Times Quick Cryptic 1881 by Orpheus

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

If Orpheus was on AM then I was on DAB. A rare dnf for me as I couldn’t solve the long 4dn without all the checkers and I felt I had no chance of 9ac (I hadn’t heard of either of the definitions) and I couldn’t get the clever 23ac without the first letter. So somewhat dissatisfying but that’s down to me. If I’d approached this with the patience I reserve for the 15x15s then maybe I could have done better. I approach the QC more as a romp so was probably too impatient. Please let me know how you got on as I can then judge the difficulty of the puzzle or (highly likely) my sluggishness.

I’ve enjoyed the clever and concise clueing but I’m not as keen on the two names which cropped up in the parsing – although I think Mr. S may enjoy the references.

Definitions are underlined.

Across
1 Twilight start to drive by Welsh river (4)
DUSK – (D)rive by Welsh river (USK).
3 Enchanting girl entering Italian island from east (8)
ADORABLE – a random girl (DORA) inside Italian island – Elba – from the east (ABLE).
9 Title of head of household once — Benny, possibly? (7)
GOODMAN – double definition. The first is archaic for husband/master of household. The second was a US jazz clarinetist and band leader.
10 Modest abode originally, and not a landed estate (5)
MANOR – (M)odest, (A)bode, and not (NOR).
11 Old US president protected by British motorcyclist (5)
BIKER – old US president (IKE) surrounded by British (BR).
12 Line on map observed at first in island pub (6)
ISOBAR – (O)bserved inside island (IS) and pub (BAR).
14 Duplicitous lookalike distributing cards at table (6-7)
DOUBLE-DEALING – lookalike (DOUBLE), distributing cards at table (DEALING).
17 Tree planted in April in Denmark (6)
LINDEN – inside Apri(L IN DEN)mark.
19 Relax about initiation of important exam (5)
RESIT – relax (REST) about (I)mportant.
22 Bouquet given by a painter accepting high honour (5)
AROMA – a (A), painter (RA) including high honour (OM).
23 Bizarre situation of constable doing desk job (7)
OFFBEAT – a constable doing a desk job would be off the beat. I quite liked that one.
24 Castigate young creature breaking seat (8)
LAMBASTE – young creature (LAMB), anagram (breaking) of SEAT.
25 Nail leader of rowdies in criminal environment (4)
BRAD – (R)owdies inside (in the environment of)  criminal (BAD).
Down
1 Factotum one sort of boxer would have (8)
DOGSBODY – one sort of boxer is a dog so would have a (DOG’S BODY).
2 Loose garment some initially laugh at (5)
SMOCK – (S)ome, laugh at (MOCK).
4 New inn dominated by duke’s small terrier (6,7)
DANDIE DINMONT – anagram (new) of INN DOMINATED by (beside/next to/underneath) duke (D). Collins has a trend of word usage graph which shows this dog first being talked about in about 1800, never used very much, and pretty well petering out in recent times. I suppose this puzzle will increase it’s ‘hits’.
5 Shakespearean hero with capital O (5)
ROMEO – capital (ROME), O (O). Concise and clever.
6 Asian girl visiting W African state endlessly (7)
BENGALI – girl (GAL) inside W African state endlessly (BENI)n.
7 Peer demanding attention last of all (4)
EARL – attention (EAR – as in ‘lend me your’), al(L). ‘Demanding’ seems to be a surface filler.
8 American chap pinches gold, having no principles (6)
AMORAL – American (AM), random chap (AL).
13 Uneasy, having stirred up trouble (8)
AGITATED – double definition.
15 College class’s prescribed clothing (7)
UNIFORM – college (UNI), class (FORM).
16 Daughter interrupting a break at sea? (6)
ADRIFT – daughter (D) inside a (A) and break (RIFT). Another clever clue.
18 Theatrical piece by doctor, an arts graduate (5)
DRAMA – doctor (DR), an arts graduate (A MA).
20 Scorn prophet welcoming knight on board (5)
SNEER – prophet (SEER) welcoming on board knight on a chess board (N).
21 Post a person of masculine gender talked of (4)
MAIL – homophone (talked of) of ‘of masculine gender’ – male. Don’t often get 3 ‘of”s lined up in a sentence.

