Times Quick Cryptic 2092 by Wurm

31 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 2092 by Wurm”

1. Fortunately, Morse’s name has appeared in a couple of 15x15s, so I was ready for it this time; never seen or read any Morsiana. ETHEREAL had me puzzled; finally realized that ‘around there’ actually meant ‘around “there”‘. I was working on (LIGHTALE)* at first. LOI PIECEMEAL, where I just couldn’t see how MEAL got there; I think I only twigged post-submission. 4:41.

   Edited at 2022-03-16 05:20 am (UTC)

2. …but they are really quite tedious – give me Barnard any day, mystery writing’s answer to Ian McEwan. However, I did know Morse’s first name, so that was a write-in for me. I saw ethereal almost at once, and biffed industrialist without trouble with the cryptic, but it was piecemeal that held me up, even with all the checkers. Time: 9:03.
3. 12 minutes. I lost a lot of time over PIECEMEAL and ETHEREAL.

   Having watched and thoroughly enjoyed the TV series Inspector Morse I tried reading one of the books and couldn’t get on with it at all. I am a big fan of detective fiction usually. I’d read a couple of Robert Barnard books decades ago, and more recently I re-read those and ALL his other output. His subject matter is certainly more varied than Morse and the books are really entertaining page-turners.

   1. Strangely, I enjoyed the books but found the TV series a little tedious !
4. 26 minutes from FOI: GOATSKIN followed by all downs from the top row.

   LOI: PIECEMEAL.

   BIFD both INDUSTRIALIST and ENDEAVOUR knowing nothing about Inspector Morse and just not seeing the parsing of ‘industrialist’.

   COD: GOATSKIN and AWESOME for its surface.

5. Found this really hard. Only two on the first pass of acrosses and from there a struggle to the end. All green in 15 in the end but a bit of a slog. I have read all the Morse books. I had a longish commute and so got through lots of stuff. Not my favourites but not awful. Had to look up Robert Barnard. If I get back to commuter by bus or train perhaps I’ll start my way through his 40 books.
6. Tricky in places but entertaining throughout. Started with COD GOATSKIN and jumped around the grid picking off the low hanging fruit. Biffed INDUSTRIALIST and then deleted it because I couldn’t parse it and then re-biffed it once more checkers were in place. Finished with the unknown GRENADIER, ETHEREAL and the excellent PIECEMEAL in an over target 11.01.
   Thanks to Jeremy
7. Fourteen minutes, about right for me in terms of difficulty – something to get my teeth into. FOI salami, LOI grenadier, biffed. Saw mud and eat early on but left until checkers were in as I thought “surely not.” But lo! that is what they were. Only nine on first pass. Got a bit warm and ready for a DNF, but the checkers dug me out of the mire. Did not parse industrialist, and didn’t need to bother about the one triad, so didn’t see it. COD industrialist, now it’s been explained to me. I thoroughly enjoyed this. Thanks, Jeremy, and Wurm.
8. 9:18
   All good. Thanks, pj.
9. I started with GRENADIER and its danglers and kept going. ETHEREAL delayed me slightly as I did what Kevin did and tried (LIGHTALE)*. I’ve watched all the Morse TV series and the spin off Endeavour, so that was a write in. 6:14. Thanks Jeremy and Wurm.
10. One minute over target at 16 minutes for this enjoyable puzzle. FOI GRENADIER for a good start — I shared a barracks with the Grenadier Guards for a few months at one time. LOI SCENT only after GOATSKIN fell after holding me up for far too long — I was fixated on the wrong kind of Billy. I paused over INDUSTRIALIST until I could parse it, which also slowed me down. I quite like the sound of Agent Scallop and Grenadier Mud. Thanks both.
11. I found this one difficult to start, not too bad in the middle, and difficult once again at the end. 42 minutes.

    Edited at 2022-03-16 10:25 am (UTC)

    1. Dear PW,
       It’s good to see you’re completing more of these QCs these days, and in reasonable times.
       1. Thank you. I am back at work now after trying early retirement, which was not as much fun as I thought it would be. A novelty at first, but I soon became bored. My new job has me getting up at either 3:20 am or 4;20 am, depending on which shift I have. It’s a 40 minute walk each way, and the job is physically demanding from the moment I start to when I finish. So by the time I get home I’m often too tired to attempt the QC. However, on my days off I like to get back to the QC.
12. 10 minutes for me today. LOI was PIECEMEAL after ETHEREAL.
    ENDEAVOUR went straight in as I am a Morse fan; not long ago I did the Morse walking tour around Oxford. It was very worthwhile.
    David
13. ….but was stopped by 20A, my eventual LOI. An excellent puzzle.

