Times Quick Cryptic 2100 by Joker

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Solving time: 8 minutes. I found this straightforward, but what did you make of it?

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 Return cook’s instructions about flipping pancake right (11)
RECIPROCATE
RECIPE (cook’s instructions) containing [about] TACO (pancake) + R (right) reversed [flipping]
8 No longer with us, former partner can court (7)
EXTINCT
EX (former partner), TIN (can), CT (court)
9 Initial resistance got round by a bunch of fives (5)
FIRST
R (resistance) contained [got round] by FIST (bunch of fives – slang, as in ‘D’you want a bunch of fives?’)
10 What lovers share left in company, stirring senses (9)
CLOSENESS
L (left) contained by [in] CO, then anagram [stirring] of SENSES
12 Blade protected by cardboard (3)
OAR
Hidden in [protected by] {cardb}OAR{d}. ‘Blade on the feather’ (Eton Boating Song)
13 Who might paint rocky strait (6)
ARTIST
Anagram [rocky] of STRAIT
15 Minister‘s early life round queen (6)
PASTOR
PAST (early life), O (round), R (queen – Regina). I lost time here trying to make RECTOR work.
17 Son with father in resort (3)
SPA
S (son), PA (father)
18 Not so many on express without nationality (9)
STATELESS
STATE (state), LESS (not so many)
20 Coldness in church, not healthy (5)
CHILL
CH (church), ILL (not healthy)
22 I ranted about item given in part-payment (5-2)
TRADE-IN
Anagram [about] of I RANTED
23 Flight she had led topless and slightly drunk (5-6)
LIGHT-HEADED
{f}LIGHT + {s}HE + {h}AD + {l}ED [topless]. Unusual wordplay for a QC!
Down
1 Headless type of beer turned up, designed for older tastes? (5)
RETRO
{p}ORTER (type of beer) [headless] reversed [turned up]
2 Office for National Statistics breaking big survey agreement (9)
CONSENSUS
ONS (Office for National Statistics) contained by [breaking] CENSUS (big survey). We’ve heard a lot from the ONS during the pandemic.
3 Club, say, coming under pressure (6)
PUTTER
P (pressure), UTTER (say)
4 Rich person giving away capital? That’s not on (3)
OFF
{t}OFF (rich person) [giving away capital]
5 Perhaps JFK left after broadcast (7)
AIRPORT
AIR (broadcast), PORT (left)
6 Showing initiative to embark on parking revolution (12)
ENTERPRISING
ENTER (embark on), P (parking), RISING (revolution)
7 Looking a long way back in case locals are upset (12)
NEOCLASSICAL
Anagram [upset] of IN CASE LOCALS
11 Put on Hamlet, initially with one of those moving scenes? (9)
STAGEHAND
STAGE (put on), H{amlet} [initially], AND (with). A really classy clue.
14 Tons running activity to track virus contacts (7)
TRACING
T (tons), RACING (running)
16 Keep   man on board (6)
CASTLE
Properly called a rook in chess, but one of its possible manoeuvres is called ‘castling’.
19 Correct your setter in conclusion (5)
EMEND
ME (your setter) contained by [in] END (conclusion)
21 Loads of things, primarily (3)
LOT
L{oads} + O{f} + T{hings} [primarily]. Semi&lit

30 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 2100 by Joker”

  1. I biffed ENTERPRISING and RECIPROCATE. DNK ‘bunch of fives’. LIGHT-HEADED puzzled me, until I finally twigged. 7:50.
  2. 20 minutes of enjoyment and all parsed.
    FOI: EXTINCT.
    LOI: STAGEHAND.
    The LIGHT-HEADED clever wordplay fell after finally seeing TRACING.
    COD: ENTERPRISING.
  3. I know it’s CONSENSUS but got lost following the cryptic and wrote concensus. The dog is going to get walked faster than usual until I’ve come to terms with it.
    1. Of 101 completed puzzles at the moment, only 77 are correct. I checked the parsing of CONSENSUS very carefully, and I suspect that many have fallen into the same bear trap.
  4. Didn’t see taco as a pancake, didn’t spend long on rector, didn’t parse LIGHT-HEADED, LOI CASTLE, did a 22A last week to go Tesla. Surprisingly speedy journey to my usual corner chair in the club. Thanks Joker and Jack.
  5. Needed all the checkers to unscramble LOL NEOCLASSICAL and LIGHT-HEADED took a little thought to parse, but other than that nothing to testing. Having said that I did wonder how crepe could fit into recipe for a while at 1a.
    Finished in 8.12
    Thanks to Jack
  6. Missed out on taco for breakfast, as I biffed 1a. No dramas as I headed for the NEOCLASSICAL finish. Had to write that one out though! 7:31. Thanks Joker and Jack.
  7. Fifteen minutes. FOI extinct – I ran a course on extinct megafauna once, and I called it “No Longer With Us” so it occurred to me straight away. Only seven on first pass, but the others steadily slotted in afterwards. I saw stateless early on but wondered if it was right, so delayed entering it. After my first pass I needed to put it in to get further, and it worked out well. Thoroughly enjoyed the whole grid. Thanks for the parsing of reciprocate, closeness, light-headed and stagehand, I biffed them all from the wordplay. LOI neoclassical – saw the classical but had to write out the anagram to get the neo. Thanks, Jack, and Joker.
  8. 17 minutes, continuing a run of mostly over-target solves of late. RECIPROCATE and PUTTER last two in, and not seeing 1a until late always worries me and slows me down. I liked the novelty of LIGHT HEADED, I included ACTIVITY with running in 14d, rather than as part of the definition, but it is ambiguous at least. Thanks Jackkt and Joker.
  9. 11:04 today with time needed at the end for my last two.
    I had RECIPROCAL at 1a and thought about just adding an S. Parsing was needed. Then it was easy to get LOI ENTERPRISING, which was very hard without the first letter.
    Another high quality QC from Joker.
    David
  10. A nice start to the week, although it didn’t help that the longer clues either side were the last to go in.

