Times Quick Cryptic 1942 by Oink

Introduction

7:02, with some dithering about 9 Across to take me over the seven-minute mark. I had intended a surprise for everyone: the plan was to live-stream not only the solving of the puzzle but the writing of this blog. In fact, I am live-streaming the very sentence you are reading as I write it, and you read it. No wait, probably not as you read it, unless you are following me on Twitch, which you may do here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1121710897. Sadly, my solve stream was interrupted after only a few minutes, but you can watch that here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1121701558.

In any case, I can promise that two Wednesdays hence, you can tune in for what will undoubtedly be a special and slightly boring treat.

Head to https://www.twitch.tv/plusjeremy and Follow me so you can be notified when I go live. Also consider following the esteemed blogger Verlaine, who streams at https://www.twitch.tv/opheliafailure.

Solutions

A brief summary of cryptic crosswords —feel free to skip— :

  • Each clue has at least one “definition”: an unbroken string of words which more-or-less straightforwardly indicates the answer. A definition can be as simple as a one-word synonym; but it can also be a descriptive phrase like ‘I’m used to wind’ for REEL or SPOOL. A definition by example must be indicated by a phrase like ‘for example’, or, more commonly, a question mark (?). Thus ‘color’ is a definition of RED, while ‘red, for example’ or ‘red?’ are definitions of COLOR. Punctuation is otherwise irrelevant. Proper nouns will appear capitalized, but otherwise capitalization is irrelevant as well.
  • Each clue may also have an unbroken string of words which indicates the answer through wordplay, such as: using abbreviations; reversing the order of letters; indicating particular letters (first, last, outer, middle, every other, etc); placing words inside other words; rearranging letters (anagrams); replacing words by words that sound alike (homophones); and combinations of the above. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but the general theme is to reinterpret ordinary words as referring to letters, so that for example ‘lion’s head’ indicates the first letter of LION: namely, L.
  • Definitions and wordplay cannot overlap. The only other words allowed in clues are linking words or phrases that combine these. Thus we may see, for example: “(definition) gives (wordplay)” or “(definition) and (definition)” or “(wordplay) is (definition)”.
  • The most common clues have either two definitions, or one definition plus wordplay, in either order. But a single, very misleading definition is not uncommon, and very occasionally a definition can also be interpreted as wordplay leading to the same answer. Triple definitions (and more) are also possible.

My conventions in the solutions below are to underline definitions (including a defining phrase); put linking words in [brackets]; and put all wordplay indicators in boldface. I also use a solidus (/) to help break up the clue where necessary, especially for double definitions without linking words.

Here is a Glossary of all the wordplay indicators and abbreviations in this puzzle.

Glossary

Wordplay indicators

‘s = linking word
abused = anagram
by = next to
cooking = anagram
covering up = containment
crackpot = anagram
finishing with = next to
for = linking word
from = linking word
from time to time = every other letter
has = linking word
holding = containment
ignoring = deletion
initial = first letter
let loose = anagram
of = linking word
preposterous = anagram
regularly = every other letter
reportedly = homophone
scoffing = containment
somewhat = hidden word
that’s = linking word
the speaker’s = homophone
up = reversal (in a down clue)
visiting = containment
when X goes = deletion
with = linking word
with = next to

Abbreviations and little bits

airline = BA
article = A
daughter = D
echo = E
European = E
hot = H
Italian = IT
New York = NY
one = I
river = R

Across

7   Sikh cafe cooking your supper? (8)
FISHCAKE = anagram of SIKH CAFE

8   Reminder [of] the code word for an E (4)
ECHO = double definition

9   The Speaker’s flummoxed, displaying weakness (6)
FLAWED = homophone of FLOORED

10   Former wife finishing with Bill? Spot on (5)
EXACT = EX + ACT
Do I have it right that a bill is an example of an ACT, so that the question mark is necessary here?

11   Sad when daughter goes? [That’s] personal (3)
OWN = DOWN without D

12   Trainee in / the wrong from time to time (6)
INTERN = IN + odd-numbered letters of THE WRONG

14   Club [for] AA member? (6)
DRIVER = double definition
The question mark is necessary here because a driver need not be an AA member. (Definition by example.)

