Times Quick Cryptic 1970 by Mara

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Solving time: 7 minutes. I found this one easy. I hope you did too.

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 Day proceeds for warship (7)
FRIGATE
FRI (day), GATE (proceeds – takings e.g. at a sporting event)
5 Fleshy fruit, first of peaches (5)
PLUMP
PLUM (fruit), P{eaches} [first]
8 Liar and cheater beaten up, make peace (5,3,3)
CLEAR THE AIR
Anagram [beaten up] of LIAR CHEATER
10 District in Harare, amazing (4)
AREA
Hidden [in] {Har}ARE A{mazing}
11 Something speedy in report (8)
BULLETIN
BULLET (something speedy), IN
12 Choose from last of desserts: decide (6)
SELECT
{dessert}S [last], ELECT (decide)
14 Very big shock absorber (6)
BUMPER
A straight defintion and a cryptic hint. I’ve not counted this as a double defintion because although a bumper on a car may absorb shocks in the event of a collision, the shock-absorbers are something else entirely. I think ‘fender’ is the US equivalent of ‘bumper’.
16 Great film about a criminal (8)
BIGAMIST
BIG (great) + MIST (film) containing [about] A
18 Average, thus doubled (2-2)
SO-SO
SO (thus) x 2 [doubled]
20 Notice seating in or out (11)
RESIGNATION
Anagram [out] of SEATING IN OR
22 Bit of sunshine outside in wet (5)
RAINY
RAY (bit of sunshine) containing [outside] IN
23 Piano phrase messed up, maybe (7)
PERHAPS
P (piano), then anagram [messed up] of PHRASE
Down
2 Runner gutted about expert competitor (5)
RACER
R{unne}R [gutted] containing [about] ACE (expert)
3 Bomb angered revolutionary (7)
GRENADE
Anagram [revolutionary] of ANGERED
4 Taken as read initially, something black (3)
TAR
T{aken} A{s} R{ead} [initially]
6 Abandon holiday (5)
LEAVE
Two meanings
7 Cooking pot: spoil little one (7)
MARMITE
MAR (spoil), MITE (little one). There’s a picture of one on the label of the yeast product.
9 Fish half cut, still eating one (7)
HALIBUT
HAL{f} [cut] + BUT (still) containing [eating] I (one)
11 Facing fast bowlers, say,   closing eyes briefly? (7)
BATTING
Two meanings
13 Tearier drunk in African country (7)
ERITREA
Anagram [drunk] of TEARIER
15 Is same failing hard for saviour? (7)
MESSIAH
An anagram [failing] of IS SAME, then H (hard – pencil lead)
17 Crime disappears, only partly (5)
ARSON
Hidden in [partly] {disappe}ARS ON{ly}
19 Dawn wants boy out of bed, by the sound of it? (3-2)
SUN-UP
Sounds like [by the sound of it] “son up” (boy out of bed)
21 Copy primate (3)
APE
Two meanings

43 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1970 by Mara”

  1. Several notes from the METCAST:-

    8ac CLEAR THE AIR; 10ac AREA; 11ac BULLETIN; 16ac BIGAMIST; 22ac RAINY; 19dn SUN UP! Best take an umbrella, 23ac PERHAPS? You never know?

    WOD 7dn SPLENDO! NB

    FOI 4dn avaTAR

    LOI 11dn BATTING

    COD 7dn MARMITE soldiers on the march again!

    On the 7:55 from Shanghai to Batting Halt via Eritrea.

    Edited at 2021-09-27 02:19 am (UTC)

  2. I found this exceedingly easy until I didn’t! Ground to a halt at the end, with MARMITE in particular. Didn’t know it as a pot, but the yeast product is one of my very favorite foods.
  3. I was slowed down a bit by RESIGNATION, not being able to sort out the anagrist in my head until I got some checkers. Biffed HALIBUT, parsed post-sub. NHO MARMITE, but it had to be (never seen a jar of the stuff, either). ‘Bumper’ is the US equivalent of BUMPER. 6:00.

