Times Quick Cryptic 1941 by Mara

53 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1941 by Mara”

1. No real problem, although LEEWAY took me a moment and I didn’t know RAVE-UP, only RAVE. The clue for DENTAL SURGEON doesn’t make a lot of sense. 4:23.
   1. Are you talking about the “One looking down in the mouth” bit?

      Dental surgeons look down into your mouth when working, is the way I understood it.

      1. That part is fine, as a cryptic definition; but the clue itself doesn’t make much sense.
   2. Can’t you physically look down in(to) the mouth of a dungeon? I thought there was an attempted play on words here, not the best clue I grant you
2. Nothing too tricky, but tricky enough that I never really got into a flow.
3. 7 minutes with a slight delay on my LOI LEEWAY.

   Pass / GO came up recently, possibly in a 15×15, and the only example I could think of for that usage was in the card game cribbage where when players are unable to lay another card they say ‘Go’ to indicate they wish to pass. That’s a bit specialist so I wonder if there’s a more general example that hasn’t occurred to me?

   Edited at 2021-08-17 05:07 am (UTC)

   1. Go/pass through the door/a stage. Feel time go/pass slowly – as it did when I couldn’t see Dental Surgeon.
4. ….but I waited until I had all the crossing letters for dental surgeon. I biffed averages, and put in together with a shrug, not seeing the intended meaning. This one shouldn’t be too hard for the SCC, but we shall see. My time was 8:05.
5. Another that I seemed to have found trickier than most if the early leaderboard is to be believed but nice to be all green again after yesterday’s spelling woes. Only four on the first pass, becalmed in the middle and then last four had to be carefully extracted. If it wasn’t for the Dukes of Hazzard I might still be puzzling over the General. Had a good battle with AVERAGES where I bunged in ‘era’ for the long time, saw the answer and then doubted ‘avges’ was a word, HEAP where ‘if in doubt look for a hidden’ should have kicked in earlier and RUB OUT where RU and a three letter word beginning with O made me fancy RUN OFF as a contest. Enjoyed LEAD where the ‘same word different pronunciation’ issue I suffered a few days ago was resolved much more quickly. Usual disappointment when ‘tin’ isn’t SN

   I thought this was a cracker. Thoroughly absorbed for my 17m. Fingers crossed for a 1a tomorrow!

   Edited at 2021-08-17 06:07 am (UTC)

6. This pushed me over the 20 minutes mark with at least the last 5 spent on 3 clues, 8 ac, 13 ac and 5d. I had to resort to pen and paper to work out the anagram at 5 down and having got the two Ls, the last 2 clues fell into place. I think this is more challenging than yesterday’s, I certainly took longer.

7. A fun puzzle that didn’t prove too testing. I got 1a and the long 2d straight of which opened up the LHS very nicely and then worked my way round the grid to finish in the NE.
   I needed the L from the tricky LEAD before the penny dropped with DENTAL SURGEON This just left me with LEEWAY which proved elusive until I realised I had a typo in 6d. Once I’d corrected the rogue ‘e’ to an ‘a’ the answer became clear. Finished in 8.14
   Thanks to Chris
8. Thanks for blog. 20 min with lots of anagram solving on scraps if paper. I didn’t see aver as state until I came here. All I could think of was state as in say out loud in a rather corny Fawltyesque ‘stating’ of the answer to Basil’s question ‘How long can I take Manuel?’
9. FOI: 9a. BLAB
   LOI: 15a. REAR
   Time to Complete: 37 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

   After yesterday’s disaster in which I gave up with only a few answered (time constraints prevented me from further progress – though I am sure I would not have completed it even if I had spent all day on it – and thank you to those who offered encouragement and advice), this was a welcome change.

   11a. SOMEWHAT took me a while to solve. I looked at Slightly being an anagram indicator of tame show, and broadcast being the definition. However, as I answered more clues I saw SOMEWHAT falling into place.

   5d. DENTAL SURGEON – I saw this one very early on which did help me tremendously.

   17d. NOTICE – I thought this was a very clever clue.

10. Ah, okay. Sorry.
11. Quite quick today once I got going. LOsI SOMEWHAT and STITCH. Took me a minute or two to see the former was an anagram.
    Liked NOTICE, CONFUSED, COOLER.
    Luckily the two long down clues materialised without too much hesitation.
    Thanks all, esp Chris. Couldn’t parse AVERAGES or the Lee part of LEEWAY until I saw the blog.

    Edited at 2021-08-17 07:57 am (UTC)

12. … with a 9 minute finish, which would have been faster but for a hold-up on my last two, 8A Leeway (it took me a time to see how the clue was constructed and I spend a while trying to fit a word for “room” into a word for “general” with the whole meaning thoroughfare) and LOI 5D Dental Surgeon, where I needed all the checkers and then pen and paper to sort it out. I rather agree with Kevin that it doesn’t have the smoothest of surfaces!