    Don’t always equate Toff with someone who is rich, more “upper class” — but I’m sure that debate has been had before. Other hold ups were also trying to fit Rector into 15ac and trying to think what the difference was between “emend” and “amend” for 19dn — I’m guessing it’s similar to “effect” and “affect”.

    FOI — 1dn “Retro”
    LOI — 6dn “Enterprising”
    COD — 8ac “Extinct”

    Thanks as usual!

    Edited at 2022-03-28 09:53 am (UTC)

  11. this as easy as Jack!

    Had to write out NEOCLASSICAL, which have me my LOI CLOSENESS. LIGHT HEADED also held me up.

    All good though, I’m sure Joker always causes me problems.

    8:13

  12. ….once I’d double-checked CONSENSUS (see earlier), but, like James, I needed all the checkers for the two long words down the sides.

    As an older drinker I’d be very unwilling to accept a headless beer 🍺

    FOI EXTINCT
    LOI ENTERPRISING
    COD CONSENSUS
    TIME 4:06

  13. Having recently moved house it has taken me time to get the rooms as I want them but with a coffee and cake I achieved for my first solve for a while sitting comfortably in my newly decorated study.

    FOI was Retro
    LOI Neoclassical and I also had to cross off the letters once I saw the ‘classical’ ending.

    Not heard of Emend which I guessed from the wordplay.

    All done in 21.27

    Thanks to the two J’s for puzzle and blog

    Edited at 2022-03-28 10:52 am (UTC)

  14. … and I even spelt CONSENSUS correctly this time. 28 minutes, fully parsed. A rarity for me and Joker.

    I didn’t get 1a (RECIPROCATE) until near the end, but the next two (EXTINCT and FIRST) went in quite quickly, as did a number of the other across clues. This meant my foray into the down clues was assisted by plenty of checkers, and I wasn’t faced with too many large open spaces when the going got tougher. I DNK EMEND, but trusted the wordplay, and my LOI was CASTLE, where I didn’t see the chess connection until rather late.

    Mrs Random started after me and currently has two to go – CASTLE and STAGEHAND. If she gets them in the next few minutes she will beat my time, but if she doesn’t …

    Many thanks to Joker and jackkt.

    Edited at 2022-03-28 11:34 am (UTC)

  15. 16 mins. Time ruined by stagehand and probably too much Leffe/red wine yesterday.

    COD stagehand or artist.

    15×15 is worth a go today.

    Edited at 2022-03-28 12:14 pm (UTC)

  16. Rather slow today, blame it on the new puppy who naturally is disturbing our attention. Nice puzzle and we eventually finished.
  17. Cange of avatar needec, as both on the picture are sadly in the big kennel above.
  18. Slow progress today which may not bode well for the rest of the week. Not on the wavelength at all, which I seem to remember saying about the last Joker puzzle I attempted. 23 minutes in all with LIGHT HEADED unparsed.

    FOI – 13ac ARTIST
    LOI – 16dn CASTLE
    COD – nothing really stood out today.

    Thanks to Joker and Jack.

  19. Took a long time to rearrange the letters for NEOCLASSICAL. Otherwise straightforward.
  20. Had RETRO, STATELESS, PASTOR and CASTLE left although I’d actually considered the latter two but couldn’t parse them.

    Also had aMEND instead of EMEND. Parsed that as “AND in conclusion”. Oh well, doesn’t matter.

    Had about 2/3s done in first 25 mins but struggled after that even with two breaks.

    FOI FIRST
    COD ARTIST
    NHO porter as a beer.

    1. Porter is a dark beer, very similar to stout. I think it dates from a couple of hundred years ago, or thereabouts. A good porter is absolutely delicious. Harvey’s (of Lewes, East Sussex) brew a really good one, and I enjoyed a bottle of the same just two or three evenings ago.

  23. A relaxed solve and surprised to complete a Joker all parsed just as the doors of the SSC were opening. I put this down to a rare visit to what was my local Costa, and I was able to get a fairly accurate time from when my app said I paid for my coffee and when I looked again when the puzzle was completed. Was Joker kind to us today I wonder? FOI 9a First, but no real hold-up with LOI 22a Trade In. COD 23a Light Headed.
    1. Funnily enough, I can no longer switch the timer off, permanently, even though I have no interest in how long I spend on the qc.
      1. I print off a copy and take that with me to solve either at home over a cuppa or when out for a coffee. That frees me from any timer.

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