Times Quick Cryptic 1871 by Trelawney

I didn’t get 1ac at first pass so had to dip into the grid. I ended up chasing all around it until finally finishing in the SE with 22ac. There doesn’t seem to be anything overly difficult but I only just crept inside my target of 10 minutes.

Definitions are underlined.

Across
1 Something naughty I’d found in gift for politician? (4,9)
VICE PRESIDENT – something naughty (VICE), I’d (ID) found inside gift (PRESENT).
8 Spice starts to change unappetising milkshake into nectar (5)
CUMIN – (C)hange (U)nappetising (M)ilkshake (I)nto (N)ectar.
9 More imposing old lady turned red (7)
GRANDER – old lady (GRAN), ‘red’ turned around (DER).
10 Dog to go astray inside bank (7)
TERRIER – go astray (ERR) inside bank (TIER).
11 Character in Barnet Hospital (5)
ETHOS – hidden in the clue – Barn(ET HOS)pital.
13 Nick overheard beginning to design strange instrument (5,4)
STEEL DRUM – homophone (overheard) of nick- steal (STEEL), (D)esign, strange (RUM).
17 Fool around next to big hole (5)
ABYSS – fool (ASS) around next to (BY).
19 US state region briefly features in song (7)
ARIZONA – region briefly (ZON)e inside song (ARIA).
20 Computer kept DOS running (7)
DESKTOP – anagram (running) of KEPT DOS. Good surface.
22 Reverse stylish vehicles (5)
TRAMS – stylish – smart – reversed (TRAMS). Traps wanted to go in but I wouldn’t let it!
23 Barely examined? (5-8)
STRIP-SEARCHED – humorous cryptic definition,
Down
1 Leave caveat in motion (6)
VACATE – anagram (in motion) of CAVEAT.
2 Afraid of being shot? (6-3)
CAMERA-SHY – another crytpic definition. Shot as in to shoot a picture.
3 Writes four editorials, initially, being thoughtful (7)
PENSIVE – writes (PENS), four (IV), (E)ditorials.
4 Writer glad aeroplane is fixed! (5,5,3)
EDGAR ALLAN POE – anagram (is fixed!) of GLAD AEROPLANE.
5 Picture of one wizard (5)
IMAGE – one (I), wizard (MAGE). Mage is an archaic word for wizard.
6 Finish last pieces of stale Italian bread (3)
END – stal(E) Italia(N) brea(D).
7 Push heroin in confidence (6)
THRUST – heroin (H) inside confidence (TRUST).
12 Alternative healer‘s residence on old road (9)
HOMEOPATH – residence (HOME), on top of old (O) and road (PATH).
14 Celebrate sushi finally being in list (7)
ROISTER – sush(I) inside list (ROSTER).
15 Small cars for Middle Eastern folks (6)
SAUDIS – small (S), cars (AUDIS).
16 Expired pedals falling apart (6)
LAPSED – anagram (falling apart) of PEDALS.
18 Arrange winning a tennis match? (3,2)
SET UP – double definition.
21 A title some desire (3)
SIR – some of de(SIR)e.

92 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1871 by Trelawney”

  1. Largely straightforward, thanks to some easy anagrams and old chestnuts like CAMERA-SHY.
  2. Finished in a good time for me of a little over 10, including breaking off to stop the dog chewing his new bed, but it wasn’t the plain sailing that others enjoyed with SAUDIS, ROISTER, ABYSS and TRAMS all taking their time to emerge. Got 1a at the first time of asking from VICE but it took a while to dislodge Chancellor to get to PRESIDENT. Enjoyed STEEL DRUM — a lot of crosswording going on in that clue!
  3. 7 minutes with no problems. If we as experienced solvers found this easy we should not complain as perhaps Trelawney is compensating for his last offering in which he gave us TRIBOLITE, a word more suited at least to the 15×15 if not the Mephisto.
    1. Trilobite; for people like me, who as a kid was keen on dinosaurs and stuff, no problem. But not a QC word.
    2. The trilobite always featured in dinosaur lessons in my childhood from a young age and far from being Mephisto-level I assumed it was just one of those words that everyone knows. One man’s GK etc etc. (For example I was interested to read on here the other day that the NYT crossword requires knowledge of rappers and TV shows, which would leave me stumped.)
      1. Which is why I really struggle with the daily quiz in the Times! Rappers, computer games, cult tv, Japanese films, 1950s sports – all feature regularly! Some pretty esoteric stuff as far as I’m concerned, but easy for others no doubt 😉
        1. My score for the daily quiz is always 4/15. It doesn’t matter what the questions are it’s always the same. I never improve; I never get worse. My score tomorrow will be 4, my score on Thursday will be 4, my score on …
        2. I find that the first six, or occasionally seven, questions in the daily quiz are fairly gettable and what could be described as general knowledge, though there are still quite often one or two I can’t get. Questions 7 to 13 tend to be pretty obscure and often impossible even to have a guess at. The sport and picture questions at 14 and 15 are pot luck in terms of difficulty. This is a big improvement on how the quiz was a couple of years ago when all the questions were the obscure type and I would quite frequently get only 1 or 0.
          1. I agree with you CB — there are usually a few I know, a few I can guess at, and the rest — well, straight over my head!
            1. Well as we are drifting off topic, may I ask about the daily Concise Quintagram?