100 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1881 by Orpheus”

  1. Again

    Either the 15x15s are getting easier or the 13x13s are getting harder; either way I feel they need to look at the scoring systems…I’m averaging 810 on one and 770 on the other

    I have googled “dandie dinmont” and can confirm they look ridiculous

  2. RESIT & ADRIFT were a long time coming. Biffed DANDIE DINMONT (agree with Lou Weed), trusting that the anagrist was all there. Referring to Benny GOODMAN (the King of Swing) as ‘a US jazz clarinetist’ is rather like referring to Louis Armstrong as ‘a US jazz trumpeter’. (He also played classical music, soloing with various symphony orchestras.) Here’s one of his most famous numbers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsVJuulCmAE
    7:22.
  3. Another DNF after 30 minutes, with most of the SE corner blank, missing ADRIFT, BRAD, OFFBEAT and SNEER. I really should have got ‘sneer’ but I was looking for a named prophet and the only one I knew was Eli — perhaps if I’d got it it would have unlocked the others. For some reason I knew DANDIE DINMONT as a dog named after a Sir Walter Scott character, it went in straight away and really helped.
    Thanks to Chris for the blog and to Orpheus for the workout.

    Brian P

    Edited at 2021-05-25 03:38 am (UTC)

    2. Eli, in the Bible, was a priest, but not, to my knowledge, a prophet, though he is known for raising the young Samuel, whom his parents dedicated to God. Maybe you were thinking of Elijah?
      Gill D
  4. Almost 10 minutes
    Again

    Either the 15x15s are getting easier or the 13x13s are getting harder; either way I feel they need to look at the scoring systems…I’m averaging 810 on one and 770 on the other

    I have googled “dandie dinmont” and can confirm they look ridiculous

  5. I also struggled with this and needed 14 minutes to complete it, missing my ‘red’ zone by one minute (Green is up to 10).

    The wretched hound took up most of my time as I vaguely knew what I was looking for but took a while to untangle it from the anagrist.

    I was also delayed over ‘Benny’. I thought of GOODMAN almost immediately but was unware of its other meaning.

    1. One of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s better-known stories–and almost definitely my source for the word–is ‘Young Goodman Brown’, about a young man in Puritan Massachusetts.
  6. A big DNF from me (the crossword club says 79% complete!). Some things I don’t think I would ever have got — BRAD, DANDIE DINMONT and GOODMAN (stalled after Hill and off Crossroads for all the Benny’s I knew) — but I also made it hard for myself for thinking our girl as 3a was Mena so had amenable for ADORABLE but even so no excuse for not getting ROMEO from the clue ‘Shakespearean hero’ but once the N went it I thought it was just my ignorance. Also failed to separate the parts of the clue properly for SMOCK. ADRIFT, OFFBEAT, SNEER and RESIT also beat me. Tough start to the week!

    Edited at 2021-05-25 06:33 am (UTC)

  7. Way too difficult for me. Got nowhere with this one. Had to double check that I hadn’t started the 15 x 15 in error.
  8. 9 missing after 25 minutes. I knocked off the 15×15 yesterday more easily than this QC today.

    I didn’t even have 4d marked as an anagram, so miles off there. NHO BRAD, so that led to a blank SE corner. I had MALE not MAIL, so that eliminated LAMBAST. NHO GOODMAN, in either context.

    Total disaster, really.

    COD DOGSBODY, clever, and made me smile

  9. Hard today. I had to resort to an anagram aid for the young scottish sheepdog then double check it was an actual breed… 24 min with help. For those relatively new to this I would encorage the use of crossword solving aids before coming here for the answers. IMHO you get better quicker that way.
    Thanks as akways
    1. My favoured anagram solver — rearrangememt servant — hadn’t heard of Dandie Dinmont. That was the moment I knew I was truly beaten!
  10. We were going great guns until we hit the SE corner. NHO BRAD and entered ABROAD for 16D which made OFFBEAT impossible to get. However, after reading the other posts I’m reassured that we are in good company – this was indeed a toughie. Ho hum, off to the garden ….