16   Woman in Madrid[’s] preposterous reason (6)
SENORA = anagram of REASON

18   Reportedly excluded / Italian, a crook (6)
BANDIT = homophone of BANNED + IT

19   Airline covering up a beastly cry (3)
BAA = B.A. around A
British Airways, that is.

20   Poet [has] house by river (5)
HOMER = HOME + R

21   Good-looking chap holding article from Copenhagen? (6)
DANISH = DISH around AN
Definition by example! I mean, Definition by example?

23   The smallest one[’s] somewhat disgruntled (4)
RUNT = hidden in DISGRUNTLED
Your Oink clue of the OSI (Oink Setter Interval).

24   Dislike analyst’s initial / interpretation (8)
AVERSION = first letter of ANALYST + VERSION

Down

1   Force [of] evil once let loose (8)
VIOLENCE = EVIL ONCE anagrammed

2   Female elephant scoffing hot dog (4)
CHOW = COW around H
Apparently, a COW is a female elephant. For me, CHOW was the only dog I could think of with an H in it.

3   What prisoner might long for, / eh? (6)
PARDON = double definition
This was my favorite clue. It might be a chestnut, but I’d never heard of it, and I was fooled until the penny dropped.

4   Fed up / with border guard (6)
DEFEND = FED reversed + END

5   Crackpot oriental aunt? (8)
RELATION = anagram of ORIENTAL
Another definition by example?!

6   Gossip [with] Jean-Paul Sartre’s feline friend? (4)
CHAT = double definition
CHAT is French for ‘cat’. Another definition by example?!?! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLgJvqyZNjs

13   Outrage [of] Tory men I abused (8)
ENORMITY = TORY MEN I anagrammed

15   Leak [from] European / delegation (8)
EMISSION = E + MISSION

17   A / body of water overseas (6)
ABROAD = A + BROAD
Chambers has the second definition of ‘broad’ (noun) as “(in East Anglia) a lake-like expansion of a river”.

18   Harry, / a character in Wind in the Willows (6)
BADGER = double definition
A plate of fried ham had just been cleared and sent back for more, when the Badger entered, yawning and rubbing his eyes, and greeted them all in his quiet, simple way, with kind enquiries for every one.

20   Beautiful woman ignoring one [for] a time (4)
HOUR = HOURI without I

22   Inquisitive boss regularly / visiting New York (4)
NOSY = every other letter of BOSS inside N.Y.

55 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1942 by Oink”

  1. …and finished in 9:33. I was baffled at first by the elephant clue, and had to write down the letters to get fishcake.

    I was the only audience member for Jeremy’s attempt at a stream, which he didn’t realize had died as he was so intent on solving the puzzle – which he did. He also did pretty well in today’s very difficult 15 x 15, in which I doubt the SCC solvers here could get more than two or three answers. I do enjoy very hard puzzles, and sometimes spend days trying to finish.

    1. To be fair, there was nothing on my end that gave me any indication the stream had failed. When I submitted the puzzle, my browser hanged and I had to toggle my wifi. I’d go for a wired connection but I haven’t even found the router in this apartment…
    2. As more than just an occasional member of the SCC, I was happy to pick up your gauntlet with today’s 15×15. OK, I admit to being defeated by the NE corner, but I did manage eleven on the first pass, so perhaps not quite so daunting after all. Invariant
      1. You did very well. Jeremy’s stream shows how much solvers who are quite good, but not at championship level (Magoo/Verlaine/Aphis/Mohn/Jason) can really struggle with puzzles like this.
  2. In the Westminster (British et al) system, when a proposed law is put forward, it is a ‘bill’. If and when it is passed into law, it becomes an ‘Act’ of Parliament. So a bill may or may not become an act, with or without amendments.
    1. I read this as ACT=account or BILL . Nothing to do with acts of parliament. Made more sense to me but I could be barking up the wrong tree…
      1. Chambers has “acct” or “a/c” as abbreviations for account. I can’t find “act” in that sense.
  3. 10 minutes.

