Times Quick Cryptic 2016 by Breadman

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A handful of clues here to trip up the unsuspecting solver.

While I sympathise with those who might say that some of these answers are slightly obscure, and therfore inappropriate in a QC, there is an enjoyable frisson to be had by trusting the wordplay and hoping for all green squares. An acquired taste, perhaps.

Definitions underlined.

Across
1 One who might appear before court jester with cape (7)
WITNESS – WIT (jester) and NESS (cape).
5 Aquatic conveyance right behind (4)
RAFT – R (right) and AFT (behind).
7 Fashionable electric vehicles backed (5)
SMART – TRAMS (electric vehicles) reversed (backed).
8 Gemstone, minute, received by dodgy dealer (7)
EMERALD – M (minute) contained by (received by) an anagram of (dodgy) DEALER.
10 Dull floor covering (3)
MAT – double definition.
11 Hospital doctor from triage’s moving into middle of Harrow (9)
REGISTRAR – anagram of (moving) TRIAGE’S contained by (into) the middle letters of haRRow.
13 Old Royal Marine probing grandma’s regional dialect (6)
NORMAN – O (old) and RM (Royal Marine) contained by (probing) NAN (grandma). The regional dialect of Normandy, France.
14 Criminal group extremely lanky: tall and thin (6)
GANGLY – GANG (criminal group) then the first and last letters of (extremeley) LankY.
17 Pre-adolescent child, affectedly quaint, developed anger (9)
TWEENAGER – TWEE (affectedly quiant), then an anagram of (developed) ANGER. I must have read this somewhere, as it registered, but could not have defined it without the cryptic.
19 Greek character runs house (3)
RHO – R (runs) and HO (house).
20 Polish in command initially on ancient boundary (7)
RUBICON – RUB (polish), first letters from (initially) In Command, then ON. Since I.C. is a valid abbreviation for ‘in command’, I think we could count this wordplay as generosity on the setter’s part.
22 Section of steel finial small and delicate (5)
ELFIN – hidden in (section of) steEL FINial.
23 A wicket with line wrong (4)
AWRY – A, W (wicket), and RY (railway, line).
24 Pictures usually seen here right inside cooking area (7)
GALLERY – R (right) contained by (inside) GALLEY (cooking area).

Down
1 Point above large church somewhere in central London (11)
WESTMINSTER – WEST (point, of the compass) above MINSTER (large church).
2 Rat lifted rubbish beneath train mostly (7)
TRAITOR – reversal of (lifted) ROT (rubbish) beneath all-but-the-last letter of (mostly) TRAIn.
3 Go in with can, embracing a host (9)
ENTERTAIN – ENTER (go in), then TIN (can) containing (embracing) A.
4 Christmas delivery vehicle butcher mentioned (6)
SLEIGH – sounds like (mentioned) “slay” (butcher).
5 Regret rugby game’s ending (3)
RUE – RU (Rugby Union, rugby) and the last letter from (…’s ending) gamE.
6 Reasonable to circulate learner’s talent (5)
FLAIR – FAIR (reasonable) containing (to circulate) L (learner).
9 Hat on Yankee supporting aristocrat’s football club (5,6)
DERBY COUNTY – DERBY (hat), then Y (yankee) below (supporting) COUNT (aristocrat).
12 Vertical space in building Rita’s altered thoroughly (9)
STAIRWELL – anagram of (altered) RITA’S, then WELL (thoroughly).
15 Tall animal‘s error crossing one river (7)
GIRAFFE – GAFFE (error) containing (crossing) I (one) and R (river).
16 Alcoholic drink disappeared, tipped up — around two gallons (6)
EGGNOG – GONE (disappeared) reversed (tipped up), containing (around) GG (two gallons).
18 The Spanish bend part of arm (5)
ELBOW – EL (‘the’ in Spanish) and BOW (bend).
21 Modest business year (3)
COY – CO (company, business) and Y (year).

