Times Quick Cryptic 1921 by Trelawney

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Reasonably smooth sailing but some sticky spots around the grid which had to be ground out – LOI was 9ac and I came home in a very satisfying 5 seconds under 10 minutes. 7ac seemed very hard but the answer was lurking down a side alley and it didn’t hold me up much.

Definitions are underlined.

Across
1 Bears dreadful weapon (5)
SABRE – anagram (dreadful) of BEARS.
7 Be a touch disturbed following Yankee? Absolutely! (3,6)
YOU BETCHA – anagram (disturbed) of BE A TOUCH following Yankee (Y). So this didn’t start with ‘yes’ as I’d thought for some time.
9 Selection of fruit that’s not been started (5)
RANGE – fruit that’s not started o(RANGE). I hadn’t been thinking of fruit starting with a vowel until I had the chaeckers.
10 Nocturnal creature in tavern, currently with last of cocktail (4,3)
BARN OWL – tavern (BAR), currently (NOW), cocktai(L). This answer flew in!
11 Bad rum drunk around Eastern island group (7)
BERMUDA – anagram (drunk) of BAD RUM around Eastern (E). I didn’t realise Bermuda had over 150 coral island – hence island group.
12 Reportedly understands patient man’s operation (4,3)
NOSE JOB – homophone (reportedly) of knows, patient man (JOB – he went through a lot of suffering and misery – think London commuter).
15 Sack of medicine with a covering of gauze (7)
PILLAGE – medicin (PILL), a (A), (G)auz(E). Popularised by the Vikings.
18 Some liquid surrounds English ship (7)
GALLEON – some liquid (GALLON) surrounding English (E).
20 Regret accepting equal income (7)
REVENUE – regret (RUE) holding equal (EVEN).
22 Dark lake flanked by group of soldiers (5)
UNLIT – lak (L) flanked by group of soldiers (UNIT).
23 Great Dane running around place for outdoor refreshments (3,6)
TEA GARDEN – anagram (running) of GREAT DANE.
24 Actor chooses to conceal lamp (5)
TORCH – concealed inside ac(TOR CH)ooses.
Down
1 Scour the undergrowth (5)
SCRUB – double definition.
2 Fund a couple of aerial manoeuvres (8)
BANKROLL – a couple of aerial manoeuvres (BANK ROLL).
3 A good look at French engineer’s broadcast (6)
EYEFUL – homophone (broadcast) of French engineer (Alexandre Gustave EIFFEL).
4 Brides mistakenly refuse (6)
DEBRIS – anagram (mistakenly) of BRIDES.
5 Trace of some white chocolate (4)
ECHO – some of whit(E CHO)colate.
6 Fool holding a head of balloon animal (7)
WALLABY – fool (WALLY – never could find that guy) holding a (A) and (B)alloon.
8 Belgrade nun spinning modern folktale (5,6)
URBAN LEGEND – anagram (spinning) of BELGRADE NUN. Took me a long time to unspin this one.
13 Taunt about healthy tradesman (8)
JEWELLER – taunt (JEER) around healthy (WELL). I got stuck on seller for some time.
14 Liquor I found in upside-down sports gear (7)
SPIRITS – I (I) inside sports gear (STRIP) upwards. Please see Filbert’s comment below – sports gear must also be a plural = STRIPS.
16 Cancel binding a yearbook (6)
ANNUAL – cancel (ANNUL) holding a (A).
17 Show off extremely faithful relative (6)
FLAUNT – (F)aithfu(L), relative (AUNT).
19 Mark‘s short memo on church (5)
NOTCH – short (NOT)e, church (CH).
21 Bottle for perfume that’s disgusting, we hear (4)
VIAL – homophone of vile.

50 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1921 by Trelawney”

  1. Started off fast enough, but JEWELLER and PILLAGE slowed me down. Needed the checkers to get WALLABY and only then thought of WALLY, not a word in my vocabulary. 7:00.
  2. Just under 9 minutes for me. Nothing held me up specifically that I can remember. No problem with YOU BETCHA since it only took a second for me to see that with no S, the first word was not going to be YES. My LOI was GALLEON, I think because I’d not looked at it before since it’s a pretty obvious chestnut.
  3. 7 minutes. I imagine some will not like the homophone at 3dn but it raised a smile here.
  4. Morale slipped when I saw another tricky looking grid but ended up all green in a little less than 10 minutes which is good for me. Six acrosses on the first pass but the downs then flowed nicely. Held up by realising ‘you beauty!’ wouldn’t fit and then having to look hard to get to YOU BETCHA but moments of panic about needing to know French engineers and the name of perfume bottles proved to be unfounded once some checkers went in. Really enjoyed this one!