              I’d heard that every day, without exception, there was a theme. I get the theme some days, on others even having completed the grid, cannot see the theme..

              Is there a link you can share to put me out of my misery, or is the daily theme just a myth…??

  4. 19:39 so just inside the target. I didn’t see any chestnuts, but I guess you need a thousand puzzles or so before they see, familiar. CAMERA SHY was my LOI.

    Strange=rum only ever appears in crosswords.

    Plenty of pleasing clues, COD to PENSIVE

    1. Maybe it’s just where/when I’m from but ‘that’s a rum old do’ is a familiar expression.
    2. Please don’t remind me of Batman. BATMEN featured sometime last week and, even after 40 minutes of alphabet trawling, I still drew a blank.
    3. Where I come from (NI), the expression, when something odd happens, can be, ‘that’s a bit of a rum do’.
  5. A quick solve today, after a brief pause over 1a the rest offered little resistance as I completed a top to bottom solve. It was nice to see Mr. Poe be given his full name for a change.
    Finished in 6.31 with LOI ABYSS. WOD goes to ROISTER.
    Thanks to Chris
  6. FOI: 1a VICE PRESIDENT
    LOI: 14d ROISTER

    Time to Complete: 35 minutes

    Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 24

    Clues Answered with Aids (3 lives): Nil

    Clues Unanswered: Nil

    Wrong Answers: Nil

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

    Aids Used: Nil

    At 35 minutes this was 4 minutes off from beating my personal best of 32 minutes. I found this puzzle to be easy for me, with a few clues that had me thinking for a while.

    1a. VICE PRESIDENT – I saw this one immediately. After all, I thought, how many politicians are there with 4 and 9 letters?

    23a. STRIP SEARCHED – My favourite clue, but still took a bit of thinking to find it.

    19a. ARIZONA – At first, I had ATLANTA pencilled in. I then realised that Atlanta is a city and not a state.

    Very happy to have completed this one in quick time (for me) with no aids used! I think that calls for two candy bars today!

    1. With this progress, you’ll soon just be reporting times of completions or, hopefully not often, any clues which were unsuccessful. Good work!
    2. F.A.B! Two candy bars well deserved.
      P.S. I had ALABAMA to start with, before I realised my error — and that is a state.
  7. Continuing my hot streak …
    … with all done and dusted in just under 9 minutes. It doesn’t often happen but I found this quite straightforward, almost a write-in for most of the puzzle. Which merely increases my respect for those who regularly solve in 3-4 minutes — I can’t even write that fast, let alone think that fast.

    Minor hesitation over 20A Desktop, as I wondered whether Desktop could be the actual equipment as well as the place one puts icons (the meaning I’m more familiar with) but I see that it can.

    Many thanks to Chris for the blog
    Cedric

    Edited at 2021-05-11 07:56 am (UTC)

  8. A fairly gentle offering from Traelawney this time round, but with a few clues to think about as well — CoD Camera Shy was my loi. Couldn’t see 1ac until I had the initial V from 1d, and that then prompted a top to bottom solve (bar 2d). Roister was only vaguely familiar and Steel Drum similarly took a bit of teasing out, but all done and dusted in 17mins. Invariant
  9. Another deceptive QC which took longer than I thought. I guess I get immersed and lose track. A quick start and the grid filled pretty quickly but a few like 1ac and 23ac took much longer than they should have done and I only got my LOI 1ac after CAMERA SHY emerged — the old chestnuts still trip me up. In the end, I was 3 mins over target and not very happy with that. My COD was SAUDIS (although ABYSS came close).
    Suffering from a touch of ‘brain glue’ I think. That eloquent description reminds me — where is louisajaney these days? Hope she is well. Thanks to Trelawney and Chris. John M

    Edited at 2021-05-11 08:56 am (UTC)

