Times Quick Cryptic 2077 by Orpheus

80 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 2077 by Orpheus”

1. …and got rewarded. However, I nearly put suckling, which is a pig not a bird, and got stuck at the end on aground, which should not have been very hard. I could not think of cutter for quite a while – is a fitter a boat? – but when I came back I saw it at once. Time: 7:25.

   If you’re looking for the hardest puzzle ever, try today’s main course – even Verlaine took over 10 minutes.

   1. Certainly not the hardest ever. I didn’t find it to be even the hardest this month, but it certainly isn’t one for SCC members to devote their time to.
2. CAMBRIAN was my LOI, too, for the same reason as William. I don’t think I knew that LIMERICK was a county, but with a couple of checkers it was clear. William, you forgot Georgia in PAGAN. 5:30.
3. I was delayed at 1a by my assumption that 4d would start with S, but then postulating CAM for eccentric soon revealed the very naughty boy. I guessed Odense was in Denmark, and having looked it up afterwards now know that it’s the 3rd largest city there! The rest of the puzzle went in without further delay with EPSOM at the end of the home straight. 7:20. Thanks Orpheus and William.
4. 8 minutes. I wasn’t sure about Odense being in Denmark but I resisted the temptation to do an alphabet trawl on ?A?E looking for an alternative to DANE.
   1. Odense is the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen. I was there once for a conference so didn’t see much, but what I saw was quite pleasant.
   2. Odense featured in some of the POW escape stories I read as a boy as a target destination to stow away on a ship, but I still had no idea where it was!
5. About 20 minutes to solve this offering from Orpheus with no stumbling blocks.
   FOI: BYE followed by NOMADIC. Last in EASY/EPSOM. COD: TACTILE.
   BIFD CARETAKER just seeing an anagram of Race and not looking further until parsing post-solve.
6. Had BUY not BYE and not knowing where Odense was I biffed GARY where DANE should have been thinking ‘sounds like a place in Germany, that’s In Europe, take MAN away, leaves GARY, hey presto, that’s a fellow” which of course fails on every single level. Ho hum. Self kicking in progress.
   1. We’ve all been there. Just wait until you start inventing new words.
      1. … such as MADBRIAN.
7. Started with BATS and BAROMETER and went round the grid clockwise from there. CAMBRIAN was my LOI and I’m still unclear as to the cam/eccentric link as I can’t see any references in Collins.
   Other than that no real problems, finishing in 8.32.
   Thanks to William
   1. A cam is, IIRC, a lobe on a shaft. Hence camshaft, which is the thing in an engine that makes the valves open and close.
      1. The camshaft opens the valves but it’s the springs that close them. Unless, of course, you’re got a Ducati with desmodromic valve gear in which case one cam opens the valve and another one closes it.
         Sorry but drank a whole mug of pedantry this morning !
   2. I too found the blog less than enlightening on “eccentric” for “cam” and so turned to Lexico, which has this as the second entry for “eccentric” as a noun: “A disc or wheel mounted eccentrically on a revolving shaft in order to transform rotation into backward-and-forward motion, e.g. a cam in an internal combustion engine.”

      So I think it’s really a definition by example and strictly should have had something like “say” included, but that would have made the clue less elegant

      Edited at 2022-02-23 08:47 am (UTC)

      1. Thanks Templar. Sounds like one to try and put in the memory banks
         1. Yes, I have added it to my list of things that I need to remember but usually don’t!
            1. When you reach my age you’ll find that said list includes things like “buy milk”. The level of forgetfulness increases on an annual basis. Off to drink my unsweetened black tea…..
               1. So you forgot to buy sugar, too?
      2. I’m sticking my neck out here and am ready to be corrected by those in the know, but I don’t think the DBE conventions are intended apply to elements of wordplay, only to literal definitions (Welsh/Cambrian) in this clue. If they did it would be very restricting for setters and we might have question marks at the end of nearly every clue.

         There is a school of thought that doesn’t believe they should apply in any situation. I don’t agree with that but I’m more relaxed about it since I started solving the Guardian puzzle regularly.

         1. Ah, I did wonder if that might be the case
         2. Hi Jackkt

            What are the DBE conventions ?

            Mao.

            1. Definition by example

               It was (and still is, according to some) a convention that if a setter uses e.g. “bay” in a clue to define “horse” in an answer this requires some sort of indictor that the definition is by example. The most common indicators would be: perhaps, say, for example / e.g., or simply a question mark at the end of the clue.

   3. Thanks for bringing the cam/eccentric conundrum up as I was at a loss too. I won’t be caught out next time.
8. I think this must have been a PB — but I don’t time myself. Probably around 10 mins, I’m usually nearer half an hour. I started with BYE and quickly pencilled on CAMBRIAM., which soon proved correct as the downs went in. After that, it was pretty much top to bottom. Loved BATS.