    Very enjoyable. Apart from RUNT (often associated with pigs as in ‘runt of the litter’) we also have DANISH which is (or was at one time in the UK) synonymous with ‘bacon’ thanks to a relentless marketing campaign by exporters of Danish meat. There’s more farmyard stuff with BAA at 19ac and a COW reference at 2dn, although the elephant may be taking things a bit too far!

    Bruce has already explained the difference between ‘bill’ and ‘act’ in British parliamentary law, so unless there is another context that hasn’t occurred to me they cannot be taken as synonymous. In view of the answer to the clue it’s mildly amusing that an act may be thought of as an ‘ex-bill’.

    Edited at 2021-08-18 05:38 am (UTC)

  4. A third day of struggle for me. Ended up a shade under 20 and submitted on the strength that an HOUR is a unit of time and fitted. Now i’ve read the blog (thanks Jeremy — I look forward to the promised boring treat (ace description!) — I think I might have not known ‘houri’ before. I was stumped in a few places — loved ECHO when the penny dropped, same for PARDON. Had to work hard at the anagrams — very surprised when RELATION and ENORMITY emerged from the jumble. Annoyed myself by being convinced a female elephant was a doe and wondering if a ‘dhoe’ might be a dog — can to my senses in the end with CHOW. Not a breed we see a lot of around here — it seems to be wall to wall cocker spaniels, including the one at my feet. Could be time for a new avatar.

    Edited at 2021-08-18 06:15 am (UTC)

  5. Flawed=floored? Not for those of us with the ability to articulate the letter ‘r’.
  6. I thought this was a bit tricky in parts, and struggled a bit with the anagrams. I’m not sure why outrage=enormity?

    A bill becomes an act once it receives royal assent from Her Maj. I liked this clue and also pardon once the penny dropped.

    Thanks for the blog, I needed it to understand intern which I biffed.

    1. SOED has: originally deviation from moral or legal rectitude. Now, the quality of being outrageous.LME
  7. A bit of a pig, this one, but never boar-ing. Well over 30 mins today, baffled for some time by PARDON, knowing the “eh” must be the vital hint but totally failing to get it until about my third stare at it, even with the crossers filled in. Nice clue. ENORMITY also took some time. Fortunately enough others yielded more easily to give me a skeleton to work around in a very patchwork solve but an enjoyable one. Off now to watch how those cleverer than me do these things!
  8. FOI: 10a. EXACT
    LOI: 23a. RUNT
    Time to Complete: 53 minutes
    Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 20
    Clues Answered with Aids: 6
    Clues Unanswered: 0
    Wrong Answers: 0
    Total Correctly Answered (incl. aids): 26/26
    Aids Used: Chambers

    I found this one to be very tricky in places, leaving me relying heavily on aids to complete. Even then it took me 53 minutes, which is 2 minutes above my average solve time.

    I watched plusjeremy’s Twitch solve. I found it very hard to hear what you were saying, the volume was so low. I had to turn up the volume to full in Twitch and almost full on my PC to be able to hear you clearly. Having forgotten I had turned my PC volume way up, I watched a YouTube video and thought I was going to blow my speakers out. Probably a Twitch thing rather than on plusjeremy’s side as I also found the volume to be very low with Verlaine’s Twitch video.

    An enjoyable crossword for me? I’m wavering between yes and no.

    1. I had much the same experience (crossword, not Twitch). Definitely a curate’s egg for me.

      Edited at 2021-08-18 11:12 am (UTC)

  9. Quite a few I didn’t get straightaway but enough to keep me going. Knew a female elephant was a cow which helped and the (excellent) anagrams emerged quicker than usual — FISHCAKE probably my favourite

    I really like Oink’s puzzles and this was no exception

    Thanks Jeremy — good luck with the live streaming

    Ps quite a few esteemed solvers Kevin, Mohn, Barracuda and Verlaine had one mistake but I can’t immediately see what it might be

    1. Thanks for the “esteemed”, but I put in SHOW for CHOW at 2D, an answer that fitted neither the wordplay nor the definition but was otherwise fine (I mean, 3 letters out of 4 is pretty close). I can offer no decent explanation.
  10. ….and I would have taken exactly twice as long as yesterday. I found the NW corner quite tricky, and took far longer than I should have done to nail PARDON. A good puzzle that took me over my target.