78 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 2016 by Breadman”

  1. A time which does not, I think, reflect the difficulty the puzzle gave me. Most of it was easy enough (TWEENAGER has come up a few times), but STAIRWELL, REGISTRAR (not a meaning I knew), and DERBY COUNTY, and GALLERY and maybe one or two more felt quite tricky.
  2. Fortunately I remembered REGISTRAR=doctor, not a term used in the US. NHO the football club, but the wordplay was clear, at least once I had a couple of checkers. 7:03.
  3. No cause for pique-t-oday as I crossed the rubicon in 30s short of SCC. Having laboured in junior, middle and senior roles of 11A, REGISTRAR was a write in. Biffed SUAVE (electric vehicle, EV, backed) instead of SMART (LOI) until ENTERTAIN put me right to finish successfully.
    No particular COD stood out as a uniformly consistent puzzle for me.
    Thanks Breadman and William
  4. An enjoyable crossword, and one that I had completed in under 40 minutes – or so I thought. I put sledge instead of sleigh. That’ll teach me to check my answers!

    So an enjoyable DNF. No aids.

    Edited at 2021-11-30 06:39 am (UTC)

  5. A huge pb. Ten on the first pass of acrosses, which is a record, before speeding through the downs to finish all green in 7.02 — which pleasingly sandwiches me between Jeremy and Kevin on the early leaderboard. ENTERTAIN and SMART held me up at the end and then I couldn’t type and submit fast enough to break seven to give the day’s only disappointment. Enjoyed seeing EGGNOG appear from unpromising beginnings.
  6. 7 minutes. Looked twice at NORMAN, thinking it rather an odd clue as I’m not sure why the average UK solver would necessarily be aware of it as a French regional accent. Many other possible definitions were available e.g. relating it to the invasion in 1066.
    1. It was happy to get away from a distinctly tricky ‘Biggie’.

      FOI 1ac WITNESS

      LOI 14ac GANGLY

      COD 9dn DERBY COUNTY which was where baseball was last played regularly outside of London. — The Baseball Ground For Kevin & Co. it is pronounced DARBY and not DURBY. A local game became big rivals is also a DARBY/DERBY in football mad Britain. Is Wayne Rooney still there?

      WOD 17ac TWEENAGER!

      Nice to see the the three-legged GIRAFFE grazing at 15dn — the clue was a bit lame!

      Edited at 2021-11-30 07:29 am (UTC)

        2. Kevin – The previous question was, “Is Wayne Rooney still there?”
          You’ll of course know that he still is The Rams manager! But that could well change in the January “window”.

          Madge and her Hanoverian family (the Saxe-Coburgs) have attended the ‘The Epsom Derby’ at Ascot, since 1780. The Kentucky version began in 1875.

          Watch out for Rex Harrison in ‘My Fair Lady’, and that darned Nightingale in Berkeley Square.

          “PS: Is Derby (Darby) a nice place to visit? Apparently the residents of this English city of Derby get all wound up when Americans say “we really like Durrrby but we liked Lie-sesterrrrbedderrrr” (meaning Leicester”).” ‘Glossophilia’ – the love of language.

          Thank you Mr. Rotter – I do hope ‘The Foxes’ prevail, but please hang on to your ‘Scouse’ manager – he is not required at Old Trafford! German is all the rage again!

          1. Not far from Leicester and Derby is the town of Loughborough, famously mispronounced by one American visitor as ‘Luger Beruger’.
            1. Their soccer team may be a basket case (lost again last night I see), but real ale lovers should pay Derby a visit. It has one of the best sets of traditional pubs in England — second only to Norwich in the variety of ales available.
            2. As a resident of said town, I can report that the local urban myth is that it was an Australian. Try saying Loogabarooga in Strine – it sounds just right😅 In fact the local pronounciation is Luffbra, with the A slightly shortened. It’s that dreaded word again Merlin!!
              If you can’t join’em etc – until the last couple of years, we had an arts festival called Loogabarooga! Have also discovered that there is now a reading scheme with characters called Looga and Barooga – I wonder if it’s anything to do with the fact that Ladybird books were produced here for nearly a century?
          1. Confused. Does Horryd really think the Derby is run at Ascot? And who is he to write about HMQ so disrespectfully? Just thinking of his nom de guerre, I guess.