   Thanks, Orpheus, for a very enjoyable QC. And William for the blog.

   Edited at 2022-02-23 08:39 am (UTC)

9. Greetings from Belgium. Like others 1a lasted longest. Went a bit nuts putting Ian for Welsh so needed a five letter man to give something meaning eccentric — got there in the end. Ended up all green in 14 after only 3 on the first pass of acrosses.

10. DNF at DANE as although I’ve been to Denmark many times I’ve never heard of Odense. Alphabet trawl came up with several near misses, but guessed that maybe Odense was a type of horses mane (hence “man” for fellow).

    At 13a I had B=“back of pub” then that left arrow=noise, which I couldn’t quite see…

    COD AGROUND

11. Finished NE first then finally ended at CAMBRIAN after alphabet search.
    Liked IMPORTER, GENDARME, WRIT among others.
    No broadband, and now no heating, but others far worse off, so won’t moan (much).
    Thanks all, esp William
    Countrywoman
    1. Wish there was a sympathy icon, Countrywoman..
    2. Hope you are re-energised soon and not flooded.
12. Got completely stuck on 1ac — and since that’s where I always start but today it was also my LOI, that means I got stuck on it twice. Even when I came back with the checkers and so could see it was likely to be “Brian” and thus CAMBRIAN, “eccentric” for “cam” made no sense to me and I agonised over whether “madbrian” could be a word. I think that clue accounted for half my time today!

    FOI BATS, LOI CAMBRIAN, COD IMPORTER, time 10:57 for 2K and a Bad Day.

    Many thanks William and Orpheus.

    Templar

    Edited at 2022-02-23 09:00 am (UTC)

    1. I went down the madbrian route too.
13. A pleasant solve …
    … and all done in 11 minutes, but interested to see Dame clued as American woman. Any number of honoured Englishwomen, from Dame Helen Mirren downwards, might debate that one.

    Otherwise a minor hold-up before I remembered the other meaning of Cam (when it isn’t being a river), but no real problems. A good start to the day.

    Many thanks to William for the blog
    Cedric

    1. “There is nothing you can name that is anything like a dame”.
14. 13 minutes which could have been 11 if only I had seen AWARD and DANE more quickly. No problems with CAMBRIAN which I saw as soon as BYE went in. Incidentally, I wondered if BYE was a triple def at first, with buy, bye and by all being possible homophones in the clueing. I think I liked AGROUND best. Thanks William and Orpheus.
15. Could I ask regular fast solvers such as Kevin Gregg and, particularly, glheard (today 3.31) for any tips on how to complete these crosswords in under 4 minutes? I have occasionally masqueraded as a “neutrino” just to see how fast I could complete the grid without having to think about the clues at all and I still struggle to achieve the clearly genuine times I see regularly posted by some solvers. I’m not really trying to emulate these super fast solvers and am more than pleased to achieve (occasionally) times below ten minutes but I’m curious as to the techniques used to complete the grids online at such speeds.
    1. Verlaine regularly posts videos of his solves on-line.
    2. I’m afraid I have nothing to tell you, as I have no idea how I solve. I’ve been doing these for about 15 years, started off hopeless, slowly got better. No strategies, no techniques that I know of, at least.
       1. I’ve been doing cryptics three times longer than Kevin. You simply speed up with experience, but start to slow down with age. I can solve faster on paper, but I’ve taken to a tablet for convenience.
          1. Phil, I have been solving the same time as you and echo your sentiments entirely.

             By the way, you need to buy milk … just being helpful (vide supra).

