Times Quick Cryptic 1876 by Tracy

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Well, I was one who didn’t find yesterday’s easy and I struggled even more on this – so maybe I’m just having a bad week. I’ll take some slow solves in exchange for our new found, but to be cautiously enjoyed, freedoms. Several around the grid caused me to go back more than once – the roll of ‘honour’ is 4dn, 18dn, 8ac, 12ac, 23ac and, most of all, LOI 10ac which went in with something of a guess. Lots of clever surfaces and anagrams – maybe I didn’t have my anagram head on today. 13 minutes but all, luckily, navigated in the end. Now I expect you all to say how ridiculously easy you found it!

Definitions are in italics.

Across
1 Within easy reach of new arena — close to district hospital, also (4,2,4)
NEAR AT HAND – anagram (new) of ARENA, distric(T), hospital (H), also (AND).
7 Current arrangement could be perfect (5)
IDEAL – current (I – it’s a crossword thing to me – from wiring diagrams, I believe), arrangement (DEAL).
8 Work hard in attempt to make pot (6)
TROPHY – work (OP) and hard (H) inside attempt (TRY). Pot for trophy did not leap to mind.
10 Spot star (3)
PIP – double definition although neither of which I could see whilst solving. In some post-solve research, Collins has many definitions of pip – two of which are a STAR like insignia worn by some British officers (pips on the sleeve I had heard of but wasn’t sure of their shape) and the SPOTs on dominoes. This clue gave me the pip so I have no alternative but to accord it today’s GR.
12 Brontë character, revolutionary, in list (9)
ROCHESTER – revolutionary (CHE) inside list (ROSTER). Yes, yes, I did know this but got hung up on red for revolutionary and rota for list
13 Relax, having free gin at the end (6)
LOOSEN – free (LOOSE), gi(N).
14 A police officer taken in by odd element (6)
RADIUM – a (A) and police officer (DI) taken inside odd (RUM).
17 Small blue train, one lagging behind (9)
SLOWCOACH – small (S), blue (LOW), train (COACH as in teaching).
19 Objective conclusions from the prosecution heard (3)
END – th(E) prosecutio(N) hear(D).
20 Official document to be completed by a learner driver (6)
FORMAL – document (FORM) finished off by a (A) and learner driver (L).
21 Small and delicate female in river, swept back (5)
ELFIN – female (F) inside river (NILE) swept backwards (ELIN).
23 Petitions a foreign plant (10)
POINSETTIA – anagram (foreign – unusual indicator which fooled me for a while) of PETITIONS A.
Down
1 Secure from Warsaw perhaps, a cosmetic item (4,6)
NAIL POLISH – secure (NAIL), from Warsaw perhaps (POLISH).
2 Had meal of pasties, regularly (3)
ATE – p(A)s(T)i(E)s.
3 Free, generally (2,5)
AT LARGE – double definition.
4 Snag involving equipment, originally cutting-edge? (2-4)
HI-TECH – snag (HITCH) involving (E)quipment.
5 Snare wild ones crossing over (5)
NOOSE – anagram (wild) of ONES crossing over (O).
6 Telephone service abused in chalet (8)
CHATLINE – anagram (abused) of IN CHALET.
9 Opera star, new in Norma, paid outrageously (5,5)
PRIMA DONNA – new (N) inside an anagram (outrageously) of NORMA PAID.
11 Poor colt somehow to produce good form (8)
PROTOCOL – anagram (somehow) of POOR COLT.
15 A permit received by the track and field competitor? (7)
ATHLETE – a (A), permit (LET) inside the (THE).
16 Fish right and left in the open sea (6)
MARLIN – right and left (RL) inside the open sea (MAIN – as in Spanish).
18 Search round for dance band? (5)
COMBO – search (COMB), round (O).
22 Suitable starters for footballers in training (3)
FIT – (F)ootballers (I)n (T)raining.

60 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1876 by Tracy”

  1. No problems, although I biffed ATHLETE, parsing post-submission. I for electric current comes from Ampère, who used it to symbolize ‘intensité du courant’, and yes, of course I looked it up. 6:10.
  2. I’m another to have been stumped by PIP with ‘pop’ coming close to being entered before the uniform meaning came to me — the ‘spot’ part remained a mystery to the end (thanks Chris). All green in 17 with a lot of that on the last few. COMBO held me up — known but only used for comic effect in the last 50 years I should think — as did FORMAL where I took a long time to separate ‘official’ and ‘document’ and PROTOCOL where I couldn’t decide what to do with all the Os. But today’s main event was the sheer crosswording joy of beginning 12a thinking I don’t know any Bronte characters and then seeing ‘Che’ would fit in the middle and then ‘Roster’ leaping out — no idea who he is but I was glad to see him, similarly with MARLIN, that nice feeling of doing what you’re told and getting the answer — plus nothing (except SN for tin) makes me feel like I can do crosswords than immediately thinking of ‘main’ when seeing ‘sea’. I enjoyed this but very low on the leaderboard for a second day in a row (my par seems to be 160 at the end of the day but I came in at 213 yesterday — today might be worse).