    FOI FISHCAKE
    LOI INTERN (only parsed afterwards !)
    COD CHOW
    TIME 5:38

  11. An enjoyably quirky QC for me. Smooth solve, apart from FLAWED and INTERN (my COD) which needed a bit of thought and ENORMITY (which clicked quickly for me and simply had to be but didn’t really fit my vocabulary). Within target at 13.51 so not too bad. Many thanks to Oink and Jeremy. John M.
    P.s. An old joke prompted by 23a.
    Q. How do you describe a pig that has lost its voice?
    A. Disgruntled.
    Please yourselves……

    Edited at 2021-08-18 08:25 am (UTC)

  12. DNF … floored by 9A …
    … which on retrospect i might/should have got, but I was fixed on Blowed (as in a flummoxed speaker saying “well I’m blowed”).

    NHO Houri in 20D either (my spellchecker doesn’t know it either I see) but guessed answer from H-U- checkers.

    A more difficulty puzzle from Oink than his usual fare. Perhaps that is why it had two porcine references in Runt and Danish.

    Many thanks to Jeremy for the blog
    Cedric

  13. Struggled again today, with a guess at 23a. Did not understand the “somewhat” device and thought it was a truncation of either disgruntled or smallest one. Many words fitted, guessed that hurt=disgruntled. Red squares appeared for another DNF.

    I thought oriental =Asian in 5d (RELATION), as that fitted the 3 checkers perfectly.

    Really struggled with ENORMITY, needed all the checkers which is a poor effort for an obviously clued anagram.

    Pulled HOURI from deep in the memory banks. Did not parse INTERN as did not know “from time to time” as clueing alternative letters (seems like a weak indicator to me). And having ‘wrong’ in there was a bit mean, chosen no doubt for additional misdirection.

    COD PARDON, very nice, replaced my pencilled “ransom” when the Penny Dropped.

  14. This was a real struggle for me, not helped by leaving my anagram hat somewhere. I had a MER (with M standing for Massive) at ENORMITY for outrage, even with Jack’s explanation above it feels like a bit of a stretch. This was too much of a slog to really enjoy so I think I’ll revisit later to fully appreciate the clues.
    Finished in 17.06 with LOI PARDON after another alphabet trawl and with a pink square for BADGEE (grrr!)
    Thanks to Jeremy
    1. ENORMITY raised no eyebrows here. Some interesting stuff about it on Lexico:

      “Usage
      Enormity traditionally means ‘the extreme scale or seriousness of something bad or morally wrong’, as in residents of the town were struggling to deal with the enormity of the crime. Today, however, a more neutral sense as a synonym for hugeness or immensity, as in he soon discovered the enormity of the task, is common. Some people regard this use as wrong, arguing that enormity in its original sense meant ‘a crime’ and should therefore continue to be used only of contexts in which a negative moral judgement is implied. Nevertheless, the sense is now broadly accepted in standard English, although it generally relates to something difficult, such as a task, challenge, or achievement.

      “Origin
      Late Middle English via Old French from Latin enormitas, from enormis, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out of’ + norma ‘pattern, standard’. The word originally meant ‘deviation from legal or moral rectitude’ and ‘transgression’. Current senses have been influenced by enormous.”

    2. BADGEE : ¶ (n.) One who is badged, such as a police officer or security officer. Seems Legit.
  15. I thought this was a tricky puzzle from Oink, and felt like quite a different QC from the usual fare. I’ll have to go back and look, but it seemed full of homophones and double definitions and took me an age to get on the right wavelength.

    In the end I finished in 25 mins — but at one point I thought I was heading for a dnf with only half the grid completed.

    Lots to smile about though, including 3dn “Pardon”, 2dn “Chow” (for some reason I though a female elephant was a calf) and 9ac “Flawed”.

    FOI — 8ac “Echo”
    LOI — 24ac “Aversion”
    COD — 19ac “Baa”

    Thanks as usual!

    PS. I mistakenly thought 12ac was a homophone as well, thinking “time to time” was synonymous with “in turn” — although I couldn’t find the word that signified it as such. From reading the blog, I now see it was something totally different!

