Times Quick Cryptic 1957 by Marty

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Not too much to say about this, except I enjoyed solving it. Only the cat and a bit of Latin are somewhat obscure, but they’re very familiar words to regulars here. I stumbled with the slightly unusual parsing of 3dn, having to take the two ‘grist’ words separately, but I think the way it’s worded makes it fair.

Definitions underlined.

Across
1 Vehicle is cab Manuel ordered (9)
AMBULANCE – anagram of (ordered) CAB MANUEL.
6 Quiet English lady (3)
SHE – SH (quiet) and E (English).
8 Function at first absolutely no good being held in marquee? (7)
TANGENT – first letter of (at first) Absolutely, with N (no) and G (good), contained by (being held in) TENT (marquee).
9 Cat that weighs very little (5)
OUNCE – definition and cryptic hint.
10 GB mining gold, somehow extraordinary (4-8)
MIND-BOGGLING – anagram of (somehow) GB MINING GOLD.
12 Grand time to go on holiday? (6)
AUGUST – definition and cryptic hint.
13 Maroon thread (6)
STRAND – double definition.
16 See news is yet to unfold? They may when it does (12)
EYEWITNESSES – anagram of (to unfold) SEE NEWS IS YET.
19 Young agent, not entirely free to speak? (5)
UNGAG – hidden in (not entirely) yoUNG AGent.
20 Medic, very skilled, not likely to get stuck? (7)
MOVABLE – MO (medical officer, medic), V (very), and ABLE (skilled).
22 Rested part of the weekend (3)
SAT – double definition.
23 Bloodsuckers mostly care to go after quiet old panda? (6,3)
POLICE CAR – LICE (bloodsuckers) and all-but-the-last letter of (mostly) CARe, all after P (quiet) and O (old).

Down
1 Opponent of BBC, some might say? (4)
ANTI – sounds like (some might say) “auntie” (BBC).
2 Prohibiting report about pub that’s turned up (7)
BANNING – BANG (report) containing (about) INN (pub) that’s reversed (turned up).
3 Oddly dismissed old wife’s tale (3)
LIE – remove odd-numbered letters from (oddly dismissed) oLd and wIfE.
4 Not in a dreadful state (6)
NATION – anagram of (dreadful) NOT IN A.
5 Some sentinel on gate sleeps for stretches (9)
ELONGATES – hidden in (some) sentinEL ON GATE Sleeps.
6 Part of Middle East where fine accompanies crime (5)
SINAI – A1 (fine) next to (accompanies) SIN (crime).
7 Appeared to join with editor outside (7)
EMERGED – MERGE (to join) contained by ED (with editor outside).
11 Serving his pud, strangely, with gin (7,2)
DISHING UP – anagram of (strangely) HIS PUD with GIN.
12 Article by Morning Star about eastern ways (7)
AVENUES – A (article) with VENUS (morning star), containing (about) E (eastern).
14 Bitter account by leading royal writer (7)
ACERBIC – AC (account), ER (the Queen, leading royal), and BIC (pen, writer).
15 Paint title in enormous letters (just initials) (6)
ENAMEL – NAME (title) contained by the first letters of (just initials) Enormous and Letters.
17 Team having a row scoffed audibly (5)
EIGHT – sounds like (audibly) “ate” (scoffed).
18 Look noble (4)
PEER – double definition.
21 Short holiday beware is up, finishing early (3)
VAC – CAVe (beware) reversed (up) and missing its last letter (finishing early).

70 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1957 by Marty”

  1. My third DNF in a row so a little dispiriting. I stopped at an hour with EYEWITNESSES, AVENUES and EIGHT unsolved. I couldn’t get the anagram (another Y not at the end!) and didn’t separate eastern from ways. I recognised 17d as a homophone and used to row so should really have got EIGHT – but I think of it as a crew rather than a team. COD to 12a ‘August’.

    Thanks Marty and William!

  2. This was a cracker! With the NIN-A bonus, which like the damned Hopkinb, flickered past me.
    I’m old enough remember the coming of the’Panda’, and ‘Jam Sandwiches’!

    Today l am in ‘Premier Coach’ with the lovely Peebee, Psmith and Mr. Gib Rotter — with twelve minutes on the clock.

    FOI 1dn ANTI

    LOI 8ac TANGENT

    COD 13ac STRAND

    WOD ex-23ac ‘OLD PANDA’

    1. Good company for sure! I’m also sure that Rotter, Psmith and your kind self are lovely too 😊

      Edited at 2021-09-08 02:34 pm (UTC)

      1. Mmmmm! The ‘Likes’ are not piling up hereabouts.
        Some think I’m horryd. I am a twin, so at our rather formal school, brother Peter was horryp. My parents had obviously not thought it over fully. But as my dear mother would have told you, I do have my moments!
  3. I am now resigned to QCs taking over 20 mins (which was my previous upper limit) as this is the 8th in a row. I found it difficult to get started, popping in answers all over the grid but never really getting a flow. Missed the nina (unsurprisingly), missed the hidden for UNGAG (surprisingly, as I usually see them quite quickly) and couldn’t parse ENAMEL (no idea why not – blindingly obvious when you know!). Thanks for helping with the latter William.