             1. Thanks for all your responses. I too can solve faster on paper than online, and possibly too my solving times are slowing down with age – I started doing The Times Crossword as a sixth former in 1964, encouraged by a far-sighted modern languages teacher. Perhaps then it’s an age thing but I’m still amazed at how quickly some of you can fill in the grid (all green) online. Perhaps I need the help of a teenage amanuensis. I’d still be interested in viewing Verlaine’s video should it become available again.
                1. My advice FWIW would be to forget about times and just enjoy solving. I have little competitive spirit so it’s easy for me to say that, and I appreciate that others have different motivations.
                   1. I entirely agree with those sentiments and indeed have in the past expressed my view on these pages on speed solving without parsing the clues – so-called “biffing” – (I was shot down I seem to remember). Nevertheless that doesn’t stop me being impressed at just how quickly it can be done.
                   2. Good advice. For many of us, the enjoyment is in the solving and the completion time is much less umportant.
16. As usual, I motored quickly at the start (apart from my LOI CAMBRIAN) but soon slowed down. I took too long over fairly simple clues that were easy with hindsight — e.g. DUCKLING (although LING went in immediately), GENDARME (I had the wrong American woman to follow GEN) etc. No problem with CAM — my first car had a side-valve engine but I had to adjust the overhead cams on my second car at frequent intervals.
    16 mins in the end so slightly over target yet again. Some very good clues, although BYE took me too long and I was not engirely happy with EASY at first — seemed just too easy. Thanks to Orpheus and William. John M.
    1. I had the same reservation about EASY
17. 10 minutes today. My last two were CAMBRIAN and ISLET. FOI ERA after taking a while to get started.
    Lots of unchecked first letters made this tricky in places.
    But good clues. COD to IMPORTER.
    David
18. I can’t remember being this troubled by a puzzle for a very long time, still being 6 away after the 20 minute mark. Felt like I wasn’t seeing anything at all after a reasonable start, but there’s always tomorrow. Thanks to William for the enlightenment.
19. Twelve and a half minutes. FOI bats. Only three acrosses at first. Didn’t do a first pass as such, solved all over the grid as letters went in to assist. LO’sI were aground, and duckling, for which I needed aground. Biffed Cambrian, Limerick. Thought easy was too easy, as stated previously. COD barrow, but liked aground also. Thanks, William, and Orpheus.
20. A tip of the hat to anyone who had Cambrian as foi — I needed all its offspring and a long pause over eccentric/cam. Apart from that, a reasonably steady solve put me in with a shout of sub-20 with just two go. Unfortunately they were Writ and Aground and initially i could only think of Wag for comedian and As* for a singular. Cue much sucking of teeth until the pdms with Writ and loi Aground, which also wins my CoD vote. Invariant

    Edited at 2022-02-23 10:36 am (UTC)

21. …snuck into sub 4 territory, but CAMBRIAN nudged me just over, with CAM going in unparsed for me.

    Otherwise no hold ups.

    4:07

22. First solve for a while (if I said there’s been too much good chess on You Tube would you believe me? Thought not).

    Essayed on my computer rather than tapping on the phone which does seem to be a bit easier.

    No real hold ups. AGROUND loi

    Thanks all

23. DNF
    Gave up after 20 minutes- much too hard for me.
    Not sure what 1 Across was all about.

    CAM = Eccentric ; chap= BRIAN ?

    With clues like this I might as well give up these QCs.

    1. Don’t give up..we all struggle sometimes ! It is clear from others that 1 across is somewhat of a poor clue. A cam is probably only known in engineering, and Brian is only one of dozens of chaps names..so there we go! David W
24. A pleasing 14 mins for me for what turned out to be fairly tricky in places. I DNK “cam” = eccentric — in fact, I didn’t know that actual meaning of “eccentric” either. Similarly, “rick” = stack is something else that appears to have passed me by.

    For a while nearly had “Mane” for 8ac, not knowing where Odense was — but then realised it probably had to be someone from a European nation and “Dane” was the only that seemed to fit.

    FOI — 3dn “Bye”
    LOI — 1ac “Cambrian”
    COD — 7dn “Tactile” — nice surface.

    Thanks as usual!

    Edited at 2022-02-23 11:20 am (UTC)

    1. Historically ‘hayrick’ and ‘haystack’ used to be in common parlance and seen on every farm, but maybe not now as farming methods have changed.
25. Could you post a link please. The ones I’ve found say “content unavailable”.
    Thanks
    1. Ah, I didn’t realise there might be a problem. I only ever looked once (too depressing!) when the link was presented in the blog on the day. Somebody else may be able to help you, but otherwise I would suggest you follow V’s Friday blogs and no doubt he will advise when there’s a new one available.
    2. I talked to Verlaine last night – he’s traveling around, and he needs to get a new webcam, so he is not streaming on Twitch right at the moment. Evidently, the older videos roll off.
26. ….instantly abandoned. However, when I came to the second pass I had all the crossers, so CAMBRIAN fell straight into place. Apart from EASY, which I thought was rather weak, I found this a decent offering from Orpheus.

    FOI BATS
    LOI CARETAKER
    COD IMPORTER
    TIME 3:43

27. Rather a struggle, but successful in the end. Could not parse CAMBRIAN – did not see how CAM = eccentric.
28. ….and coffee !
29. As others my LOI was an unparsed CAMBRIAN in 9.09.
30. … but not as agonisingly as yesterday. 31 minutes in total, which is excellent for me when Orpheus is involved. In fact, I have only once dipped under 30 minutes when he has been the setter.

    BATS, BAROMETER and TACTILE were my first three in, and I proceeded from there down the RHS of the grid fairly comfortably.IMPORTER and LIMERICK held out a little, but I enjoyed the latter when the penny dropped.

    My main trouble today was with the LHS of the grid. ODER, DUCKLING and WRIT all required careful thought and some trial and error, but my last two in were back in the NW corner – DANE and CAMBRIAN. Indeed, I wondered if MADBRIAN was something to do with Welsh for some minutes. Luckily though, even I didn’t think it was a real word and an alphabet trawl eventually yielded the correct solution.