            Edited at 2021-11-30 06:15 pm (UTC)

            1. Sorry, he knows it is run at Epsom. A senior moment. Having noted that HMQ is no longer head of state for Barbados and Lady Sandra Mason (72) is, came as a bit of a shock to Rihanna, who was hoping to be the island’s next Queen. Perhaps she will one day!?
  7. We thought we might be on for a very fast time today but solving WITNESS and NORMAN really slowed us down. A good workout which we finished in 10 minutes.

    FOI: WESTMINSTER
    LOI: TRAITOR
    COD: ELBOW (made us laugh)

    Thanks William and Breadman.

  8. The Westminster and Norman clues held me up- otherwise straightforward.
    Do Normans sound like Yorkshiremen to Parisians I wonder? By ‘eck!
    1. Many settled in North East coastal districts of Norfolk.
      Four miles inland, Herringfleet near Somerleyton was anglicised from the earlier Heronsfleet and has nowt to do with fish!

  9. I found this easier than yesterday’s offering with all green just under 15. I have 2 tweenagers so am aware of the pre-adolescent posturing! Got slightly held up in the NE with Registrar, Raft & Flair being a bit slower to emerge. I thought doctor was going to be MD or DR or similar for a bit.
    FOI Emerald
    LOI Raft
    COD Rubicon

  10. Very very happy and while I jumped around the grid nothing held me up much although with a G and an N in place it was hard to resist GIN somewhere in 16D so that’s my COD

    Sometimes the Xwd Gods just smile on you. 5:48

  11. Always happy with sub 20 so at sub 17 this seemed less difficult. More than usual BIFD. Easier for UK medical football fans. Thanks Breadman and William

  12. Sometimes, a grid just fills up steadily and without drama. This was a good QC which I finished ca. 4 mins under target (just under 11 mins) so a satisfying start to the day. Lots of fine but fair clues. My COD is TWEENAGER which was a new word to me.
    Many thanks to Breadman and Jeremy. John M.
  13. Never heard of tweenager and it isn’t in either my OED or Chambers, Most of this was fair enough and I agree , enjoyable. However if a word is so obscure that it doesnt make it into a mainsteam dictionary I would suggest it is inappropriate for a quickie.
      1. TWEENAGER is in my printed Chambers (12th edition, 2011) so I referred back to my previous copy published in 2003 and it’s in that too! The only Chambers I didn’t find it is the free on-line version, but I’ve never been able to discover exactly which edition that’s supposed to be. It’s labelled Chambers 21st Century Dictionary so it should be no more than 3 years older than my 2003 edition.

        Edited at 2021-11-30 10:58 am (UTC)

        1. My edition is older than I thought – 1999 – definitely not in there. A bit surprised I haven’t heard the word but if it is in later edtions my basic charge doesnt hold.
  14. After slaying 4d, WAGNESS didn’t compute so I gathered my wits and all was well. A RAFT of answers followed at a SMART pace, and I flew down the STAIRWELL to cross the RUBICON at 5:49. Thanks Breadman and William.
  15. TWEENAGER also new to me, but it didn’t resist for very long. I took 13 minutes in all, held up mostly by the RAFT FLAIR pair, which were last two in. FOI WITNESS which came straight to me, as did second one in WESTMINSTER for a very good start. I enjoyed the early nod to Christmas with the SLEIGH EGGNOG pair in the middle rank and wondered if that might signal a theme, but saw nothing else to fit. I got DERBY early, but for the life of me, couldn’t remember the other part of their name until some checkers appeared in the bottom half. It was just a dead brain cell I assume, as a Foxes supporter, Derby County have been regular local Derby opponents in those years when we are in the same division. Thanks Breadman and William.

    Has anyone else noted a new problem with posting comments on LJ from an iPad? Every time I post a comment, the app freezes and I have to close LJ and reopen to unfreeze it. I think it just started in the last few days, but is very annoying!

    There, it did it again!