    Edited at 2021-07-20 06:07 am (UTC)

  5. FOI: 1a. SABRE
    LOI: 6d. WALLABY
    Time to Complete: 30 minutes
    Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 23
    Clues Answered with Aids: 2
    Clues Unanswered: 0
    Wrong Answers: 0
    Total Correctly Answered (incl. aids): 25/25
    Aids Used: Chambers

    At 29 minutes and 53 seconds, this was my personal best, though I did need a bit of a hint with two of the clues. Other than that, I found this puzzle quite easy. It is always a nice boost for morale when you answer the first few clues in order.

    1. Congratulations, pw! Both I and Mrs Random found it tough going today, and we’re both impressed.
  6. 1754, with the NW corner last in. The “group”, to denote BERMUDA threw me off, which held up SCRUB and LOI BANKROLL.

    COD for the homophone for Eiffel, very nicely done.

    For 4d the setter left me with the checkers E,R,S and a possible anagram of either ‘brides’ or ‘refuse’. Clever stuff.

    WOD YOU BETCHA, has a Minnesota feel to it, I think it is a catchphrase in the movie Fargo. Although OED has first references from Just William and PG Wodehouse.

  7. Liked 3d reminded me of a line from a 10cc song — got a eyeful of a tower in France
  8. This one took me nearly 3 times as long as yesterday, as that mysterious wavelength thing got up to it’s old tricks. With hindsight there was nothing particularly difficult but WALLABY, SPIRITS and LOI PILLAGE (forgot to lift and separate) seemed completely intractable for a while.
    Lots to enjoy but EYEFUL gets my vote for COD. Finished in 14.36.
    Thanks to Chris and Trelawney
  9. Sabre bothered me for a bit because I thought it might have been American but did did he or she stick with the UK spelling?? – you betcha 🙂
  10. A tough grid may have been a factor in my rather steady progress but it may also be my fault for ‘warming up’ with the Tgraph 15×15 cryptic which only took me a couple of minutes longer than this QC. Some lovely clues from Trelawney but quite a few trip wires for me and many doh moments when answers emerged. I just managed to avoid the SCC after a fitful solve. I liked PILLAGE and JEWELLER but WALLABY needed crossers and a bit of an alphabet trawl. NOSE JOB made me smile and EYEFUL made me groan. Thanks to Trelawny and Chris. John M.

    Edited at 2021-07-20 08:54 am (UTC)

  11. I’m more used to ‘Urban Myth’ rather than ‘Legend’, but Hey ho.
    All fairly quick until the last three of PILLAGE and SPIRITS (wasn’t thinking of a plural) and ANNUAL (I was thinking of Almanac).
    Nice puzzle and thanks as always for the informative blog
    A
  12. I made heavy weather of this one, with YOU BETCHA, PILLAGE, BANKROLL and SPIRITS all holding me up. Eventually crawled over the line at 12:04. Thanks Trelawney and Chris.
  13. FOI SABRE; then I struggled throughout until LOI PILLAGE.
    Prior to that ANNUAL and SPIRITS held me up considerably.
    I rate this as tough overall.
    Lots of good clues. COD to DEBRIS as it caught me out and made me smile.
    Time 18:13.
    David
  14. Had to look up Bank which helped me with BANKROLL, RANGE (aCOD) and PILLAGE. Stared for ages at 2d despite knowing it began with B.
    Got YOU BETCHA early on along with BARN OWL and WALLABY, but I had to look up SPIRITS too.
    So not a good day, despite promising start.
    Liked EYEFUL!
    Thanks, Chris, vm.

    Edited at 2021-07-20 10:54 am (UTC)

  15. Thought I was on for a PB here as I had completed the whole grid but for one in about 8 mins, but then got hit with the curse of the last clue for 6dn “Wallaby”. Add another 6 minutes for that and I annoyingly came in at 14 mins.

    Nothing much more to add — some straight forward, but still enjoyable clues.