    1. Hello, Old Blighter! Here I am! I was so touched to read your comment this morning – thank you for thinking of me. All is well – I just seem to be extra busy right now. This is partly because my three adult sons are all home and requiring vast amounts of cake baking and meal prep (not being a martyr – I love it!).Plus I am a teacher so I am up to my eyes with A Level and GCSE marking. I do solve the QCs still and I do read the Blog. It’s just by the time I’m free to comment here, it feels too late in the day to do so. I’ll be back!as someone celluloid once said.
      1. Thank you for your kind reply. You have been such a regular, interesting, and stimulating poster here and it is good to know that you are well.
        Welcome back soon! John.
      2. Good to hear from you Lisa – I have been wondering where / how you are too 😊 Hope you’ll be back regularly once everything calms down!
      3. I often get posts the next morning or sometimes a week or so later as people catch up. As you know an email gets sent on each reply to a post (including the blog) so all comments get seen.
        I well remember the army-quantity catering we had to do, then, when they left home, all the big pans went to the back of the cupboard and the portions we were buying/cooking seemed ridiculously small.
        1. Thanks, Chris.
          I love having them home. It will be so quiet (though much cheaper) when they’ve (re-)flown the nest.
      4. I would like to echo the comments above, and I’d love to hear of your Exasperometer again at some point.
        P.S. I used to have piles of university exam scripts, coursework submissions and dissertations to mark at this time of year, so I know the feeling.
        1. Thanks, Some Random Chap. On the Exasperometer, today’s crossword was a 1 /2, being somewhere on the spectrum between Gloriously Easy and Fairly Straightforward(and, therefore, great fun!).

          Wish I could say the same about the marking (although, it’s not, in reality so bad, being probably a 3 – an Interesting Challenge).

      5. Pleased to see your comment. Always worth posting on here, LJ.
        Best wishes.
  10. I found both the crosswords very friendly today – 30 minutes for both together is a best for me. 6d was crying out to be image but I think mage is too obscure for this puzzle. Good stuff though – thanks setters and blogger
  11. FOI VACATE then hopped around the grid with no real hold-ups, except I couldn’t decide on the US state until I got ROISTER.
    SAUDIS made me smile. Also amused that glad aeroplane is an anagram of EdgarAPoe.
    Good to be on the wavelength today.
    Thanks vm, Chris.
  12. On paper today. 10 minutes to get to my last three but then I was held up. TRAPS seemed wrong and like our blogger I held out until TRAMS arrived. Then it was on to 15d and 17a.
    Thought 17a was OS for big after a word for fool reversed- BOYOS was the best I could see.
    Eventually I got SAUDIS and then LOI ABYSS (COD to that).
    Another 8 minutes or so for those three.
    Good puzzle.
    David
  13. Quite a good day today (by the way, is anyone else getting something that appears to be in Greek above the headline? It’s at least the second day it’s appeared and I daren’t try to translate it — not that I could anyway — just in case I don’t like the result).

    Thanks Trelawney and Chris

    Diana

    1. I think that what you are seeing as Greek may be Russian. This was commented on in the last week or so, and happens quite regularly for me on my iPad. I put it down to a setting in my AV / Anti Spam software, which disguises my location as somewhere in Eastern Europe to avoid getting spammed with local ads. I think I’d rather have local ads instead of Russian ones, so I’ll investigate further.
    2. Always get Russian ads — but it’s not just limited to this site unfortunately.
  14. Thanks to mis-spelling ALLEN I was left looking at E—O-A for a long time. What a twerp. Eventually the penny dropped and then came ROISTER and TRAMS. The rest of it had been a very enjoyable breeze through a witty puzzle.

    I’m sorry to see CAMERA SHY dismissed as a chestnut because I hadn’t come across it before (or if I have, my goldfish brain has forgotten it) and it made me laugh.

    FOI VACATE, LOI TRAMS, COD STRIP SEARCHED, time 07:53 for 1.7K and a Good Day.

    Many thanks Chris and Trelawney.

    Templar

    1. I agree with you about CAMERA SHY. Not one of my chestnuts either but I certainly do suffer from ‘goldfish brain’. I think of mine as a ‘wipe-clean memory’ and it is a handicap with crosswords. John
      1. I like chestnuts — both kinds. It means that at least I’m likely to get one correct.

        Diana

      1. Sorry that came out in the wrong place — I also put Allen instead of Allan and even searched a list of US States to find one beginning with E.
  15. I thought I was going fairly quickly on this one, but found myself pushing my target time as I struggled to see LOI SAUDIS. Doh! I started with END and worked clockwise from the NE. Liked STRIP SEARCHED and CAMERA SHY. 9:16. Thanks Trelawney and Chris.
  16. Brain clear of narcotics but still packing antibiotics a’plenty, I finished in 4.5K which is better than a week of DNS. Hopefully I’ll have a few weeks of home comfort before returning to face Round 2.
    Thought of STEEL BAND for a moment before the obvious DRUM banged loudly in my ear. Sun shining, QCC completed, hello world.
    LOI ABYSS. Thanks Chris and Trelawney.
  17. took an age – the penny finally dropping on SAUDIS giving me ABYSS.