    FOI: DUSK
    LOI: OFFBEAT (but a DNF after 20 minutes)
    COD: DOGSBODY

    Thanks to Orpheus and Chris

  11. Yikes, this is proving to be a tough week on the QCs. After a promising start with both 1s going straight in this turned into a bit of a slog.
    I vaguely knew the dog so once I had a few checkers it went in without too much of a hold up. Adorable took a while but my real issues were with the NHOs BRAD and GOODMAN (LOI), both of which required multiple alphabet trawls. Finished in 16.25 with my favourite being OFFBEAT.
    Thanks to Chris
  12. Difficult up to 10 minutes – BRAD (from wordplay – have heard of a bradawl, but not a brad), OFFBEAT (liked this when I finally got it), MAIL (duh) and LAMBASTE (never seen that spelling), BENGALI (I was too far east with the Asian, and thing of MALI, not BENIN), all took some winkling out. Then 5 minutes juggling the anagrist in a desultory fashion (on paper – again) to come up with DENDIE DANMONT, which was wrong. Can’t really have any complaints though, as GOODMAN for me was a write in, which others seem to have struggled with.

    15:14 but with an error. 2 tougher ones back to back.

    Well done & thanks to Orpheus, and thanks to chrisw91 for the blog.

  13. … as I had not heard of the dog at 4D. Not exactly an everyday term in the Statherby household, and needed a google-check to complete it.

    Not that the rest of the puzzle was much easier either. Guessed 25A Brad from the parsing but NHO the meaning nail, and hesitated for some time over the spelling of 24A Lambaste (does anyone else apart from me and the OED spell it Lambast?) Also took too long over 22A Aroma, as I had fixed in my mind “bouquet as a bunch of flowers” not “bouquet as in wine’s smell”. As for 9A Goodman, another NHO, but I put it in on the basis of Benny (who I had heard of) and Goodwife (also heard of), and the reasoning that if Goodwife existed then perhaps Goodman did once too.

    As others have already said, the week is off to a pretty challenging start! Many thanks to Chris for the blog
    Cedric

    2. I was confused at first when I wanted to put LAMBAST, as I always thought it was spelt without the E at the end. But my CED had both variants, and my spell checker, as I type this reply, has picked up LAMBAST and wants me to change it to LAMBASTE.
  14. After 5 minutes getting nowhere I checked to make sure I was doing the Quick Cryptic not the other one. Never heard of the terrier, and couldn’t stop thinking Benny Hill. Finally finished in 31 minutes after a lot ( and I mean a lot ) of guesswork. Couldn’t get on the wavelength. Still, it’s all experience and enjoyed it anyway. Thanks.
    1. The distraction of Benny Hill running around at quick speed put me off as well 😀
  15. DNF here too. Oh well, there’s another one tomorrow.

    Well played Orpheus, thanks Chris.

    Templar

    Edited at 2021-05-25 08:43 am (UTC)

  16. A really hard slog. Some nice clues and some serious head-scratchers. Most of the latter have been listed above. I knew BRAD but came to it late and I was strangely reluctant to put the final letter on LAMBASTE. SNEER took a while and the difference in difficulty between ROMEO and half of the rest was striking. Did anybody solve DANDIE DINMONT without looking up terriers? I’d be surprised — I’m not the greatest dog fancier but really!
    I have no hesitation admitting to a 24 min solve (technically a dnf because of the weird dog). Thanks to Chris for a good blog dealing nicely with an off-beat ’Curate’s egg’ from Orpheus. John M.
    1. Dinmont went in straight away — I think from a children’s book of dog breeds I had as a girl — but I had remembered it as Dandy, so was grateful for the anagram confirmation of the spelling. On the whole, I found this a relatively easy one, apart from BRAD, which was unfamiliar except as Bradawl. Must have been on the wavelength…
      Gill D
  17. I join the DNF club. I guessed GOODMAN but gave up with DANDIE DINMONT. Sorry Orpheus, I’m crying foul as I don’t see the terrier dog as either GK or obtainable from the wordplay.
    1. If you know the breed (GK), then once you have a couple of checkers and the anagrist it jumps out at you (or in this case me). There were other clues I wasn’t keen on (hate random names!), but I think this clue was fair.
  18. All correct today for a change; time 10:07.
    Knew Benny Goodman and the dog, but not how to spell it. I had to carefully review the anagrist to place the E.
    My problem was LOI BRAD which went in with fingers crossed.
    Surely once you’ve seen/heard the name DANDIE DINMONT you don’t forget it? But I don’t recall when I last saw one in the local park.
    I enjoyed this-but luckily I had the GK today.
    David