  4. Quite straightforward today and under 15 minutes for me. I got a little held up by marmite, which I love but never use for cooking, and my last one in bigamist where I was looking to fit the name of a film in.

    Thanks Jack & Mara.

  5. 36 minutes with 4 trips to Chambers. I saw Marmite but was reluctant to put it in. I know it as a tasty food, not as a pot. I once tried Vegemite, which I believe is the Australian answer to Marmite. It was awful!

    FOI was Frigate. I did not understand the “gate” part of the clue, but it was obvious to me what the answer was.

    LOI was rainy. Took me a fair while to decipher that one.

  6. I flew through this until left with MARMITE (never knew it was a cooking pot) and LOI BIGAMIST where I needed an alphabet trawl before the penny dropped. Also had a slight pause working out the second meaning of BATTING.
    An enjoyable start to the week, finished in 8.41.
    Thanks to Jack

  7. FOI: 2D RACER
    LOI: 7D MARMITE

    All straightforward at just after midnight. I decided to wait until a decent night’s sleep before tackling the 15 x 15.

    Thank you to jackkt and Mara.

  8. As Jack says, the traditional Marmite label is illustrated with a picture of a large marmite cooking pot, so I always remember that one!

    Thought I might be on for a sub-K today but got totally stuck on BIGAMIST, requiring far too many trawls. In fact the Three Bs (BULLETIN, BUMPER and BIGAMIST) were the only troubles today.

    FOI PLUMP, LOI BIGAMIST, COD RAINY, time 09:12 for 1.5K and a Decent Day.

    Many thanks Mara and Jack.

    Templar

    Edited at 2021-09-27 08:27 am (UTC)

  9. Maybe MARMITE is usually a French word. In early December in Geneva children are given mini chocolate cooking pots/marmites filled with marzipan vegetables, to celebrate a victory over the Savoyards when a heroic woman, known as Mere Royaume, threw a stewpot over the ramparts on top of the invaders. Google Escalade Geneva 1602 if you want to know more. The present day choc marmites (pronounced marmeet obvs.) are quite something and pretty expensive!
    Actually I put Martini at first then had a PDM.
    Thanks vm, Jack.

    Edited at 2021-09-27 12:33 pm (UTC)

  10. ….until the very end when I took fully 30 seconds to nail my LOI. As Templar says, if you look at the label on the jar….

    FOI PLUMP (c’est moi)
    LOI BIGAMIST (one wife at a time was too many for me)
    COD BUMPER
    TIME 4:13

  11. An easy start with rapid progress in the NW continuing until the last few remained. I saw RESIGNATION early but hesitated to see it as ‘notice’. I dithered, too, over BIGAMIST but the parsing was clear. I didn’t help myself by writing BREAK for ‘abandon holiday’ but soon removed it and ‘cleared the air’ to leave MARMITE as my LOI (never heard of the pot and I avoid the black stuff). Within target, though. Thanks to Mara for a gentle start to the week and to jackkt for the usual crisp blog. John M.

    Edited at 2021-09-27 08:41 am (UTC)

  12. I’d not heard of the cooking pot and don’t partake of the yeast stuff, but the answer arrived after a bit of thought. FRIGATE was FOI and BIGAMIST LOI. 6:05. Thanks Mara and Jack.
  13. Within target but I didn’t find it a walk over. My mum had a metal marmite device in France which hung directly over the wood fire. The central heating water (via holes/tubes in the device) got hot and was sent around the radiators.
  14. in terms of time.

    MARMITE held no difficulties, I had it for breakfast, and am familiar with the cooking pot.

    BIGAMIST and RAINY were my last two in. BIGAMIST was fine once I realised film was not ET.., but these two took a while.

    6:24

  15. Another who didn’t know MARMITE (my LOI)was a cooking pot. I see my local weather forecast for today in 22/23A. 5:05
  16. 21:43. Slow finish with three clues in the middle causing trouble. I had RESERVATION which is a kind of seating, but this messed up BATTERS and LOI BIGAMIST. For BIGAMIST I was sure it was a word for Great (such as “gigantic”) with a slang for criminal in there.

