Times Quick Cryptic 1950 by Jalna

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Solving time: 8 minutes. This is only Jalna’s 9th puzzle so his style may seem a little different, but perhaps I’m getting used to him as this was the very first time I have solved one of his offerings within my target 10 minutes. I was doubly pleased to achieve this today after three consecutive failures at the end of last week.

As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]. I usually omit all reference to positional indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.

Across

1 Wild diatribe interrupting female in charge (7)
FRANTIC
RANT (diatribe) contained by [interrupting] F (female) + IC (in charge)
5 Insincere talk about a collection of books (4)
CANT
CA (about – circa), NT (a collection of books – New Testament)
7 Separate the ropes, partly for fastening (6)
TETHER
Hidden [partly] in {separa}TE THE R{opes}
8 After match, get endless sharp pain (6)
TWINGE
TWIN (match), GE{t} [endless]
9 A mix of hate and respect for favoured pupil (8,3)
TEACHERS PET
Anagram [a mix of] HATE RESPECT
10 Friend returning item of clothing and computer (6)
LAPTOP
PAL (friend) reversed [returning], TOP (item of clothing)
12 Disreputable person is great socially, from time to time (6)
RASCAL
{g}R{e}A{t} S{o}C{i}A{l}L{y} [from time to time]
14 A pretty cold, agitated old reptile (11)
PTERODACTYL
Anagram [agitated] of A PRETTY COLD
17 Arrange one European trip (6)
SORTIE
SORT (arrange), I (one), E (European). My LOI and I was slow to see it
18 Nervous individual departs, say, after returning (2,4)
ON EDGE
ONE (individual), D (departs), then EG (say) reversed [after returning]
20 One employing some house rules (4)
USER
Hidden in [some] {ho}USE R{ules}
21 Fruit gelato served up without nuts on top (7)
TANGELO
Anagram [served up] of GELATO containing [without – outside] N{uts} [on top]
Down
1 Bill of fare excludes escargots for starters (3)
FEE
F{are} E{xcludes} E{scargots} [for starters]. I had some doubts about ‘bill’ and ‘fee’ being synonymous, but on reflection there are instances when they can be, and that’s good enough for crossword purposes.
2 Fundamentally, the answer lies in technique (2,5)
AT HEART
THE + A (answer) contained by [lies in] ART (technique)
3 Set fire to rubbish piled up next to church (5)
TORCH
ROT (rubbish) reversed [piled up], CH (church)
4 Meal provider — someone tending to consume a lot of tea (7)
CATERER
CARER (someone tending) contains [to consume] TE{a} [a lot of…]
5 Fold the first pieces of crêpe paper around the edge (5)
CRIMP
C{rêpe} + P{aper} [first pieces] containing [around] RIM (edge)
6 Thing amazingly preceding Californian autumn sunset (9)
NIGHTFALL
Anagram [amazingly] of THING, then FALL (Californian autumn)
9 Utensils made using soapstone, possibly (9)
TEASPOONS
Anagram [made using…possibly] of SOAPSTONE
11 Specialist trial demo (7)
PROTEST
PRO (specialist), TEST (trial)
13 I told you, her toe’s broken! (2,5)
SO THERE
Anagram [broken] of HER TOE’S
15 Come in the main front gate, or always at the back (5)
ENTER
{th}E {mai}N {fron}T {gat}E {o}R [always at the back]
16 A party with sailors below deck (5)
ADORN
A, DO (party), RN (sailors – Royal Navy)
19 Sentimental stuff is fine, mostly (3)
GOO
GOO{d} (fine) [mostly]

48 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1950 by Jalna”

  1. Clearly on the wavelength with this one, before crashing and burning on the main. Speaking of crashing and burning, when I stream, my (very fast) internet connection seems to get overwhelmed and cuts out. Doesn’t bode well for Wednesday.
  2. …10:02. I got stuck even on the easy ones, like sortie and cant. On the other hand, I spotted the anagram of pterodactyl right away, which was helpful.
  3. Clearly between wavelengths.

    FOI 14ac PTERODACTYL

    LOI 1dn FEE not so simple!

    COD 6ac CANT

    WOD 9ac TEACHER’S PET – never me!

    My LG-G6 Internet is the fastest – some receive before I SEND!