    Edited at 2021-11-30 10:16 am (UTC)

    1. I’ve not had that problem, rotter, but a comment I made on the 15×15 blog yesterday was duplicated after a delay with no action from me, as far as I am aware. I removed the duplicate.
      I just blame all recent iPad glitches on the IOS 15 update. John. 😀
  16. … for those of us that search for some reason. Very enjoyable, thanks William and Breadman
  17. Not super speedy but a steady solve from East side to West.
    Had to think about TRAITOR and NORMAN (a bit obscure). Like Steakcity I was trying to fit EV (or other acronym for elec vehicle) into 7a. Once penny had dropped with WESTMINSTER most answers came to mind.
    Liked RUBICON, WITNESS, among others.
    Thanks, William, vm.
  18. An entertaining puzzle from Breadman. I was a bit slow to spot what was going on with the 1s and STAIRWELL also held me up for a bit for no apparent reason. Other than that a steady solve with my favourite being NORMAN for the PDM. Finished in 8.24 with LOI SMART.
    Thanks to William

  19. PB for me today at 13 mins and a very enjoyable steady solve. Thought all was fair and well clued, perhaps a bit generous even. Good way to start the day. Thought there might be a theme going on with sleigh and eggnog but couldn’t see it, just coincidence perhaps as we are all starting to think about Christmas.

  20. I seem to be 12th on the leaderboard.

    PB I think, after a near PB on the 15×15 yesterday.

    Obviously quite a lot of biffing. LOI was GANGLY . Not sure I had time to have a favourite.

    3:24

  21. Finished correctly in 39 minutes.
    First one for a while.

    Had not heard of TWEENAGER before – I thought it might be a typo – but apparently not.

    As for Derby County – not heard much about them since they sacked Brian Clough back in the 70’s.

    Thanks to the Baker.

    1. Catch up me Old China! You are are bit on the slow side all round!

      Edited at 2021-11-30 11:17 am (UTC)

  22. After a few days of struggle, I found this very straightforward and worked steadily through it. A few clues perhaps a bit too obvious?
  23. 11:49 but with a silly error on my LOI. I felt I was going too slowly so bunged in SLEDGE without thinking too hard. Australian sledging is pretty brutal but…
    Otherwise nothing much to report.
    Derby County played last night, losing to a late goal by QPR. Their points deduction is massive so I can’t see how they can survive in the Championship.
    David
  24. It didn’t cause any problem but I think that a rug is a mat, and dull is matt, but maybe there are options?
    Andyf
  25. ….’noggin’ at 16D, but otherwise little to delay me.

    FOI RAFT
    LOI STAIRWELL
    COD RUBICON
    TIME 4:17

  26. 10:13, very smooth solve. Only query was the odd definition of NORMAN as a dialect. Never used the term TWEENAGER, “tween” maybe. Also, surely dull is spelt matt , or even matte?

    My new target is 1 hour for both 15×15 and QC combined, close today.

  27. It looks as though I picked a good day to dip my toe in the water again. At 12mins this must be in my top half dozen solves. In fact, if I had started with the easier 1ac, rather than being tempted by 1d, and if I had come across ‘tweenager’ before, it might even have been a PB. But no complaints from me about what Breadman served up today. Invariant
  28. Derby County only seen on TV and they are in serious trouble, apparently. The setter may well be a disgruntled fan. My COD 4dn SLEIGH as it mislead so many.

    Edited at 2021-11-30 02:12 pm (UTC)

  29. A pretty quick one, sneaking in just under 8 minutes while eating beans on toast. I agree that there were a few gimmes, but others took a bit more thought – here anyway! When my two were young, there was a TV programme called the Tweenies, which was when I first became aware of TWEENAGER. I thought it was a silly word then, and I still do! There’s a perfectly good word to describe that age group – what’s the matter with child? Hope I’m not getting into any disputes here 😉
    FOI Emerald
    LOI Gangly
    COD Giraffe
    Thanks Breadman and William

    I found the 15×15 quite friendly today – in fact it took me about 25 minutes. Like Merlin, I put aside about an hour to do both puzzles, but it’s not a given that I’ll even finish the biggie!