    Mrs Random is visiting her parents again and will have to tackle today’s and yesterday’s puzzles sometime tomorrow. Perhaps she will knock them both off, along with tomorrow’s of course, in less time than I take tomorrow.

    Many thanks to Orpheus and William.

31. After my lightening charge yesterday (and thanks to all those kind commenters’ flames), I have retired to my usual corner chair in the club after a 26 minute circuit. All the aforementioned gotchas got me but in the end I felt that it was a worthy challenge. COD EPSOM for its memories of a time past.
    Thanks Orpheus and William
32. We seemed to plod through the puzzle today — perhaps because we’re on holiday. Any how we finished in 17 .53 with CAMBRIAN taking ages to solve (will have to try and remember CAM for future reference).

    FOI: BATS
    LOI: WRIT
    COD: AGROUND

    Thanks William and Orpheus.

33. Finished in abt 28m. No problem with Odense, once we had changed buy for bye. Two holidays in Denmark many years ago to go to Legoland with the kids. Slow to get 14d aground, the word singular in the clue seems superfluous. Enjoyable puzzle.
34. I was surprised by a couple of clues. I would have expected that there would be something indicating it was not a British policeman in a QC, although it was fairly obvious with some checkers, and In 5d I was expecting the “O” for old to be the first letter of the answer rather than part of the anagrist. I don’t recall seeing this before (but with my memory…), to me it seems close to including something which isn’t in the clue in the anagrist. “CID man surprisingly hides old wanderer” seems to be a better construction to me.

    Edited at 2022-02-23 04:23 pm (UTC)

35. Too many obscure defs in there for me with Odense, rick=stack, cam=eccentric, ile=island in french, ducat, Oder. Even CAMBRIAN itself, I thought was a geological period rather than an area. BIFD through some but came up stuck in the NW.

    Didn’t have the mental push today after an unusually busy morning.

    FOI BAROMETER
    COD IMPORTER

    Edited at 2022-02-23 04:37 pm (UTC)

    1. The geological period is named after the Roman name for Wales.
36. Was doing well until the cambrian/islet crosser.
    Completed on the laptop for the first time in ages, which is much nicer than the phone.
    11m
    COD bats/limerick.
37. Packed up after 12 solves in 26 clues today. No great effort from me but perhaps a gentle hint on overall QC difficulty. Others may have views.
38. Enjoyed today’s QC
    Sympathy with those who just do it without really knowing how. I am tne same with anagrams. I get the answer but cannot work out how i do it so i can’t teach any one else.
39. Just when I thought I was about to complete the second QC in two days, Cambrian completely floored me! Got the brian bit but the cam eluded me. Maybe better tomorrow?
40. Did this online, so slower than normal. CAMBRIAN last in.
    Not much else to add.
    Thanks for the blog.
41. All was going well. The RHS flew in but gradually slowed until I was stuck for a full 5 minutes on last 2 ISLET and CAMBRIAN.
42. I did complete it but with a lot of biffing. But in many multiples of 4 minutes.

    Cam/eccentric is a bit much for me.

43. A similar pattern to yesterday with most of it going in quickly, but being slowed down at the end by a four letter word that required an alphabet trawl. Fortunately, this time I wasn’t scuppered by having spelt one of the crossers of the 4-letter word wrong, and as D is near the start of the alphabet, it didn’t take too long to come up with DANE. I still wasn’t sure of it, mind, as I was fairly certain Odense was on the Black Sea, and I now see I wasn’t being entirely (O)dense as I was thinking of Odessa. Anyway, 21:11 in the end. FOI BATS, LOI DANE, COD LIMERICK. Thanks Orpheus and William.
44. Have had quite a busy day so a very late posting from me. I did this in 9 minutes this morning, and found it pleasant enough. Having seen CAM for eccentric quite often in the biggie, it didn’t cause any problems, and we’ve crossed the CAMBRIAN hills a few times, so that wasn’t too much of a stretch either! Talking about the biggie though 😱 Four inked in and two pencilled after about half an hour — it was like being back in the early days of solving! I abandoned it and haven’t even bothered looking at it again.
    FOI Bats
    LOI Writ
    COD CAMBRIAN (possibly a bit controversially 😅)
    Thanks Orpheus and William
45. For us members of the SCC, Cambrian was v tough. I guessed it but then, like others, associated it more with geological periods. Didn’t know cam for eccentric, and at one point had ‘madbrian’. Then I thought it might begin with ‘dai’. After 30 mins put in Cambrian, and was surprised to find it was right.

    Cambrian apart I was on a flyer. As it is, I was somewhere around the hour mark.

    I’ll know it next time!

    Gary A

Comments are closed.