    FOI GRENADIER
    LOI AWESOME
    COD PIECEMEAL
    TIME 3:56

14. A fairly steady solve, just held up a bit by ENDEAVOUR and PIECEMEAL.
15. I BIWPed (Bunged in from the word play?) GRENADIER straight away, despite never having heard of pineapple for grenade, and marked it with a question mark. MUD followed quickly, as did some of the top row danglers. I then worked my way down, around and back up the grid until I had filled in most of the perimeter, but relatively little of the central area. At this point I checked my watch (17 minutes gone) and marvelled at the fact that many solvers would already be long finished.

    I was rather held up by not getting INDUSTRIALIST and INSUBORDINATE (my second last in) until I had most of their checkers, and (strangely) WAR, as raw is not necessarily ‘fresh’ in my book. My LOI was ARTLESS, which required an alphabet trawl (via ACTRESS and ANTLERS), and my favourite clue was ROTUNDA, which made me smile. Total time = 31 minutes (perfectly acceptable for me).

    Mrs Random will tackle this puzzle sometime this afternoon, as she has been making Leek and Potato soup whilst I have being doing this.

    Many thanks to Wurm and Jeremy.

16. This was a fairly steady top to bottom solve with just a few hangups along the way. FOI 1d Goatskin, after wondering how ‘kid’ managed to fill 8 letters; LOI 17a Somme, having stumbled over 17d and needing to revisit; COD 8a Artless, but really nothing stood out. As usual, I didn’t time this but as I was able to work in a consistent fashion, I am wondering whether I made it into the SCC again before it closed. I think Wurm was generous to us today, as I thought Pedro was yesterday. Maybe it was just the effect of another midday solve rather than an evening/night effort… Time enough now to bake some cheese scones to brighten up a wet afternoon.
17. A nice puzzle I thought.

    Luckily I did know the Morse connection (but only through the current tv prequel) and 1ac “Grenadier” has come up a number of times.

    Main hold up was actually 13dn “Ethereal”, where I suspect a few people probably wasted time on an anagram of “light ale”.

    FOI — 6ac “Mud”
    LOI — 23ac “Piecemeal”
    COD — 14ac “Industrialist”

    Thanks as usual!

18. All done and dusted in 8 minutes, which is quite quick for me when faced with a Wurm puzzle, apart from INDUSTRIALIST which I didn’t parse. A few smiles along the way, including AWESOME and ROTUNDA.
    FOI Mud
    LOI Banner
    COD Magnetism — anything with an MG in it will get a tick from me!
    Thanks Wurm and Jeremy
19. 1hr23 to fall at the final ARTLESS. I alphabet trawled but like so many of today’s definitions, my synonyms were lacking and I even possibly tried ARTLESS or APTLESS at one point then ended up thinking ACTRESS for no better reason than it was a common word (plus Hollywood types are always working as waiters/waitresses as they naively think their break will come soon!)

    Struggled to get in tune with the setter for the first 15-mins or so – managing an answer every 3-mins but once I understood the answers went in a little quicker. Took a break at 56-mins when hadn’t got anywhere for 10+ mins.

    FOI SALAMI
    LbOI TROLL (I think)
    COD STOW

    A little too difficult for me so pleased to all but finish it.

20. And it showed.

    I enjoyed the puzzle, but didn’t find it easy, and was taken 2 mins over top end of target.

    The STOW and WAR crossers were my last two in.

    8:36.

21. Found this one tougher than recent offerings, but satisfyingly so. Completed in 23:58 with LOI SOMME, which I had never realised was a river. Not sure what I thought it was, just the name of an area I suppose. Anyway, COD to INDUSTRIALIST. Thanks Wurm and Jeremy.
22. But got there in the end
    Biffed industrialist
    Thanks all round
23. No real hold ups until the SW corner which added 4 minutes to get STOW and WAR. Was looking to put the T into a word for store to get a four letter pig.
24. I quickly bunged in GRENADINE at 1a, so couldn’t get 4d. Can somone explain the connection between pineapple and grenadier, please?
    Otherwise an enjoyable and easyish puzzle.3
    1. I think grenades were nicknamed pineapples because of their shape.
    2. Grenadier guards symbol/cap badge is a Mills grenade with grooves and flames that looks like a pineapple.
       1. Thanks, peenee and steak city. The clue works, therefore, but a bit obscure for a QC perhaps? But having messed up my anagram, I wouldn’t have got ir anyway.
25. Much biffing for me, but finished it in 25 minutes. Dire by most of your standards, but I was happy to complete. Wurm is a setter that I don’t “get” yet. Tracy is right on my wavelength by contrast.

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