    FOI — 1ac “Sabre”
    LOI — 6dn “Wallaby”
    COD — 2dn “Bankroll”

    Thanks as usual!

  16. Found this relatively simple until getting hung up on my last 3 – WALLABY, PILLAGE, SPIRITS – to finish in just under 14.

    Was on for a rare sub-10 solve otherwise, so a bit miffed I couldn’t parse those in good time – all were fairly clued though, so mostly at myself rather than the setter!

    Many thanks to both setter and blogger

  17. Yes it is ‘scorchio’ today, here in Shnghai! Time 6:45mins

    FOI SABRE

    LOI WALLABY – Kevin cannot have seen “Where’s Wally!?”

    COD 3dn EYEFUL – his French Post Office in Old Saigon is a fabulous eyeful. Ho Chi Minn!

    WOD 8dn URBAN LEGEND – Joseph Bazalegette my No.1

    7ac YOU BETCHA!? Squire Trelawney!!

    Edited at 2021-07-20 10:27 am (UTC)

  18. but I enjoyed the puzzle nonetheless.

    EYEFUL and NOSE JOB were my favourites. WALLABY LOI because as any fule kno, fool=ass in crosswordese, and I kept trying to shoehorn it in.

    6:57

  19. 5:40 this morning. Not quite quick enough with decoding the larger anagrams, however I enjoyed the puzzle and its good range of clues.
    LOI and COD 7 ac “you betcha” which I couldn’t disentangle until I got the “u” from “urban myth”.
    Thanks to Chris and Trelawney
  20. That’s more like it – 11 minutes, although I did spend more than one of them just on 6d. It wasn’t until I thought about putting a Y after the B that WALLABY fell into place. –WELL-R looked weird but when NOSE JOB appeared, all became clear! I enjoyed this one – some fun surfaces. It’s true that while you’re focusing on the solving, you don’t always see the surfaces (or should indeed avoid them), but I always enjoy going back and seeing what I might have missed. Some jump out straightaway though, and they tend to be the ones which get ticks and smiles. Today, they are mostly downs – BANKROLL, EYEFUL and URBAN LEGEND.
    FOI Sabre (I wasn’t rattled today)
    LOI Wallaby – not too much of a plonker
    COD Tea garden – what a fab anagram

    Many thanks Trelawney and Chris

  21. Much improved over yesterday, coming in at around my average solving time of 17mins. Never parsed 3dn – completely missed the slightly dodgy homophone but everything else was parsed while solving. Thanks to Trelawney for a very enjoyable puzzle abd to Chris for the blog.

    FOI – 1ac SABRE
    LOI – 3dn EYEFUL
    COD – 2dn BANKROLL

  22. I will try and take a leaf out of pebee’s book (many thanks) and appreciate the surfaces post-solve. I fall into their trap with frustrating regularity — could this be why I am still very much in the SCC?! Sub 30 today but only just. Smiled a little at EYEFUL, loved NOSEJOB, struggled a long time over SPIRITS and PILLAGE, LOI WALLABY. Very enjoyable. Thanks Trelawney and Chris.
    1. Well, I can’t take credit for that 😉 It was Jackkt who commented yesterday about ignoring the surfaces and just looking at the wordplay. I still get very distracted by the stories in the clues — they’re often so brilliant. I find that the only times I don’t really see them is when I’m biffing, which doesn’t happen very often 😅 There’s a phrase that seasoned solvers use — lift and separate. Definitely worth remembering! Penny
  23. It took us 12 minutes to complete this very entertaining puzzle. We raced through most of it but PILLAGE, SPIRITS and WALLABY held us up. We’ve had a couple of fast times recently and it now feels that we’re putting ourselves under pressure to match them when the joy of the QC, at least in our view, should be to appreciate the cleverness of the clues.

    FOI: SABRE
    LOI: WALLABY
    COD: EYEFUL

    Thanks to Trelawney and Chris

    1. I went through a spell of that and my times suffered as did my enjoyment, So I now enjoy the puzzle and then look at the time.
    2. The correct procedure (at least for me !) is to batter the beast into submission ASAP, and then go back over it at leisure to enjoy (and, in my case, learn from) the parsings.
  24. ….there were only 3 unchecked clues in 8D, and had I solved it there was a PB to be had. But I didn’t. It’s always urban myth as docajk indicated earlier, and I’ve never seen URBAN LEGEND.