    ROISTER is a tremendous word. Always reminds me of Hugh Laurie’s Prince George.

    7:03

  18. I lobbed in ALABAMA (!!?) at 19ac which ruined a goodish time. I thus encountered heavy weather in the South East and limped home in 10:30 mins. It was ARIZONA after a recount.

    FOI 1dn VACATE

    LOI 14dn ROISTER

    COD 8ac CUMIN I failed to p-arse!

    WOD 4dn EDGAR ALLAN POE

  19. 11 minutes for me with a gentle romp through this puzzle, and in no great hurry to complete as I was enjoying it so much. FOI VACATE, which unlocked VICE PRESIDENT. LOIs ROISTERING and TRAMS in that order. I couldn’t remember if Trelawney was noted for themes or ninas, so spent a couple of minutes after completion looking for one, not included in my quoted time though. Thanks both.
  20. FOI VACATE which corrected the ‘blue’ I’d bunged in at 1a. VICE PRESIDENT revealed itself after I got CAMERA SHY.
    A smooth solve followed with my only hesitation being STEEL DRUM where I was thinking of nick being either a cut or a prison but not what would potentially get you there. Just under 7 minutes for an excellent day.
  21. Great fun today and all done and dusted in just over ten minutes so am feeling Horribly Smug. This counteracts how stupid I felt for a chunk of last week(and will, no doubt, feel again, very soon, perhaps even in the next 24 hours..).

    My two FOIs were both of the 1 clues so that was encouraging. No hold-ups anywhere, really. Great surfaces, je pense, and much to enjoy. I especially liked 23 across, STRIP-SEARCHED, and 2 down, CAMERA-SHY, both of which may well be chestnuts to some but were delightfully new (and entertaining) for me.

    Thanks so much for the blog, Chris, and many thanks, too, to Trelawney for facilitating a Very Happy Tuesday.

  22. Just under 15 minutes, so not a bad time ( for me) for a straightforward solve — thanks. I stupidly held myself up for a while by deciding that the first word in 1a was VOTE. Still in Welsh Senedd election mode.
  23. Seemed more difficult than yesterday’s as I was doing it but I ended up with exactly the same time (15 mins) as yesterday. Thanks to Trelawney for an entertaining puzzle and thanks to Chris for the blog.

    FOI – 13ac STEEL DRUM
    LOI – 15dn SAUDIS
    COD – a toss up between 13ac and 2dn

    I don’t get Russian or Greek at the top but for some reason since yesterday the instructions around the comments box appear in German!

  24. FOI CUMIN — went for SNARE DRUM at first, which held me up for a bit, but still only about 10 minutes. Needed to check anagrist for Poe’s middle name.
  25. No problems today. Lots of nice surfaces. As I normally hop around the grid I had P_E at the bottom of the writer before reading the clue so that was an easy write in. In bunged AMERICA before HOMEOPATH put me on the right …path. Homeopaths = healers? Probably best not go there.

    Last two were SMART as I trawled the list of 4 letter vehicles and ROISTER

    Thanks Chris and Trelawney

    Ps tend to the view that trilobite is not in the same category of some of the lesser known words here but as everyone says one person’s gk is another person’s gi

    1. It does say ‘alternative healer’ – which allows us to continue, reasonably swiftly, on our way.
  26. …just not quite — coming in after 10 mins. (It’s so rare to beat my PB — I have to celebrate getting anywhere near it 😀)

    Lots to biff here which helped my time enormously : 1ac “Vice President”, 23ac “Strip Searched”, 2dn “Camera Shy” and 4dn “Edgar Allan Poe” all went in pretty much straight away.

    The rest flowed from this happy scaffold.

    FOI — 1dn “Vacate”
    LOI — 14dn “Roister”
    COD — 15dn “Saudis” — made me smile…

    Thanks as usual!

  27. What a fun puzzle, lots to enjoy. We finished in 10 mins with ROISTER and TRAMS slowing us down.

    FOI: VACATE
    LOI: TRAMS
    COD: STRIP SEARCHED (Mrs Peel liked SET UP too)

    Thanks Trelawney and Chris.