    COD HALIBUT

  17. Back after two weeks in lovely Scotland….
    ……very enjoyable but conceded with Bigamist and Marmite unsolved.

    For Bigamist I couldn’t shake Gigantic or something with Giant…

    For Marmite I had Mar-i-e but still couldn’t get it (NHO)

    Thanks all
    John George

  18. A familiar story from me: LOI BIGAMIST even though I thought of Mist early. Prior to that RAINY and MARMITE held me up.
    There were some easy pickings: FOI TAR etc.
    But overall quite tricky I thought. COD to RESIGNATION.
    Time 11:01.
    David
  19. I found this fairly straightforward, although a few clues took some thought. MARMITE is French for a cooking pot.
  20. Thirteen minutes, so yes, a relatively easy offering. Didn’t think it was going to be – FOI area, then so-so, no more acrosses, but then the downs were easier, ten altogether, a’s and d’s on first pass.Solving all over after that. LOI resignation, biffed. Thought about terrine for the cooking pot but couldn’t get the p for the last of peaches to make sense, and terrine doesn’t relate to spoiling a little one. Saw plump, have two marmites, so in it went, unparsed. COD Halibut. Thanks, Jack, and Mara. GW.
  21. 8:25 and my fastest solve for many a day, so a very easy start to the week. FRIGATE went straight in along with its descendants, and so it continued until LOI BIGAMIST. No problem with MARMITE as I love the spread and knew what the pot on the label was called. I thought that BATTING was clever. Thanks Jackkt, and Mara for a nice easy one.
  22. Similarly I didn’t know MARMITE as a cooking pot and my LOI was BIGAMIST which gets my COD for wrongfooting me. I also liked RESIGNATION and RAINY. 9:33
  23. My first eight clues or so flew in so fast that I thought a rare escape from the SCC, or even a PB might be possible. The lower half of the grid, however, contained a few more challenging clues and I just missed out, finishing in 21 minutes. MESSIAH, BUMPER and BIGAMIST were the sticking points for me, but I’m still delighted with how it all went.

    After her unusual struggles with Breadman on Friday, Mrs Random was back to her normal self, crossing the line without any untoward problems in just 15 minutes. Sub-20 minutes is not uncommon for her these days.

    Many thanks to Mara and jackkt.

  24. One of Mara’s gentler offerings today to ease us into the week. Had nearly everything completed and parsed (or semi-parsed in the case of HALIBUT) in 12 mins but then took a full 3 mins over my LOI – MARMITE. Shouldn’t have done really because MITE for little one id fairly standard and I vaguely remembered it was a cooking pot. Thanks to Mara for an enjoyable puzzle and to Jack for his blog and completing the parsing of 9dn for me.

    FOI – 1ac FRIGATE
    LOI – 7dn MARMITE
    COD – 16ac BIGAMIST

  25. Rapidly sped through this and then got unstuck around the NE corner by putting in “Damper” for 14ac which I kind of knew wasn’t right, but was struggling for anything else at the time. Having a mental block on fish beginning with “H” also didn’t help. After 20 mins, had everything apart from 7dn “Marmite” which, like many above, I didn’t know. Thought it might be “Martine” which sounded more like a pot to me, but just couldn’t parse it. In the end, just biffed the wrong answer.

    Very much like the yeast extract itself, I found 7dn very 7dn.

    FOI — 1ac “Frigate”
    LOI — 7dn — dnf
    COD — 16ac “Bigamist” — well done for not having “ET”!

    Thanks as usual!

    Edited at 2021-09-27 11:11 am (UTC)

  26. 3:46 this morning. I agree with Jack that this was pretty straightforward with no obscurities.
    Apart that is from 7 d “marmite”, I guess. Many years ago I can recall seeing “marmite” on the menu in a restaurant in France during one of our driving holidays and immediately checking my dictionary to ensure I hadn’t come all that way to be faced with a dish of malt extract. I detest it while Mrs P adores it — somehow the marriage has survived.
    COD 20 ac “resignation” — that sort of “notice”.
    Thanks to Jack for the blog and to Mara for a gentle start to the week.
  27. I thought it was tough but managed to just about finish correctly.