    Edited at 2021-08-18 08:32 am (UTC)

    1. I’ve definitely seen “echo” used in literature as a means of a reminder of something in the distant past.
    2. Puzzles are set and agreed well in advance of publication and it would not be practical (particularly these days) to re-examine every clue every day for potential offence in the light of current events.
  16. HOURi well-known to those of us who spent happy childhood HOURs reading the Arabian Nights. Ah the days before Apple.

    Another horrid grid. With these formations I tend to start in the middle so I began with 12ac, which I couldn’t do and ended up as my LOI! (Was anyone else fooled by “The Speaker’s” at 9ac into looking for “my” or “mine” or “I’m”?)

    FOI DRIVER, LOI INTERN, COD HOMER, time 08:10 for 1.2K and a Very Good Day.

    I see from the Club leaderboard that lots of the great and good (even including the Lord Verlaine) had one pink square – I wonder what it was?

    Many thanks Jeremy and Oink.

    Templar

  17. All correct. Felt difficult and the double definitions and cryptic definitions seemed to be in the ascendant here.
    Didn’t have the general knowledge regarding HOURI or BADGER, but biffed in the answers.
    Many thanks for the explanations in the blog
    Regards
    A
  18. This required 13 minutes of full concentration. FOI CHAT; LOI DEFEND.
    I liked this and no problems with the vocabulary.
    I nearly came a cropper trying to justify BEA (an old airline) at 19a where it is hidden; but I paused to parse for once. FISHCAKE my favourite.
    David
  19. Failed on BADGER (cd not remember characters in WitW apart from Toad) , PARDON and AVERSION.
    Confused myself originally by putting OUR at 11a (Removing D from Dour).

    Thanks, Jeremy, for great blog.

  20. 5:04 this morning. Rather hesitant performance with some clues remaining opaque first time round but eventually getting resolved in what I thought was a very entertaining puzzle by Oink.
    Had a mental block over 8 ac “E for Echo” until M Sartre’s feline came to the rescue.
    COD 3 d “pardon” which I really liked.
    Thanks to Jeremy for the blog and to Oink.
  21. I thought this was definitely a cut above (back bacon?) Oink’s usual offering, and so wasn’t at all surprised to finish a minute or two into the SCC, especially as I had several goes at parsing 10ac. Badger and Pardon came quite quickly, but Driver (!) and Flawed used up any time saved and a bit more. Loi by a long way was 5d Relation, as I completely missed the now obvious anagram indicator, and with it the faint opportunity of a sub-Plett… Invariant
  22. I narrowly missed membership of the SCC today but, once the last answer — DRIVER — was finally in, I couldn’t see why I’d made such a meal of it. With the aforementioned clue, I was a bit led astray by AA which led me to TT, as in teetotallers. That said, it’s still my COD — very clever clue!
    I put in INTERN, without fully seeing why it was right. I vaguely wondered if it was connected to “in turn” as a weirdy reading of “from time to time” pronounced “wrong”. Thanks, Jeremy, for explaining the correct parsing and for all the magnificent energy and thought that you put into the blog. Thanks, too, to Oink
  23. Struggled with this but gradually solved most, but needed a coffee break to see the light in the SE corner. Like others, I wondered about ENORMITY = OUTRAGE.
  24. Trickier than usual from Oink, who I usually find to be one of the easier setters. 24 minutes all told with a couple unparsed (thanks for the explanations Jeremy). A lot of anagrams as has already been noted, most of which did not leap out at me even when written out. I also raised an eyebrow (not a massive one though) at equating outrage with enormity – not a synonym as far as I’m concerned.

    FOI – 8ac ECHO
    LOI – 19ac BANDIT
    COD – 4dn DEFEND

    Thanks to Oink for the challenge

  25. In contrast to Phil, I took almost exactly half yesterday’s time, and everyone except me thought yesterday’s puzzle was a doddle!

    I had no difficulties today, and was well under target, sub-Phil, and evens with pitcaithlie.

    The Sikh cafe knocking me up a FISHCAKE tickled my fancy, and was my FOI and COD.