  4. Also between the wavelengths ending up all green in 18. Held up by SORTIE (that’s three of us so far!) and ENTER (where I was very slow to see what ‘always at the back’ was doing — confused myself thinking it might have something to do with e’er being at the end — and also by TWINGE and CRIMP (I was on wavy hair not folding). I also found out i didn’t know what CANT meant and have never heard of a TANGELO. I thought this was a belter. Now to pack the car for a week on the Isle of Wight.
  5. FOI: 9a. TEACHERS PET
    LOI: 21a. TANGELO
    Time to Complete: 48 minutes
    Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 19
    Clues Answered with Aids: 5
    Clues Unanswered: 0
    Wrong Answers: 0
    Total Correctly Answered (incl. aids): 24/24
    Aids Used: Chambers

    I did not like this puzzle very much. Not sure why. I was not happy with 19d. “Goo”. I thought it was an awful clue. TANGELO I have never heard of, and I only guessed at the answer. The “without nuts on top” threw me. I simply had no idea.

    So, a 48 minute solve with aids required to complete. No candy for me today though as 1) I ate an obscene amount of candy over the weekend. 2) Dental check-up today.

    1. TANGELO includes the device ‘without’ when it means with. It throws me every time. Clue works just fine as ‘with nuts on top’, which would seem hard enough for a QC, since I had also NHO TANGELO.
    2. Well done (pw) to have found a dentist who works on a bank holiday! 😉

      Edited at 2021-08-30 08:09 am (UTC)

  6. 16:54, also with LOI SORTIE

    Struggled to parse ON EDGE, ‘say’ is so often a filler word in the clue that I didn’t spot it’s more critical role today.

    PTERODACTYL allows me to share some Bank Holiday trivia. The two parts to the word “helicopter” are not “heli” and “copter”, but “helico” meaning spiral, and “pter” meaning one with wings, like pterodactyl. The stress pattern makes “copter” feel like a root, and it has given rise to words such as gyrocopter

  7. 18min but felt harder as I was going through it so I suspect some will struggle. There were a few partial word devices (tea and get spring to mind) which threw me. Is the word possibly superfluous to requirement in 9d. Utensils made from soapstone works doesn’t it?
    Many thanks to Jalna and Jack
  8. A good test today that took me slightly over target with my major issues being in the NW with CANT, TWINGE and LOI NIGHTFALL proving stubborn. I was also slow to spot the parsing of FEE and ENTER for some reason. Finished in 10.54.
    Thanks to Jack
  9. I started quickly and thought this was going to be a doddle. This false sense of security led to a massive deceleration with my final, really quite straightforward clues. I biffed ON EDGE and ENTER and groaned when I saw why the latter was correct. I returned to the top to finally see CANT and complete nightFALL (doh). I had a tussle with SORTIE, my LOI. In the end, I was 5 seconds over target and wondered why. A nice puzzle. Thanks to the two Js. John M.

    Edited at 2021-08-30 08:05 am (UTC)

  10. I finished it, so it must have been easy. Surely?

    I found some of the clues really confusing, eg ‘below deck’ for adorn.

    ‘Without nuts on top’ surely meant ‘ With nuts on top’? A bit too cryptic for me, but probably regular solvers were not thrown. Curiously, despite that, I got Tangelo pretty quickly, although I checked it on the www, to make sure it is a fruit.

    1. It’s just “deck” for adorn. A DO for “a party”, with RN underneath (it’s a down clue) and thus sailors “below”.

      As for “without nuts on top”, this is “without” in the sense of “outside” (eg “There is a green hill far away without a city wall”, ie outside a city wall, or “St Botolph Without Bishopsgate”, or as Manfred Mann put it “Come all without, come all within, You’ll not see nothing like the Mighty Quinn!”).

      1. Thanks for clarifying ADORN for vvp, as I was just about to do so. I was only going to add that as mentioned in my standard intro notes I don’t usually explain placement indicators (such as ‘below’) unless there’s something I consider to be unusual.
        1. I hope it wasn’t a breach of etiquette Jack for me to explain that Jack! Not intended as such if so.
          1. No, of course not! It’s a free-for-all dealing with queries raised during the discussion and I’m only too for happy for others to join in – as are all the other bloggers.
  11. Seeing the anagrams at 9 and 14 helped me get a good start. Held up by not being able to parse CATERER straight away. I always thing if a TWINGE as a nagging little pain.
    Nice start to the week.
    Thanks for the blog, and puzzle
    A
  12. Greased lightning by my standards. All clues went in at first look (acrosses first, then downs) except ON EDGE, which was too clever for me. Great fun puzzle.