  28. … in perceived level of difficulty, time taken and enjoyabilty. I finished in 33 minutes, but could have ducked under 30 if I hadn’t needed to alphabet trawl my LOI (SAUDIS). I also made things more difficult for myself by not seeing VICE PRESIDENT until late on.

    Both IMAGE and ROISTER were entered faintly and with question marks to start with, but on review they couldn’t really be anything else. I used to get a little narked by clues requiring knowledge of archaic or obscure vocabulary, but I’m more accepting of them these days if, as Trelawney has achieved here, they are clued fairly and precisely (as did Izetti with PLUTARCH and POMANDER yesterday).

    N.B. Mrs R is visiting her parents today, so she will tackle this puzzle later or tomorrow.

    Many thanks to both Trelawney and chrisw91.

  29. A Red Letter Day! As I do this on paper, I don’t keep an exact time but it was no more than six minutes. I thought this was a lovely puzzle – not because I found it easy but because the clues were so witty and sharp. I’m with Old Blighter, Templar and Louisa re CAMERA SHY – it may be a chestnut but it’s a very entertaining clue! Ditto STRIP SEARCHED and SAUDIS – they all got ticks today. I was glad that I had the third A in 4d otherwise I might have spelt ALLAN incorrectly when biffing.
    FOI Cumin
    LOI Roister
    COD Desktop
    Many thanks Trelawney and Chris

    I echo gcook’s comment re the biggie – it took me about half an hour. I thought it was a nice friendly puzzle with some entertaining clues. 1d was a cracker!

  30. My first post to this community. First impression of today’s QC was “a toughie” but after fresh air and a round of golf it all fell into place. LOI & COD ROISTER. Thanks to Trelawney and Chris for the blog.
      1. Thanks Chris. The blogs have been invaluable and I feel I’ve got to know you all! Solving roister from the wordplay confirmed my progression. Mrs M has started to chip in with instinctive brilliance helping with the odd knotty clue. Fun and educational for both of us! John
  31. I biffed in the end and can see all the letters but not in the order as clued.
    Very happy not to be anon but after many attempts I have never managed to join the club. Can anyone help? If it gets rid of the young Russian girls then I’d be happy. There’s better websites than this for such entertainment. Johnny. PS. All done in target 25.
      1. Hi Chris. Thank you. It may have worked. I shall try to post something. John
    1. As per Eric Morecambe; all the right notes, just not in the right order. Love it.
  32. Carelessly biffed “pandas”. I doubt I’d have got SAUDIS anyway.
  33. Carelessly spelt 4d as allen, so had trouble with the se corner. Loi 15d after spending more time on it. Found it generally trickier than yesterday.
  34. A pleasantly challenging crossword just at the right level. Liked STEEL DRUM and SAUDIS.
  35. FOI: 1D VACATE
    LOI: 15D SAUDIS

    Poor time today – all went reasonably well until I was held up by ABYSS. Needed to pause for work commitments and then returned and solved with SAUDIS following shortly after.

    Thank you, chrisw91 and Trelawney

  36. Fairly straightforward for me. Had SNARE DRUM in for 13a until PENSIVE scotched it (it didn’t work anyway because both meanings of snares are spelt the same) but no real hold ups. I was glad to see TERRIER actually parsed this time after I put it in John’s Saturday QC instead of the correct “curlier”. Anyway, all done in 15:31 (which is now not good enough to quite make the top ten – 11th). FOI CUMIN, LOI THRUST, COD 23a. Thanks Trelawney and Chris.
  37. The reward the bloggers here get is not financial (=zero) — it’s about helping people enjoy what we enjoy. Reading your comment today is a great reward. I hope you continue to enjoy and progress. Sounds like Mrs M should get her own login (as should Mrs Random!)— we look forward to chatting more with you both.
  38. Finished this early this afternoon but only now able to post. Interrupted a couple of times as usual, but they helped break the deadlocks of 17a Abyss 15d Saudis. A top to bottom solve using the Down clues as I went. FOI 1a Vice President. LOI 15d Saudis. COD either 2d Camera Shy for being so transparent a misdirection or maybe 13a Steel Drum for the clever clue. Pleased to complete a Trelawney puzzle as I often find them difficult, but this was nicely pitched. Thx Chris for the blog.
  39. Signing up took me 10 Kevins and still doesn’t work. Why the date of birth?
    Anyone know who to contact? Johnny
    1. I think that may be so you confirm you’re over a certain age – 16 say? Maybe there are regulations? I really don’t know – sorry.
  40. Pleased to say I zipped through this with no probs in under ten minutes, which, frustratingly, isn’t quite as satisfying as stewing fruitlessly over the 15 x 15. Contrary? Moi?

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