my metaphorical pencil. Super clues once I saw them, but definitely on the tricky side.

    10:35.

  23. After a run of good times this brought me down to earth. I was well on track for a reasonable solve until ORPHANAGE, GATEPOST and OREGANO defeated me. No complaints, it was just too difficult for me.
  24. Not my finest hour although it took the best part of one. Struggled with the same ones that others have mentioned and did not warm to ORPHANAGE. LOI GATEPOST.
    Have a nice weekend everyone, hopefully you’ll get out into the sunshine, break out the yacht, head for the beach, climb the odd hill, pump up the tyres or sit in the garden.
    Thanks Wurm and John
  25. Yes, I was defeated by GATEPOST and ORPHANAGE too. I did get OREGANO, but failed on MANTRA.
    FOI El SALVADOR but mostly an extra slowcoach, swimming-through-treacle solve for the rest.
    Liked AISLE, TOLEDO and admired aforesaid GATEPOST.

    Thanks you, John, for much needed help with the hardest QC for ages.

  26. ….to “arouse hostility deviously”, but it isn’t always easy to gauge whether a clue is suitable for a QC, or to be absolutely certain as to level of difficulty of some of these puzzles. I hope my name won’t be taken in vain too often this weekend !

    I just scraped inside my limit, and therefore it can’t have been that straightforward ! My COD, plus GATEPOST and OREGANO, wouldn’t have found their way into one of my quick puzzles — good clues, but 15×15 offerings.

    FOI NECTAR
    LOI EXPERIMENT
    COD ORPHANAGE
    TIME 4:55

    Has anybody heard from Louisajaney ? I’m frightened that her Exasperometer has gone rogue and eaten her !

  27. Apologies to all for not anticipating that many would find it a lot more difficult than I did. I must have been on the wavelength as I saw those cryptic definitions (ORPHANAGE and GATEPOST) everyone has struggled with straight away. Also, it pays to know your Shakespeare. My knowledge is patchy, but I do know the names of King Lear’s daughters.
    1. Thx John. You were clearly on fire this morning. I found this a stinker. But then I can’t do today’s KenKen so maybe I need a glass of wine.
      Did anyone do yesterday’s Concise? What were some of those words? Watch out for them appearing in the QC. Johnny
      1. Re Concise: I do it every day. It’s a good vocabulary test and always fun to try and find the Nina. The clue that I struggled with yesterday was the fruit, but “lozenge” was tricky too. John Grimshaw, who compiles all these concise crosswords is known here as Joker, so look out for the words in his QCs here.
        Re On Fire: I see that if I’d posted my time of 4:57 on the club site I’d have been in 27th place (even with the neutrinos) and that the average time today is 18:31. Unfortunately, when I do the blog first thing I can’t see how everyone else finds it. No doubt I’ll be brought back down to earth next week!

        Edited at 2021-04-23 07:09 pm (UTC)

  28. However, it was an excellent challenge and we were really pleased to finish in 21 minutes with GATEPOST, OREGANO and ORPHANAGE (all of which are super clues) providing the greatest test.

    FOI: LEG
    LOI: OREGANO
    COD: ORPHANAGE

    Thanks to Wurm and John.

  29. A similar experience to others for me and a DNF after over an hour with GATEPOST and ORPHANAGE to get. Some nice clues, including, grudgingly, the two I didn’t get, so overall an enjoyable near solve. Thanks Wurm and John.

  30. FOI 1D EL SALVADOR
    LOI 17A ORPHANAGE

    Another enjoyable puzzle. Thank you, johninterred and Wurm

  31. I did not find this at all ‘gentle’. A miserable DNF. GATEPOST, BASEMENT, ASTHMA (did not see anagram), ORPHANAGE all stumped me. A dismal end to a good week.
  32. Had to do yesterday’s first, so a double-header tonight. Agree this was hard work but some lovely clues eg 11d Gatepost. FOI 1d El Salvador. LOI 4d Mantra. COD 17a Orphanage. Thanks to Wurm for an inventive set of clues on an unusual grid. Thanks to to John for the blog that made it look easy! Enough is enough tonight – will save the Saturday puzzle for tomorrow!
  33. As everyone else has said

    Confused as to why Ophelia didn’t work having got the first O. Must brush up on my Bardic knowledge

    Same last two as many others but managed to crack them though I was crossing fingers with GATEPOST as the parsing completely passed me by. Quite a good clue but v tough for the quickie

    Fatfingered typo for the Club page but I’ll take 30 secs over target for this toughie

    Thanks John and Wurm

  34. My times so far this week had been well within my 20 minute target at 14:59, 13:47, 13:27 (which was less than 1.5K!!!!!) and 12:40. I was feeling quite smug until I tried today’s QC… if you can call it that! I have never struggled so much. After 30 minutes I still had 9 words left to fill in. Eventually I resorted to aids which I do VERY rarely and always regard any completion then as a DNF. It still took me another 15 minutes to fill the grid. I honestly believe that this was the toughest QC I have ever attempted. On the odd occasion that I attempt the 15×15 I can rarely make any headway (unless flagged as QC standard) and this felt just like one of those impossible 15x15s. Thanks to Wurm for putting me in my place and to John for the blog but most of all to all the contributors here who made me feel just a little bit better about finding it so tough. MM

    Can’t remember my FOI – it was so long ago!!! but COD has to be GATEPOST

  35. A toughie, well suited to a Friday. Such witty and elegant clues! Completed in about 30 minutes. Thank you to Wurm and to John.

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