    Marmite = cooking pot ? Really ? If you say so, i suppose.

    Another meaning for Marmite is something you really love or really hate.

    I really hated this clue.

    1. While Marmite is French for cooking pot, it’s not English. I don’t know what it is doing in a UK crossword.
  28. Like others slowed at the end — BULLETIN was my last one as it refused to spring to mind. MARMITE known but forgotten in the heat of battle and BATTING was also a bit reticent.

    Beaten by my twin by over a minute. Note to self — must do better* 🙂

    Pleasant start to the week

    Thanks all

  29. No problems today — pretty straightforward. We finished in 9 minutes.

    FOI: PLUMP
    LOI: BIGAMIST
    COD: RAINY

    Thanks Mara and Jackkt.

    We’ve just completed Sawbill’s excellent weekend puzzle. Many thanks, we enjoyed it.

    Edited at 2021-09-27 12:59 pm (UTC)

  30. A puzzle that I found relatively straightforward! I’m not sure this has happened before 🤣
    LOI BUMPER — always struggle more with DDs (although I note your comments about it not being a full DD, Jack…)
    COD BIGAMIST (tricksy but appreciated!)
    Many thanks Mara and Jack
  31. Left side went in fairly easily, apart from 16. Finally twigged ‘MARMITE’ which opened up the right side. Then left with BIGAMIST, which took an age to spot.
    Having a go at 15×15, but struggling today.
    BW
    Andrew
  32. Despite having the pot out each morning, we were slow to make the connection. Otherwise no problems finishing in 22m which is good for us. A nice start to the week.
  33. I also saw the weather forecast represented, but none other than our opening batsman. COD Bigamist. Marmite count me in!
    Time 6:43
  34. Just missed out on a sub-20 yet again due to loi problems — Bigamist had me foxed for far too long , even after I switched to Mist for the non ET film. A friendly enough Monday puzzle from Mara, albeit the unknown Marmite went in strictly on the reading of the cryptic. CoD to 20ac, Resignation, a pdm after Ad/Advert options were exhausted. Invariant
  35. All was going well with only the NE corner to go at 15 minutes but just couldn’t see bumper or marmite. Tried martini, which is what I felt like. Alas no joy and gave in at 22 minutes.
  36. It’s a “full” DD, à mon avis.
    “Very big,” as in (Collins’s example) a bumper crop of rice, and the car thing, as a somewhat cryptic definition.

    Edited at 2021-09-27 07:03 pm (UTC)

    1. Your avis is fine by me, Guy, but in my blogs I like to differentiate between clues which have two straight definitions or meanings and those which have one straight definition and another involving a cryptic element. I usually refer to the latter as a ‘cryptic hint’ rather than a full-blown second definition. Whether this is worth doing is a matter of opinion, but it’s my preferred way.

      Your example of ‘a bumper crop of rice’ is useful although I hoped I had indicated in my blog that I recognised ‘very big’ as the literal definition of BUMPER.

      Edited at 2021-09-27 07:53 pm (UTC)

      1. À chacun son gout. I wasn’t entirely clear on what criterion (which I now find utterly reasonable) you were denying the clue full-fledged DD status, especially since you did split the underline. But I must apologize for the fact that, having somehow (I do hope it was just glare on my screen rather than incipient blindness) missed seeing at first the bold-face on “Very big,” I nevertheless left my pedantic example from Collins in the post after I took due notice.

        “Bumper crop” is the only phrase I can think of where I’ve heard the word used that way.

        Edited at 2021-09-27 08:12 pm (UTC)

  37. Came to this very late in the evening …
    … after a long day of driving home from holiday, so grateful to Mara for a less challenging puzzle for a change. 8 minutes for me and no real holdups (unlike the drive on the M6!)

    No-one has remarked on the elegant brevity of Mara’s clues today. Nearly half of them fitted onto just one line in the version in the printed paper, leaving an unusually large blank “scribble space”.

    Many thanks to Jack for the blog
    Cedric

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