    Edited at 2021-05-18 06:59 am (UTC)

  3. 9 minutes with at least a whole 1 of those spent pondering P?P before remembering PIP = ‘star’ as worn on military uniforms. I never did find a context for PIP = ‘spot’ which is a bit galling as I used to play dominoes regularly at one time in my local. Not that we often had cause use the word iirc.

    Otherwise no difficulties.

    1. 10 Across.
      PIP
      In the explanation of the
      clue it was accorded today’s GR.
      What is GR?
        1. Which in my view it certainly was. Double definition, both obscure, and all 5 of Pap Pep Pip Pop Pup good words. GR, indeed, if not Grrrr
          Cedric
  4. Wow, pretty tough and not really enjoyable. I stared at pap/pip/pop/pup/pep and eventually went for POP, which like most of the other vowels felt sort of close.

    I don’t like sea=MAIN, only ever used in crosswords, and Spanish Main is always quoted, and that’s the only example anyone ever knows.

    POT=TROPHY was tough to winkle out, and I struggled with many today. Was 7 minutes post-towel (30 mins is towel-throwing in time, usually)

    COD ROCHESTER

    2. Rule Britannia:
      When Britain first, at heaven’s command,
      Arose from out the azure main      ,

      Brian P

  5. I correctly filled the grid in under 16 minutes which is quick for me but cannot claim to have solved the cryptic in that time. I needed Chris to help me understand (parse is the adopted verb I believe) several clues so many thanks. I rarely bung in from definition (BIFD) or if I do I don’t move on until I have parsed, but today I had difficulty. So fast time, hard puzzle. Thanks to setter and blogger.

  6. Only got about half the clues today before giving up. Initially entered NEAR TO HAND for 1a, but quickly released my error with TO. Not sure whether my heart was just not in it today, or whether some of the clues were just too obscure for me.
    1. I also had near to hand, never heard of near at hand. As I am south coast I guess it’s some northern dialect.
      1. Nay lad — it’s nowt to do with us civilised folk. I got it straight away from the parsing, but thought it was an escapee from a 15×15. I usually think of “near TO hand” or “close AT hand”. Definite MER and not Tracy’s greatest clue IMHO.
  7. I felt as if I was wading through treacle with this one. My struggles were summed up by taking an age to work out what ‘from Warsaw perhaps’ could possibly clue (despite having already got the NAIL part of 1d)😂.
    I didn’t help myself by biffing near TO hand for 1a and CHATLINE and PRIMA DONNA took a while to untangle. Like others I was slow to parse PIP.
    I finally stumbled over the line with LOI POINSETTIA in 15.08. Not an easy puzzle but a serious attack of glue brain didn’t help. Despite my struggles there was lots to enjoy with ROCHESTER (NHO) and PROTOCOL the stand out clues for me.
    Thanks to Chris
  8. A steady solve that I rated at my level of 4-5 in 30.22 which works out at about 4.5K, so, all in all, it tallied up. Couldn’t decide between Barium and Radium until I had to parse DI. BIFFD 1A after getting NEAR A and spent too long working out CHATLINE from the anagrist because I thought it was two words maybe.
    Not very good at Bronte references but fortunately CHE not Red brought him to mind which helped fill in a chunk of the grid.
    The stars on an officer’s shoulder (epaulette) on formal uniform (nowadays on a tag on centre of chest in battle dress) are commonly referred to as Pips, so no problem there.
    I thought this was spot on for a QCC with lots of good surfaces and nothing too esoteric either in the cluing or vocabulary. Thank you Tracy for an enjoyable 30 mins and Chris for the commentary.
  9. I did my usual hop around the grid at first, looking for easy ones to pick off but gradually built things up and finished 2 mins over target, all parsed, and 1 min longer than yesterday. Under 3K so not too bad in the circumstances. Nothing stood out as especially memorable although there were plenty of good anagrams. 10a gave me the PIP, as my mother used to say. Thanks to Tracy and Chris. John M.