    FOI FRANTIC, LOI ON EDGE, COD PTERODACTYL for such a good surface, time 05:58 for an estimated 1.2K and an Excellent Day.

    Many thanks Jalna and Jack.

    Templar

    Edited at 2021-08-30 08:44 am (UTC)

  13. ….by SORTIE, my SLOI. I found it quite straightforward otherwise, and a nicely constructed offering from Jalna.

    FOI FRANTIC
    LOI SOAPSTONE
    COD TEACHERS PET
    TIME 3:57

  14. I just couldn’t see what was going on with the top line. I thought wild was an anagram indicator despite diatribe having too many letters and I couldn’t parse ‘chat’ for 3a. My FOI was TETHER and as the grid started to fill I was aware that I was solving by definition and belatedly parsing which is not my usual style. I did just about manage an on target solve with LOI FRANTIC in 8:59. There are some lovely surfaces so I am struggling to pick a COD.
  15. A pleasant and not too difficult puzzle from Jalna which took me 10 minutes on paper. LOI was RASCAL. FOI FEE. No big hold-ups. SORTIE was good, but COD to ADORN.
    David
  16. Just couldnt get TANGELO. Confused by “served up” being the anagrind. And didn’t know the fruit well enough (sure it’s cone up before)

    8 mins bar that one. 2 mins scratching head before conceding defeat.

    Thanks Jackkt and Jaina

  17. 14 minutes and some change, so within target — just! My LOI was FEE, where my mind refused to separate ‘bill of fare’ for too long. I also struggled with the parsing of CATERER and ENTER, but got them in the end — included in the time quoted for completion. I thought this was a solid puzzle from Jalna, and the usual good blog from Jackkt. Thanks both.
  18. Thirteen minutes so well below my usual twenty. FOI cant, six acrosses on first pass so the puzzle was opened up nicely. LOI on edge. Did not parse twinge, on edge, or enter, or see the carer in caterer, which I solved from the definition only. Teacher’s pet leapt from the anagram, but I had to write out a pretty cold to see the old reptile.
    COD pterodactyl.

    People often comment on general knowledge on here, so allow me a brief foray into the territory. In this age of rapid advances in knowledge, things become obsolete in all sorts of areas of knowledge. Even biology. An early term to go was pachyderm, since elephants and rhinoceros are not closely related, and the common appearance of their skin doesn’t make the shared characteristic diagnostic. DNA analysis is driving our knowledge of how animals are related forward very quickly.

    A couple of terms are losing relevance. Antelopes are now all considered to be bovines, and we are dropping the term “reptile” since the turtles aren’t very closely related to lizards, snakes or crocodiles. Thanks, Jack, for explaining everything, and to Jalna for the puzzle. GW.

    1. I grieve for the loss of the Brontosaurus, a majestic word now apparently incorrect. It’s as though it’s gone extinct all over again.
  19. It took me a moment or two to get started, TETHER getting me off the mark, but then I made rapid progress until SORTIE and PROTEST held me up at the end. Fortunately I spotted PTERODACTYL straight away. 6:47. Thanks Jalna and Jack. Now for another coffee before I start the 15×15.
  20. otherwise OK, but struggled with e.g. FEE, FRANTIC, TORCH, TWINGE.
    FOI TEACHERS PET.
    Luckily the old reptile and the fruit sprang to mind.
    Liked ADORN, CANT, CATERER.
    Thanks to Jack, as ever.
  21. Seeing the anagrams at 9 and 14 helped me get a good start. Held up by not being able to parse CATERER straight away. I always thing if a TWINGE as a nagging little pain.
    Nice start to the week.
    Thanks for the blog, and puzzle
    A
  22. The top few went in quickly, with just a slight pause to enjoy parsing CoD Caterer. Teachers Pet and Teaspoons were write-ins, but although I knew the reptile I had to wait for the crossers to help with the spelling. I couldn’t think of Goo until Tangelo arrived, and any lingering hopes of a sub-20 disappeared with loi Sortie. I was halfway through a tedious alphabet trawl before I suddenly realised how the clue worked. Overall, a testing but enjoyable puzzle. Invariant
  23. I found this tough …
    … as it took me 16 minutes to solve (and a full 4 minutes before even the first answer went in — longer than some people take to complete these puzzles!)

    It might be because I’m not used to Jalna’s style, but I thought some of the definitions a little loose. 8A Twinge a double MER for me, as not only (as others have commented) is Twinge not exactly a sharp pain, but not entirely convinced by Twin = match either. Pro for specialist in 11D Protest also seemed loose to me, again not exactly equivalent meanings. Also misled into thinking “without nuts on top” meant “take an N out” not put one in!