    FOI SABRE
    LOI SPIRITS
    COD NOSE JOB
    TIME 3:50

  25. More application than yesterday and stuck it out to get the last pair — Spirits and Pillage.

    A nicely constructed puzzle that I enjoyed.

    COD Debris. It was neat how it could either have been an anagram of ‘brides’ or ‘refuse’ even with all of the checkers.

    Thanks all

    John George

  26. I’m late to post but I am having an excellent day. I managed a bike ride to and from the lighthouse at Formentor despite the 41.5 degree temperature. I also finished this QC very quickly in 7:06 and just below Kevin on the leaderboard. My COD is somewhat biased. I’m giving it to BANKROLL because that is exactly what I’m doing for my son who is training to be a pilot.
  27. 54 minutes in total, but my last seven clues took fully half an hour to crack. SPIRITS, PILLAGE, BANKROLL, RANGE and WALLABY caused me the most trouble. Even Mrs Random struggled today, BANKROLL and PILLAGE being her last two in, but she got home ahead of me in 46 minutes (her slowest time for more than a month).

    Much as I would like to get better at this strange old game, I think I would feel all discombobulated if Mrs R started not beating my time each day.

    Many thanks to Trelawney and chrisw91.

      1. Thankyou, Mr W91.
        I often feel like I’m trailing somewhere off the back of the ‘Grupetto’ (way behind the Peleton, where Mrs R normally is) in the Tour de France, and only just ahead of the dreaded Broom Wagon.
        P.S. This year’s TdF was incredible.
        1. My solve today was like getting in a solo breakaway with potential victory in sight, only to get sucked up by the peloton with 5km to go.
  28. Still struggling with the weather and consequent sleep deprivation, so I’m afraid this was another slow solve out towards 30min. I actually had everything bar Pillage and Spirits sorted in 22mins, but couldn’t see StripS plural for love nor money and hadn’t got a clue about what was going on with 15ac, so cue a number of increasingly desperate alphabet trawls. I see we are stuck with the hot weather until Friday, so this is going to be a tough week. Invariant
    1. Dear invariant,
      Your phrase reminded me of an occasion some years ago when I had cause to complain to my newsagent about the increasing frequency of non-delivery of The Times. He responded with “I’m very sorry, but I can’t get boys for love nor money”. In one way, I was quite relieved.
  29. Late to come to the puzzle today …
    … after a scorching day out in the sun. Fortunately brain seems to have survived the heat and Trelawney’s finest much enjoyed in a 10 minute finish.

    Nothing much to add to comments above, though I’m another more familiar with “urban myth” rather than “urban legend” (but I’ve heard both). LOI was 14D Spirits, as i could not see where the second S came from.

    Many thanks to Chris for the blog
    Cedric

  30. Still confused by 14d. It needs another S – STRIP + I – I couldn’t really see that SPORTS GEAR could be STRIPS…

    Edited at 2021-07-20 05:47 pm (UTC)

    1. SPIRITS – I (I) inside sports gear (STRIP) upwards. Ah – yes I see what you mean – sports gear must be STRIPS (with an I inside)- maybe ‘playing in the blue strips for Oxford’ is a thing?
      Great spot – as I, and no one else, had,
        1. I do beg your pardon, Invariant – travelling with phone at the moment hasn’t made this easy – I’m sure you’ll bear with me. Well done both! (And maybe more – but it’s tough to check).
      2. All football teams have at least two STRIPS as it’s necessary to change when playing away to a club whose first choice kit is the same colour as yours. My team, Altrincham, wear red and white stripes, but have an alternative yellow strip with blue facings.

        The Manchester Uniteds of this world will change their STRIPS at frequent intervals to encourage (blackmail) fans to spend silly money on the latest version.

  31. Trickier than the average Trelawney I’d say, though I think I still made heavier weather of this than I should have. Last two in, after 28:12, were BANKROLL and then RANGE, though I think SPIRITS and PILLAGE which I got just before them were more difficult. Can’t remember coming across a TEA GARDEN, but if you can have a beer garden, why not? I certainly prefer drinking tea to beer, so more of them I say. COD goes to BANKROLL. Thanks Trelawney and Chris.
    1. Dear Chris,
      There’s a lovely tea garden in Jevington (near Alfriston) in East Sussex. Do seek it out if you’re in the area.
      Mr R.

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