    5:04

  26. I found this tricky with the NW giving me a lot of trouble, but it may have been due to my rather late night musical soiree with friends from which the taxi deposited me home at 2am after which I eventually tumbled into bed at 3am. Nevertheless, I started with CHOW and eventually finished with PARDON, FLAWED and INTERN. 12:59. Thanks Oink and Jeremy.
  27. An 81-minute DNF for me today, during which time Mrs Random successfully completed all three of this week’s QCs – Monday’s Teazel (21), yesterday’s Mara (17) and today’s Oink (29) – plus today’s Polygon.

    I struggled throughout the whole puzzle today. Only six or seven clues solved after 20 minutes or so, and virtually every clue from then on was hard going. In the end, I gave up with INTERN and PARDON unsolved, even though I had correctly parsed both clues. I’d simply spent far too much time wracking my brains for words that just would not come.

    I’m sorry to say that my experience today was rather reminiscent of many of my solving attempts of last Summer, shortly after I started these QCs – bleak and dispiriting. I wonder why I kept at it last year.

    Many thanks to Oink and plusjeremy.

    Edited at 2021-08-18 12:20 pm (UTC)

      1. Thankyou for your words of encouragement. I think I have more-or-less reached the level at which I’m a bit put out nowadays if I have to give up on a puzzle. A good sign, I suppose.

        Incidentally, Mrs Random had some words of ‘encouragement’ for me, as well: “Man up and do better next time!”.

        She’s lovely, is Mrs R, and she was mighty pleased to race through all three of this week’s QCs to date in such short order (for her). She is now making a batch of cucumber pickle and a birthday cake for her Mum.

        1. I’m not very good at these and didn’t finish today — I gave up on Bandit Emission Badger and Aversion.
          But if I were you I would take a break after say 30 minutes. (I just fell asleep today and had something else to do so looked up the answers)
          I know it has been said many times before, but when you revisit the puzzle, often you instantly see some answers.
          If you don’t take a break it can send you potty looking at the same clues and banging your head.
          Good luck. PS. I enjoy your Mr and Mrs comments.
          1. Sound advice, Mr Express. I will try to do as you say, but perhaps after 40 minutes or thereabouts.
            1. Oh, and if you haven’t done it, watch at least one of the Verlaine solves on that twitch. tv website…. Orpheliafailure…
              I know that solving it is not all about lightning fast times, but it is surprising how he darts about if the answer doesn’t come readily to mind and by the time he revisits the clue it is with a fresh view.
              Anyway good luck.
  28. I seemed to have fared better than most. I thought there were some lovely clues including The Sikh cafe (which I didn’t solve straight away), the hard of hearing prisoner but my favourite was the one that held me up at the end i.e. INTERN. 8:11 for a very good day.
  29. Piggy references a bit oblique, and a harder offering than usual from Oink. I managed all of this except for pardon which I couldn’t see, and my husband solved it for me. I had to check on here whether flawed and intern were right as I didn’t parse those. Thanks, Jeremy, and Oink. FOI echo, LOI intern. COD pardon – raised a smile. GW.
  30. Took us 21 minutes to complete the puzzle today. We got off to a slow start and never seemed to pick up the pace. Some good clues though and an enjoyable workout (shame my Fitbit doesn’t register the effort).

    FOI: ECHO
    LOI: DEFEND
    COD: DANISH OR PARDON (we liked both if them)

    Thanks Oink and Jeremy.

  31. 33 mins which is about average for me now. But quite a few not fully parsed (hour, intern, runt, flawed) where I needed the checkers. My COD was 18d as I enjoyed thinking through the WITW characters!

  32. The downswings are inevitable. I’m pretty decent now, but I’ve only solved 4 out of the last 10 main puzzles.
  33. Completed in 23m except for 9a, where we pondered over slowed or flawed, which one of us got right, without seeing the homonym. No other real hold ups, but slower than yesterday.
    1. It is at the blogger’s discretion, but it keeps the site neater and is helpful for those who want to see if the blog is available but don’t want to see the answers yet.

      Edited at 2021-08-18 11:32 pm (UTC)

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