    Oh well, probably just an off day, given that most other people seemed to have found it on the easier side.

    Many thanks to Jack for the blog
    Cedric

  24. I struggled with this since I couldn’t parse several answers that I guessed. Fortunately, all turned out to be right CRIMP, ON EDGE, TANGELO, ENTER (doh!). Thanks for the explanations!
  25. Bang on 20 mins for me, although I have no idea what a Tangelo is. I also needed the checkers for 14ac as I thought it was Ptera rather than Ptero for the old reptile. Never did parse 5dn “Crimp”.

    Overall an enjoyable start to the week.

    FOI — 1dn “Fee”
    LOI — 17ac “Sortie”
    COD — 4dn “Caterer” — enjoyed the use of “tending” here

    Thanks as usual!

  26. … I had to biff RASCAL and ENTER, neither of which I could parse until seeing Jack’s blog.

    TETHER also took me a while to parse, although it was excellent when I saw it in the clue, and TANGELO was my LOI.

    Overall, slow to get started and quite tricky, so I’m pleased to finish and to do so under 40 minutes.

    Many thanks to Jalna and jackkt.

    P.S. I will come back with Mrs R’s time/thoughts later (she’s washing her car at the moment).

    1. Mrs Random has finally found time to do battle with Jalna and, despite spending several minutes at the end trying to get TANGELO, she comfortably undercut my time — 32 minutes for her, today. She said that she never really understood the structure of the clue and, like me, she had NHO the fruit. I think the only other clue she didn’t parse en-route was CANT. So, the day draws to a close with the usual lop-sided equilibrium in place, here in the Random household.
  27. I haven’t had time recently for crosswords recently due to the troubles abroad. I even had a shot at the QC this morning and the 15×15 but this coming week is somewhat critical, so I’ll make the best of it. A rather quirky grid from Jalna and some interesting setting. COD Teaspoons a la ‘Private Eye’. I do so enjoy the tangerine/pomelo (grapefruit) cross, far superior in taste to most oranges including uglis.
  28. Definitely not on the wavelength and I seem to remember struggling with other Jalna puzzles. Took me 36 mins to complete, which is approx double my average time, and even then there were several unparsed answers. Was pleased to dredge up tangelo from some deep-seated memory bank, but really struggled with some clues which now seem straightforward. Isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing!

    FOI – 14ac PTERODACTYL
    LOI – 17ac SORTIE
    COD – 9dn TEASPOONS

    Thanks to Jalna and Jackkt

  30. When I saw this was set by Jalna I thought I was going to struggle so I was pleased to complete it steadily and unaided. The bottom half was completed first though I couldn’t understand how the nuts fitted into the gelato. I’m not sure why I struggled with FRANTIC or why I was thrown by escargots. A satisfying solve.
    FOI teacher’s pet
    LOI fee
    COD crimp
    Thank you Jack and Jalna
    Blue Stocking
  31. This puzzle felt different, some clues going in without parsing, eg rascal, enter. Had fanatic for 1a, until problems with 2d caused us to correct. Just within our target. Thanks Jalna for an interesting challenge.
  32. A very good day for me apparently as I came home in 14:36, which seems to have beaten most of those I usually measure myself against. I did it first thing in the morning too, although perhaps the pre-race adrenaline I was experiencing gave me a brain boost. TANGELO was the biggest hold up and my LOI. I can’t remember if I’ve heard of it or not. Is that a sign of something? Anyway, Thanks very much to Jalna for a great QC with lots of potential CODs, but I think CATERER just takes it for me. Thanks also to Jack, and to Merlin for the fascinating information about the word helicopter.

    Edited at 2021-08-30 03:33 pm (UTC)

  33. By using a phone and having contact lenses in, and my arns weren’t long enough to fully read some of the clues.

    Nice enough puzzle, of average difficulty for me. I could probably have knocked a minute off with a keyboard and some reading glasses.

    SORTIE was LOI..

    6:58.

  34. A real struggle for me. I nearly gave up with only about a third completed. Finally, with a lot of aids and trial and error, I struggled over the finishing line. I’m glad Jalna is an infrequent setter!
  35. Comfortably under my 20 minute target today but with hindsight it does seem rather straightforward. Had never heard of a tangelo but the anagram couldn’t be much else. Did struggle over sortie for a while but can’t think why.

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