    Calm = Together and Pass = Go the other time-consumers; neither the first pairing that came to mind. COD to 17D Notice — very clever clue and good surface.

    Many thanks to Chris for the blog
    Cedric

13. DENTAL SURGEON, was thinking of someone miserable, and just could not unravel the anagrist.

    LEAD was my LOI though once I got the L.

    10:00.

14. It isn’t a great surface, but it’s clear where it leads tom
    1. I thought it was a neat bit of mis-direction sending me down the path of ‘sign of depression’ for a while. John
    2. It’s clear where it leads to, but it sucks as a surface.
15. Back in my accustomed place in the SCC in 21 mins as LEEWAY stalled me on several attempts, whilst the rest all took a little longer than yesterday’s throughout. NW was ok but after stalling across in the NE I picked out the hiddens and other easier clues elsewhere to help me fill in the rest.
16. 22:03 with heavy weather of last ones in LEEWAY and AVERAGES. I was sure the latter was a two state abbreviation followed by ERA. After a “state trawl” I had to rethink. I keep coming back to ‘baseline’ for standard figures, as it felt very “crosswordy” .

    I am sure many, like me, looked for an easy “hidden” in “general thoroughfare” as an early across clues with no checkers I was musing over a possible Italian square called a “Raltho” or a famous street in Cairo called “Al-Thor”. Subsequent checkers put paid to such fanciful places.

    Also too long on the simple anagram :TOGETHER. Not a simple definition of calm, probably OED variant number 76.

    COD NOTICE, maybe others have seen this before, but I liked it as a canonical example of a cryptic definition,

17. ….”Waiting For The Robert E.Lee” (Al Jolson originally ?), but not for much else ! A landmark morning, as I broke 3 minutes on my tablet for the first time.

    FOI RUB OUT
    LOI LEEWAY
    COD BULLDOZE
    TIME 2:50

    1. The song had been around for 35 years when Jolson first recorded it (1947) but his is certainly the most famous recording amongst a host of others.
18. STITCH was FOI, then ALIGHT and TOGETHER came along. BARE and LEEWAY followed at which point DENTAL SURGEON jumped off the page. The only thing that held me up from there was LOI, AVERAGES. Nice puzzle. 5:31. Thanks Mara and Chris.
19. A good challenge today. I’m not convinced that AGO means back, but I suppose it could at a pinch.

    5d was splendid and took quite some time to work out.

    Thank you Mara and Chris.

    Diana

    1. A long time back/ago I’d never heard of a T cell.
    2. Three years ago. Three years back.
       That’s the way I equated them, anyway.
       Pam
20. I started well and will not repeat many of the comments above, having shared many of the same reactions and problems, esp. 5d (my COD whatever Kevin feels). However, I was interrupted towards the end and slowed shamefully when I resumed. I ended up over target by a few mins. A strange one today — good in parts but not as satisfying as I expected from Mara. Thanks to both, though.
    I ‘warmed up’ by doing all but three clues in the DT cryptic whilst half listening to the ever-depressing Today programme on R4. (I need silence for the QC.) Perhaps I exhausted my remaining grey cells but I did return to finish it (and did so in a slightly longer time than I took for this QC. John M.

    Edited at 2021-08-17 12:26 pm (UTC)

21. 13 minutes and less than a handful of seconds for me. DOUBLE CROSSED was FOI, with RUB OUT following closely on, giving a good start. The other long down clue proved much more intractable. LOI was AVERAGES where I too was looking for US states.

    The juxtaposition of LEAD and REAR, and with SOMEWHAT CONFUSED in corresponding positions in the grid had me looking for other pairs of words which went together, but without much luck, and not for too long — I don’t think Mara is known for themes or Ninas.

    Good puzzle and blog — thanks.

22. 12 minutes on paper today, with quite a lot of time at the end on AVERAGES (COD for me) and LOI LEAD.
    I also took a while to solve the DENTAL SURGEON anagram; would have been my COD with a better surface.
    Some good stuff here and mostly straightforward.
    But major congrats to Phil for a time under 3 minutes -amazing.
    David
23. On paper today, and under 30 minutes. All correct. Too many double definitions for my liking, but I always like to see the word AVER being used as a synonym of STATE, in what was my last clue in.
    Thank you to setter and blogger
    BW
    A
24. I often struggle with Mara puzzles but was doing quite well today until I spent at least 5 minutes staring at my LOI, 8ac. Had to use aids eventually and even then I couldn’t parse it until enlightened by Chris’s blog. Eventually finished in 22 mins.

    FOI – 7ac RUB OUT
    LOI – 8ac LEEWAY
    COD – 17dn NOTICE

    Thanks to Mara and Chris

25. A good 15 mins for me, with a fair chunk of that unravelling 5dn.

    Probably just me, but I didn’t think “rub out” was a great answer for cancel on 7ac and I also was a bit indifferent regarding 12dn “Ago”. Thankfully the blog put me straight for 10ac “together”.