    FOI – 6ac SHE
    LOI – 15dn ENAMEL
    COD – 13ac STRAND

    Thanks to Marty for an enjoyable but tough puzzle.

    1. Just to say that, as expected, I’m back in the SCC as well today. By the law of averages, I only have another two months to wait until my next day out.
  5. … whether a second escape from the SCC in a row was on the cards, as most of the top half of the grid went unusually quickly. However, something like normality then resumed and Marty made life significantly more difficult for me in the bottom half. In the end, I was very happy to finish in 35 minutes, which is still a good time for me.

    I was unsure about ANTI and didn’t really like UNGAG, but everything else was well clued in my view. Also, a very clever Nina, although I never saw it at the time.

    Many thanks to Marty and william_j_s.

  6. Thought this one was going to be a fast one at first, but then I slowed right down. Eventually crossed the line with EMERGED after 30:10. Some great surfaces though. COD to TANGENT. Thanks Marty and William.
  7. Shocker for me — totally not on the right wavelength and packed in after 35 mins with a substantial amount of the SW corner not finished.

    Just couldn’t see 12ac nor 12dn and failed to unravel the anagram of 16ac. Also had brain treacle moments for 1ac “Ambulance”, 23ac “Police Car” and 13ac “Strand”.

    Forget and move on I think.

    FOI — 6ac “She”
    LOI — dnf
    COD — 14dn “Acerbic”, although I did like 1dn as well.

    Thanks as usual!

  8. I forgot to mention in my main post above that today marked my 333rd QC since I started these infernal-but-addictive puzzles. Does anyone remember Graham Gooch’s innings against India, at Lord’s in 1990?
    1. Indeed – it was a fine way to celebrate my 18th. Didn’t he also get a century in the second innings?
      1. I think you may be correct. Well remembered! Perhaps it’s a good time for Joe Root to do something similar in the next few days.
    2. Yep, watched more or less the whole innings on tv. I would have just done my GCSEs. It seemed an eternal summer of perfect weather. I had 3 weeks work in June and early July cleaning mortar off old bricks for a reclaimed building supplies company on a demolition site in central Coventry. Piece work, I earned £1,050 in cash. In 1990 that was a lot of money especially for a 16 year old. The rest of the summer was spent playing and watching cricket, and enjoying the fruits of my labour. Happy times.
      1. Wow, that must have been a LOT of bricks! Prior to the flaunching, Lou the builder sat and cleaned the mortar off our old bricks — it didn’t look a lot of fun!
  9. I enjoyed this crossword and all the clever clues like those for tangent, acerbic and police car. The last clues I had to solve were in the bottom left corner. I had no idea what 16a was going on about and couldn’t work out the anagram with all those Es. I had to use an aid for that then the rest of that corner fell into place. Annoying not to finish it unaided but very enjoyable. Thank you Marty and William.
    FOI she
    LOI eight (I’ve only just realised ‘row’ wasn’t argument or tier!)
    COD anti for acknowledging that not everyone had a SE accent.
    Blue Stocking
  10. Back to the wrong side of 20 minutes today. Really struggled with the bottom half, but it was Sinai that refused to come despite having lived many years in Egypt. Only got there because nothing else would fit.

    Edit, had I seen the NINA, which, of course, I never do, Sinai would have been easy.

    Edited at 2021-09-08 05:45 pm (UTC)

  11. I thought this really hard. The clues were definitely not aimed at anyone starting puzzles, they were far to obtuse.

    Not even close to finishing this. I marvel at those who regularly finish these puzzles in minutes, although have no understanding why they bother doing a puzzle that offers no challenge. For me this was a challenge I could not meet.

    1. If you want “fir starters”, you’d best head to a garden centre. (Smiley emoji)

      It’s a cryptic crossword. I like doing them. It’s a hobby. It keeps the mind active and i enjoy the fluid problem solving. The QC is also a lot easier than the main Times puzzle, and many Guardian puzzles, which can be much more loosely clued, some of which leave me with a half filled grid after an hour.

      Hundreds, if not thousands of puzzles will get you there, but you’ll not do ’em if you don’t like ’em! If you like them, you’ll fail, come here and learn. And even after thousands, you’ll still fail sometimes. It doesn’t matter, it’s a puzzle, a bit of fun, a time filler.

  12. I liked this one. Hard. But got there eventually. Maybe 40mins or so? Try as I have I cannot see the Nina you are all talking about. And I really would like to. Is there some way to highlight it? Whatever it is! Thanks so much. This blog is brilliantly helpful and actually brilliant too. Fred.
    1. If you read across the 4th row of letters (ignoring the ‘i’ and black squares) you’ll see ‘NINAR’. Similarly in the 10th row. In the 6th row we have NINA.

      As pointed out by those more observant than me, this fits with the emergency vehicles found on the top and bottom rows! Pretty funny Nina, eh?

  13. Ah. Got it. Thanks so much. Very clever. Not helped for me by what I now see is a typo. I do the puzzles on paper! Thanks. Fred.

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