    Edited at 2021-05-18 07:53 am (UTC)

  10. 11:30 to get back to 10a, my LOI.
    I then spent 5 minutes trying every possibility I could think of. I narrowed it down to PIP or POP.
    I chose POP. 16:35 on the clock.
    David

  11. Trickier (or I was less in tune) than yesterday. Needed all others to ensure POINSETTIA was correct.

    Thank you, chrisw91 and Tracy

  12. 12 minutes and a pair of handfuls of seconds for me, with LOI PIP only got, finally, from the rank insignia and only then seeing that a pip could mean a spot. BIFD POINSETTIA from the crossers, then parsed it as I entered it. AT LARGE also slowed me down, as I couldn’t immediately see the second definition. Other than those ‘hitches’, no major problems here. Thanks Chris and Tracy.
  13. Couldn’t make head nor tail of 1a until I solved AT LARGE and HI-TECH, then I managed to construct it from the word play. I then spotted the previously elusive NOOSE. I can’t say I made steady progress from there, as it was still a bit of a slog, but I did manage to finish with PRIMA DONNA and then CHATLINE, albeit having gone over my target. 10:36. Thanks Tracy and Chris.
    1. As a fellow native of the civilised end of the country, I refer you to my reply to Graham Griggs earlier in the blog !
  14. A 28 min completion, but then a dnf as I put 10ac “Pap” for 10ac thinking it was something to do with Paparazzi (spotting/stars etc).

    Overall though, found this on the tougher side. I also had the initial misfortune of putting “Near To Hand” for 1ac until I parsed it properly and 3dn “At Large” took far longer than it should have.

    Struggled with the anagrams today as well — 11ac “Protocol” and 6dn “Chatline” taking numerous checkers before they came. DNK “Rochester” but it was solvable and thankfully I spelt “Poinsettia” correctly for 23ac.

    FOI — 2dn “Ate”
    LOI — 18dn “Combo”
    COD — 1dn “Nail Polish”

    Thanks as usual!

  15. Interrupted by various things, so solved in FITs and starts.
    FOI POLISH, weirdly couldn’t think of Nail at first.
    Various PDMs including the apt SLOWCOACH.
    Was slow on PRIMA DONNA, POINSETTIA. Worked out COMBO with aid but NHO.
    Also looked up RADIUM.
    Did biff PIP correctly, as thought of military pips and crowns.
    Mr ROCHESTER is the hero of JANE EYRE by Charlotte B for those that say they don’t know him. He of the mad wife in the attic. Sorry, that’s a spoiler.
    Thanks vm, Chris.
    1. As you have said before, one person’s common knowledge is another person’s void. So we learn semantics and some obscure vocabulary from time to time. Like “Combo”! I would have thought it difficult to have not heard of a Jazz or dance Combo in a club or seen in a film, but… without the benefits of the crossers I would struggle to spell Poinsettia but could probably recognise one at a push.
      Pip pip!!
      1. Maybe I have led a sheltered life, wafting around the world. Later: I see a combo usually refers to a jazz band. Definitely outside my field of knowledge. Historian husband would say ‘not my period’ if he NHO anything.

        Edited at 2021-05-18 12:51 pm (UTC)

  16. It took me all of 17 minutes! But saved time as Mr. Wyvern was short and sweet.

    FOI 1ac but initially NEAR TO HAND!

    LOI 10ac PIP

    COD 23ac POINSETTIA

    WOD 17ac SLOWCOACH qui moi!?

    14ac ROCHESTER was also a Burns character.

  17. Found this hard. I often think I will not finish and then go on to complete a grid, but the feeling was very strong today. FOI ideal. Lots I had to think about for ages. Took me a very long time. In the end I managed the grid but for two letters. LOI combo after trying several combinations of letters in c-m-o. Campo? Cameo? Compo? The last attempt still gave me a red square, and then finally the penny dropped. A technical DNF then, for two letters. And I was lucky that I went for pip as I didn’t see why. Having read Chris’s blog I realise that I didn’t fully parse half of it. So thanks, Chris, for an excellent blog, and Tracy for a thorough work-out. GW.
  18. Quite a slow time (24 mins) so I was glad to see several others had found it tricky. The anagrams at 6dn and 9dn needed several crossers before I got them and I was pretty slow on the uptake for several others. Thanks to Tracy for an enjoyable workout and to Chris for explaining the ones I had not/could not parse.