    Can we say 18ac “Chestnut” was actually a chestnut in its own right?

    FOI — 7ac “Rub Out”
    LOI — 5dn “Dental Surgeon”
    COD — 17dn “Notice” — always have a soft spot for clues that make me smile, no matter how simple or oft repeated.

    Thanks as usual!

    1. Agree re cancel. Took me ages to see that one.
26. Lovely anagram at 5D (Mrs Peel loves a good anagram) and lots to enjoy throughout. We finished in 11 minutes.

    FOI: BLAB
    LOI: RAVE UP
    COD: DOUBLE CROSSED

    Thanks Mara and Chris.

    Mara

27. Sucks?
28. I had a couple of MERs with AGO and TOGETHER. I wasn’t entirely comfortable with Pass = Go and couldn’t parse TOGETHER but it had to be from the anagram fodder so thanks for the explanation Chris. I’m not sure this was up to Mara’s usual standards but like James above I enjoyed the cluing for NOTICE. 8:38 with LOI AVERAGES.
29. Another slower one today at 14 mins – after my recent run of 7-minuters, I seem to be rapidly going backwards! In fact, I did get pretty close to finishing within 10 minutes but then spent the next 4 on TOGETHER, DENTAL SURGEON (I’m with Kevin on this one) and BULLDOZE. That was really frustrating, as I thought it must be BULL at the start but couldn’t see the end. No problem with LEE for general — it’s often my first thought now. Just goes to show what 7 years of cryptic crosswords does to your brain 😄
    FOI Blab
    LOI Bulldoze
    COD Notice
    Thanks Mara and Chris
30. Under 20 mins today so rather pleased with myself. All parsed except for LEEWAY (didn’t know Lee = general). No problems with DENTAL SURGEON having just made an emergency appointment for a possible infection… 😕 Took a long time on ALIGHT and CHESTNUT although I gather the latter is well-known to the experienced solvers. COD LEAD, LOI LEEWAY, FOI DOUBLE CROSSED. Really enjoyable. Maybe I am making progress at last?! Thanks to Chris and Mara.
31. good
32. For only the 7th time (I think), I managed to avoid the tentacles of the SCC, as I finished in 19 minutes today. And, it was achieved with an unhelpful grid design. Perhaps the clueing was very kind.

    Just a short post from me today, as I’m visiting my elderly parents in Dorset (they’ve just woken from their afternoon dozen). Mrs Random is also out, meeting up with a friend, and will no doubt catch up later.

    Many thanks to chrisw91 and Mara.

    1. Could this be a rare win over Mrs Random?
33. 19m so pleased with that. No real holdups, 5d loi. Got 8a leeway from second half of clue, knew the general but did not think of it.
34. 3:40 this afternoon. I thought this was easier than yesterday and indeed the leader board would appear to have a couple of (non-neutrino) times under 2 minutes!
    Wasn’t immediately too sure of 10 ac “together” although I had worked out the anagram but convinced myself it had overtones of calmness.
    COD 17 d “notice” — very neat.
    Thanks to Chris and Mara for concise blog and puzzle respectively.
35. I eventually Ninja-turtled my way to LEEWAY, having first heard of General Lee via the Dukes of Hazzard. Otherwise I went through this with appropriate disregard for speed limits.

    FOI CONFUSED, LOI LEEWAY, COD NOTICE, time 06:44 for 1.7K and a YEEE-HAAARRR Day.

    Many thanks Mara and Chris.

    Templar

    Edited at 2021-08-17 04:19 pm (UTC)

36. Easier than yesterday, all done at one sitting, I had a good ruminate over this for just over half an hour, which passed pleasantly with this puzzle for company. FOI blab, LOI rave up, two unparsed – rave-up, averages. Thanks, Chris, and Mara. GW.
37. Took me a while to get going (not helped by the layout which yielded very few first letters) but an enjoyable solve in just under 16 mins. Thank you Mara and Chris.
38. A pleasant enough 21min solve. Having worked out the two long down clues surprisingly quickly, I would have been a lot happier with a sub-20, but went down a mine shaft (vertical Adit?) of a rabbit hole by reading the clue for 22ac while looking at 20 ac. Four letter prison beginning with G obviously had to be Gaol, but how to parse Cooler? Gave up and moved on until I eventually came to the real 22ac and only then realised my earlier mistake. More fool me for not checking. CoD to 17d, Notice, with the sneaky Leeway close behind. Invariant
39. Done on the train back after watching Carousel in regents park. Lots of red wine. Loi leeway. Time, near Slough.

    Cod bulldoze

40. Didn’t get LEEWAY
    Gen Lee quite obtuse — the American Civil War has been over for 150 years And his statues are being pulled down!
    Nick
41. Biffed 4 Down. Can’t see what “ a fair “ has to do with the answer. Can anybody help? Otherwise a good puzzle.
    1. A is (A) and fair is (LIGHT) as fair hair is light (coloured) hair.

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