  30. That was a genuine quickie, for a change, starting with FOI WITNESS. I didn’t read the cluing properly for 1d so biffed Whitechapel but realised my mistake once MAT went in. My LOI was STAIRWELL which I parsed post submission. 6:47
  31. Or to paraphrase the playwright Daubridgecourt Belchier ‘great minds think alike’.
  32. … but not without interest on the way. Several of the words, while not too challenging to solve, caused me to do a bit of internet digging:
    ◊ Is Mat (one T) really a synonym for dull (answer, not in British English but it is apparently an alternative US spelling for Matt)
    ◊ Is Tweenager a real word (answer, reluctantly yes, though I note my computer spellchecker does not know it and I can’t say I have ever used it myself)
    ◊ Does electric vehicles = trams work (answer, not entirely, as not all trams are electric, with both steam trams and horse-drawn trams quite common in the past)
    ◊ Is Norman a living dialect (answer, just about yes, though nowadays mostly, possibly only, spoken in the Channel Islands, where it is known as Jèrriais (Jersey) and Guernésiais (Guernsey))

    So much fun post solve and hats off to Breadman for encouraging the internet searches!

    Many thanks also to William for the blog
    Cedric

  33. 3:40 this morning. Slightly easier than average from the Breadman but maybe that’s because after a quick start I was on a roll today………or maybe not…
    COD 9 d “Derby County” which I always recall as enunciated by Cloughie, a side without their challenges to seek at the moment.
    Thanks to William for the blog and to Breadman.
  34. Serious rivals of Notts Forest at one time, then Clough moved from one to t’other and adjusted his pronouncements accordingly. Not a quick solve for me today, but a very enjoyable one, all parsed except for emerald, which for dodgy dealer I had erald, as in atner. Couldn’t see where the other e fit for the life of me, so many thanks to William for sorting that out. Many of the clues were nice and ponderable, but I especially liked giraffe, and the image conjured for a moment of those lovely animals.
    1. …hence the main road from Nottingham to Derby (the A52) is now called the Brian Clough Way.
  35. Just a small query: Mr SR and I thought that Breadman’s crosswords usually contain a reference to bread and/or baking (like Oink and the porcine links).
    Did we not see today’s one or are we mistaken?

    Very enjoyable crossword and useful, as ever, blog — many thanks.

    Stone Rose

    1. I don’t think there is usually a bread theme (unless I too have missed something) but can you imagine how delicious a joint effort between Oink and Breadman might be! Bacon roll anyone?
  36. Still not able to log in. Puzzle we found easiest for some timeat 13m, very fast for us. No real holdups, but questioned 13a norman and 10a mat, as mentioned above. Thanks Breadman for a pleasant solve. Ianelin.
  37. But held up by RAFT and FLAIR of all things. Like pebee I too remember The Tweenies so no problems with TWEENAGER. COD STAIRWELL, FOI SMART, LOI FLAIR. Nice puzzle Breadman, and thanks v much for blog.
  38. Fairly easy today, all finished in under 15 minutes. But in my haste put sledge not sleigh. D’oh.
  40. Really enjoyed this one with lots of straightforward clues — and vocabulary we knew (even tweenager as we have grandchildren of a certain age). Thanks Breadman. Dave and Sal
  41. Late to this today and was surprised by the above average number of comments as I thought this was a relatively straight forward QC.

    I came in at 14 mins, although I’m sure if I pushed myself a bit harder I could have been quicker. Main hold up was 1dn “Westminster”
    and 7ac “Smart”.

    FOI — 5dn “Rue”
    LOI — 7ac “Smart”
    COD — 4dn “Sleigh”

    Thanks as usual!

  42. Can’t believe I failed on RAFT. Didn’t get the first three acrosses, but pretty much everything else went in straight away except GALLERY and TRAITOR, which I got when I came back to. I was on for a good, if not spectacular time, but even with R_F_ and knowing the second letter had to be a vowel, I just couldn’t see anything it could be. After about three minutes, I put in RIFF and hoped for the best. Not my finest decision. Oh, well. COD to TRAITOR. Thanks Breadman and William.
  43. An entertaining QC that was just right for my level of solving. I was convinced the vertical space in a building was a shaft, which slowed me down for a while. I was also unsure of Mat as I would have chosen Matt or Matte. I don’t time myself, but this was one of my faster solves.

    I’m pleased to see that The Rotter is a fellow Leicester City football supporter. The Foxes winning the league title seems to have spread around the world as it’s often the first thing people mention when I say I’m from Leicester.

  44. Raft? Not if you put in Rear first — thinking rea was an acronym or other for aquatic conveyance.

    Rats — failed to see Flair after that.

    Otherwise 16 minutes. DNF

    Thanks all
    John George

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