    FOI – 7ac IDEAL
    LOI – 23ac POINSETTIA
    COD – 1dn NAIL POLISH

  19. Tough enough; not helped by biffing NEAR TO HAND and as a result really struggling with the HI-TECH/TROPHY intersection. Plumped for PIP on the basis of the military insignia but well worth the GR awarded to it by Chris!

    FOI (correct) IDEAL, LOI PIP, COD TROPHY, time 2.1 Kevins for a Not Very Good Day.

    Thanks Tracy and Chris.

    Templar

  20. Don’t know why, but having put in 2D I suddenly couldn’t see a way forward, until I got 1A in and then things got going smoothly. Knowing my Bronte helped with ROCHESTER (though Heathcliff first came to mind) but I am forever forgetting OP for ‘work’. Must learn that one.

    For 15D I insisted on only considering ‘permit’ as a noun, so had to scrub my analysis and start afresh to get ‘LET’ from the verb form. A good lesson in considering all options.

    Thank you to Chris and Tracy.

  21. And, yes, I’m another one who thought that, as “pop” collocates with both spot (yugh) and star, that must be the solution . Wrong! Once I’d read the blog, I remembered that I’d come across PIP in this context before in a QC. I think it’s a GR from me too!
    Everything else went in pretty smoothly with no massive problems anywhere. I liked SLOWCOACH and ROCHESTER in particular.
    Thanks, Chris, for the blog and thanks, too, to Tracy
  22. for Tracy – making me grovel!

    Nowhere near wavelength, as with Jamesd46, I had carelessly put NEAR TO HAND, making AT LARGE difficult, then took an age to unravel the anagram for PROTOCOL, then PIP last of all.

    10:47. Well done to Tracy & thanks to chrisw91 for the blog.

  23. I found this puzzle hard …
    … and at one stage it looked unlikely that I would finish it. But the final few clues all came in a rush for a 16 minute solve.

    I also toyed with Near to hand for 1A and I think it is the (slightly) more common phrase, but I couldn’t parse it and it snookered 3D At large, so I took it out again. And I share the general lack of enthusiasm for 10A Pip, even though I did guess which vowel to insert correctly. Otherwise I think I was just suffering from brain fatigue and insufficient GK — 18D Combo and 12A Rochester both being guesses. But at least I avoided the 17A Club.

    Many thanks to Chris for the blog
    Cedric

    Edited at 2021-05-18 12:39 pm (UTC)

  24. Defeated by PIP, struggled to get LOOSEN and TROPHY, but the rest I found OK.
  25. Well, my goodness. Finished within 8 minutes (11.36 on the clock when I started, 11.43 when I finished: I solve on paper and am not of a calibre to worry about seconds) and come here to find I’m in the company of people I normally regard with awe and admiration. Can only be a wavelength thing.

    Jim R

  26. Another NEAR AT HAND for a longish time. Not easy but was able to keep making progress. Nice puzzle but tend to agree with the GR award for PIP. To have P_P and so many solvers (including me) hesitating over which vowel to insert suggests it wasn’t the greatest clue ever

    A minor quibble

    Thanks Chris and Tracy

  27. Thank you so much for your honest reporting on the degrees of difficulty some of the compliers face us with. We are very very keen but sometimes it is only you blogs (and the explanations) that save our sanity — and improve our ability, hopefully.
    We only buy the Times for the QC ha ha
    Linda
    1. Experience tells us that experience does lead to improvement. Keep sane and keep enjoying them. If you get a free livejournal account then you’ll get an email prompt if someone replies to you.
  28. I didn’t find this too hard — about 15 minutes I think ( forgot to look!)- but I had no idea about PIP at alled and guessed pop with no confidence at all.
    On another matter — I usually do the Cryptic Quintagram abd Codeword in the ‘other puzzles’ section in the App, but it’s not there today — anyone know anything about this?
  29. I was very quick until I got to my LOI, the elusive and to me somewhat unfair, PIP (I was not familiar with either of the definitions). I went through all the vowels and came up with PAP thinking it was short for paparazzi or papilloma! Up until then I had only 6 minutes on the clock but ended up with a DNF in 9 minutes.
  30. Spelt 23a wrong which messed up marlin. Agree pip is pants to use an answer from a few days ago.
    Not strong on Bronte but I think Rochester is being referred to in “reader I married him”, the last sentence in Jayne Eyre
    1. Not the last sentence in Jane Eyre, but near the end! Coincidentally I was listening to an excerpt last night (so not being smug).
  31. Just about on target (5:02). I thought there was a pleasing variety of clues (COD for me was 9d Prima Donna) but “Pip” was a punt!
    Late start today as this morning Mrs P and I had our first experience of an art gallery visit in masks. Added to the fact that many of the exhibits were Cubism and beyond, it all felt more than usually surreal.
    Thanks to Chris and Tracy
  33. …. we’ve been sold a pup which will inevitably poop. An atypically poor clue from Tracy (two in the same puzzle was most unexpected) and I decided PIP was the only option defined by “spot” and stopped worrying about the star.