  19. I did enjoy this so thanks setter and blogger but I think the setters draw unnnecessary criticism by including manifestly obscure words and names. It’s bad enough when we have to go back to the mid twentieth century but today’s dog seemed to dredge the early 19th??
  20. Hadn’t heard of the nail (but I remembered the ridiculous looking dog- I’m sure their owners think they are wonderful). Yesterday’s cryptic was easier!
  21. Not looking a good week, although there is some comfort in knowing I wasn’t the only one who had a shocker with this.

    NHO of “Goodman”, “Dandie Donut” (or whatever it’s called) or “Brad”. Struggled with 23ac “Offbeat”, 3ac “Adorable” (couldn’t get Capri out of my head for the latter) and made an educated guess for 1dn “Dogsbody”.

    As someone mentioned above, I also lurched from Benny Hill to Benny from Crossroads.

    FOI — 17ac “Linden”
    LOI — dnf
    COD — 13dn “Agitated” — only because I was at the end of it…

    Thanks as usual!

    1. Brads (aka Sprigs) were used to hold a sheet of glass in place while applying the putty. A messy job, but one that quickly encouraged a more controlled batting technique…
      1. I first met brads in shoe repairs. They are used for securing heels, for example (in addition to adhesive).
  22. What can I say? A tough puzzle with a stand out CoD in Offbeat, but totally ruined by cluing an unknown, obscure dog as an anagram. Even with all the crossers, I couldn’t shuffle the remaining letters into anything that looked vaguely like a dog, so I pulled stumps on the 30min mark. I would suggest the book is now closed on worst clue of the year. Invariant

  23. 16 minutes all complete and correct, which looks good based on comments above. Like others, I worried about this spelling of LAMBAST which I had never seen before. However, I knew BRAD and BENNY and DANDIE DINMONT was familiar to me, but still took a while to tease out.

    I didn’t get a chance to comment yesterday, but probably my longest solve ever, although done extremely patchily through several interruptions.

    Thanks all.

  24. It’s only May – plenty of time for that book to be reopened – although I agree with everything you’ve said about that dog.
  25. I hear what you are saying. In fact I did better with today’s Daily Telegraph cryptic than I did with this QC.
  26. Dandie Dinmont! Goodness me. Gave up on this one and looked it up, as I couldn’t get the anagram fodder to shape into anything looking vaguely like a dog.
  27. I’m with mauefw on the dog. Couldn’t make head nor tail of the anagrist, so used a wordfinder to get DINMONT(which apparently is a wether sheep between one and two years old) and guessed DANDIE for the first bit. All in vain in any case as I’d inexplicably put SNEAR instead of SNEER at 20d. 15:17 WOE and a lookup. Thanks Orpheus and Chris.
  28. All looks okay when you read the analysis. However, I agree I’ve never heard of ‘Goodman’ and I’m in my 70s. Also 4D was utterly ridiculous. Who’s ever heard of a terrier with this name?
  29. From a 40 minute DNF yesterday to a 40 minute DNF today. I should have stayed in Cornwall.

    As a padawan solver, I find Random Name/animal clues (3ac, 8dn, 24ac) virtually impossible – is it best to just keep a list of random names which setters use to hand? And how do you learn whether it’s a random girl’s name (3ac) or another word for girl (6bn)?!

    NHO Benny Goodman, Linden Trees, Dandie Dinmont (like another solver, didn’t even see that it was an anagram !), or Brad nails, so would always have had trouble with today’s offering

    Not sure how Gold parses to OR in 8dn.

    Otherwise, lots of tricky wordplay today made this a long and painful route to giving up.

      1. Thank you, makes sense from that perspective – now another pretty niche bit of GK that starting cryptics has provided me.

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