    FOI NEAR AT HAND (see earlier comment)
    LOI ROCHESTER (reader, I’ve avoided the book)
    COD HI-TECH (something else I avoid !)
    TIME 3:31

  34. So glad we left it until the end of the afternoon as it took us 20 minutes to complete. Lots of anagrams, which we like, but they were well disguised and we didn’t immediately see the answers as we usually do.

    FOI: NEAR AT HAND
    LOI: RADIUM
    COD: SLOWCOACH

    Thanks to Tracy and Chris.

  35. I usually attempt the QC in the early evening, though I don’t comment very often as most points have been well chewed over by then. I’m a little earlier today as we are going out for a meal later INSIDE a restaurant!

    I found yesterday’s QC very difficult, whereas this one gradually crumbled as I chipped away. Someone earlier said they hadn’t got their anagram head on – I don’t think I have one of those, which often slows me down. I agree with all the comments about PIP and I must confess poinsettia only arrived after my wife (keen gardener) looked over my shoulder.

    1. Ah, tables, possibly white tablecloths, cutlery, buzz of a restaurant, glass of wine. Finding a mossy wall to sit on, mostly out of the wind and rain, whilst consuming a cardboard cup of soup was, until recently, considered by me to be a luxury!
      1. A mossy wall and soup!? That’s luxury to us. We had to sit in a monsoon with our four children (when they weren’t down the pit) sharing a cold chip and half a sausage. We were grateful to live in a cardboard box with three other families. Those were the days!
  38. Done in fits and starts. Some let me feel like a pro by seeing the answer unfold as I read the clues and others were nearly impossible to get. Resorted to aids on a couple of those. Shared the 1a ‘to’ that had to be changed to ‘at’ problem. Liked 1d and 9d. FOI (correctly) was 12a Rochester – a surprise as I am not familiar with the Bronte genre. LOI 10a Pip once I thought of the military dress. COD – none, as I used aids too often to be able to properly choose one. Two toughies in a row..what will Wednesday bring? Liked Chris’ blog!
  39. Right, that’s it. I’ve had enough. I have been doing crosswords since the 1970s. I have a much larger vocabulary than most as a result of my profession and having the good fortune to have a mother who was an English Literature lecturer. Yet I was completely at sea with this as frankly it is guesswork. A police officer is DI today. Not a PC, PO, DC, I or any of others. A revolutionary is Che, not a record, disc, or any of the other things that go round. Free gin at the end isn’t an anagram with the obvious ing but just an n. Woman is F today in a random river, not a name. 1AC is assembled essentially letter by letter — District Hospital is TH? I’m sorry but I see I’m not the only one no longer enjoying these — it’s just too random. I have come reluctantly to the conclusion that it’s not me — it’s the setters that need to have a bit of a think.
    1. It’s not random. Che (revolutionary) Guevara, woman = female (F), Detective Inspector (DI), district hospital is not TH – look more closely at the blog – I do explain that it’s the ‘end’ of those words i.e. the last letter, and gin at the end is gi(N),
      Unless you take a bit of time to read the blog, I reluctantly come to the conclusion that it’s you and not the setters that need to have a bit of a think. Cryptic crosswords are fun because you have to tease everything apart not read it like a book. Good luck!

      Edited at 2021-05-18 08:20 pm (UTC)

  40. Full concentration with no interruptions led to 18 minutes to complete for me.
    Nervously hanging in there but they did all fall.
    Prima Donna took me too long and LOI was Poinsettia- slow to see that it was an anagram.
    Pip was a toss up but like Mr Jordan decided that Spot = Pip and left the star to fate….
    Thanks all
    John George
  41. Came to this late in the day, but managed to make surprisingly steady progress – helped by getting Near at Hand early on. Initially bifd Swell for 7ac, but even I thought the resulting Nose Polish was an unlikely name for a cosmetic. However, pulled stumps after 23mins with P*p unresolved, too tired to see what was going on. Definitely a GR clue. Invariant
  42. Enjoyed this one and done in under 15 mins. LOI PIP. I have heard of pips being military stars, but dominoes? Always learning….

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