Times Quick Cryptic 2111 by Oink

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

I feel like I made a real pig’s ear of this. I finished in 14 minutes after struggling in the NW and then, inexplicably, unable to see LOI 9dn 9ac for an age. I’ll put this down as a bad day at the blog office – unless you all come back and say you found this difficult. Thanks to Oink who snuffles into the grid at 16ac.

Definitions are underlined.

Across
1 Scrooge in almost complete despair (5)
MISER – almost complete despair (MISER)y.
7 Supervisor claiming time for driver’s error (9)
OVERSTEER – supervisor (OVERSEER) holding time (T).
9 Crazy British fighting men (5)
BARMY – British (B), fighting men (ARMY). I read ‘man’ and so struggled.
10 Papal bed somehow accommodating a corrupting influence (1,3,5)
A BAD APPLE – anagram (somehow) of PAPAL BED containing a (A). The ‘a’ being in the cryptic and the definition seems odd – the clue could have read ‘A papal bed somehow’s a corrupting influence’.
11 Self-confidence of English advance (3)
EGO – English (E), advance (GO).
12 Unwise to be rude about king (9)
IMPRUDENT – rude (IMPUDENT) about king (R).
14 Popular and uncomplaining chap on hospital ward (9)
INPATIENT – popular (IN), uncomplaining (PATIENT).
16 Thus wife becomes bearer of many young (3)
SOW – thus (SO), wife (W).
18 Leading position a peer’s had reallocated (9)
SPEARHEAD – anagram (reallocated) of A PEERS HAD.
20 A place you might get lost in? Wow! (5)
AMAZE – a (A), place you might get lost in (MAZE). Wow the verb.
21 Tanneries working purposefully (2,7)
IN EARNEST – anagram (working) of TANNERIES.
22 Boy who picks the winners? (5)
ERNIE – double definition- a name and the NS&I machine.
Down
1 Able to move phone (6)
MOBILE – double definition. Not an anagram of ABLE TO, then.
2 Somewhere far away protester has messed up (12)
STRATOSPHERE – anagram (messed up) of PROTESTER HAS.
3 A follower of The Crown? (8)
ROYALIST – a crytpic definition – with a reference to the TV series, I think.
4 Vicar joining a reactionary PM for restoration project (6)
REVAMP – vicar (REV) joining a (A), then PM backwards (reactionary) (MP).
5 Some samosas I ate here? (4)
ASIA – some of samos(AS I A)te – with a reference to this Asian cuisine.
6 Nick needing a break, we’re told (6)
ARREST – homophone (we’re told) of a break – a rest.
8 State school that’s going places very quickly (7,5)
EXPRESS TRAIN – state (EXPRESS), school (TRAIN).
13 Doing time? That’s cool (2,2,4)
UP TO DATE – doing (UP TO as in what are you doing?), time (DATE).
14 Introduce fashionable whisky-maker — only one left! (6)
INSTIL – fashionable (IN), whisky-maker (STIL)l with only one left – L.
15 A number participating in duel eventually (6)
ELEVEN – inside du(EL EVEN)tually.
17 Reportedly goes for a cunning plan (6)
WHEEZE – homophone (reportedly) of goes – wees. COD for a smile at the toilet humour.
19 Unusual to set arm of our military against another (4)
RARE – arm of our military (RA – Royal Artillery) against another (RE Royal Engineers).

39 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 2111 by Oink”

  1. All going well with one to get after 16 minutes. But I was confident EXPRESS CLASS went places quickly so never stood a chance and not knowing EARNIE I was never going to see my error.
  2. I guess you mean 9A in your intro since there is no 9D.

    12 minutes for me. Not sure why so slow since I don’t think anything actually held me up. I guess 16A is the traditional pig reference for an Oink puzzle.

  3. All entered correctly in 23 minutes but needed blog to understand UP TO
    DATE and ERNIE-thanks!
  4. DNF. ‘Nick’ has more meanings than I can keep track of, and ARREST wasn’t one of them. I also didn’t understand UP TO DATE, and didn’t think ‘cool’ was a very good definition.
    1. I agree. Cool is used so much and in so many ways that it really has no meaning except for “o.k.” perhaps.
    2. It was the ‘needing’ that misled me. I was trying to think of words like TIRED, WEARY, etc, that meant ‘needing a rest’. Had to resort to an aid to get it.
  5. I’m really new to Cryptic Crosswords and today’s quick was the first time I ever completed one, though there were a number of clues I couldn’t quite parse. I still don’t know what an Ernie is.

    I never knew this blog existed and I’m simply overjoyed by it. Knowing things like ER can mean Queen etc is super helpful, so thanks to everyone involved!

    1. And congrats on your first QC finish!

      ERNIE is the device that generates the winning Premium Bond numbers each month. It stands for: Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment.

      Edited at 2022-04-12 05:27 am (UTC)

      1. Thanks!

        This is one of those times that not being from the UK is a hindrance, and why I often find the regular cryptics completely impossible because they rely on British general knowledge a lot

        1. The only other UK Ernie likely to turn up is Ernie Wise although his comedy partner Eric Morecambe appears more frequently.
          1. So not much chance of a clue relating to “Ernie, the fastest milkman in the West ” as created by Benny Hill ?
            1. D’you know, I have the faintest idea that the milkman reference did actually appear in a puzzle.
  6. 14 minutes which I think maybe a PB. Although timing has never been my goal. I prefer the enjoyment of solving.
    FOI: MISER then everything seemed to flow to LOI: WHEEZE.
    BIFD RARE and ELEVEN parsing post solve.

    Edited at 2022-04-12 06:20 am (UTC)

  7. 8:30 but halfway through this felt like it was gonna be a DNF. Don’t have a problem with UP TO DATE as cool but needed the blog to understand the “doing time” bit – thank you.

    STRATOSPHERE is associated for me with height rather than distance but can’t quibble.

    WHEEZE last one in and had in mind the traditional “weeeeee!” sound made when going fast but had to grin when the penny finally dropped (or rather was finally spent)

    Thanks Oink and Chris

  8. Fast start, slow finish. All four of the first acrosses went in on sight but then things got trickier, particularly in the SW where I ran aground. But the longest delay came with not spotting the hidden ELEVEN, all those Es made me think the number must be ‘ten’ inside a word for duel I didn’t know — and I also tried to do something with anesthetic for number so I was thoroughly misdirected. Also slow on ARREST, being a law abiding soul I was on thin edges to slip or cuts for ‘nick’ All green in 17 in the end.
  9. Whoosh. Finished in a rare sub 15 14:27.
    Missed the homophone in WHEEZE so thank you Jack. A nod to the barmy army who have not much to smile about recently.
    Thanks Oink for a gentle challenge.
    1. Not my blog QC today, steakcity, but you may be confused by the 15×15 where I am on duty.
      1. Yup. Saw your name first today as I scrolled down to the comfort zone. Thanks Chris but a heartfelt thanks to all the bloggers who are very much appreciated and for doing a really great job.
  10. Couldn’t see ARREST for an age. All but that done in target time, then another 2 minutes.

    The papal bed containing a bad apple made me smile!

    8:31

  11. Thought I was going to be on for a quick one after a flying start in the NW, but then came to a halt and had to grind it out. For the second day in a row I misplaced my anagram hat which didn’t help.
    One of those puzzles that with hindsight was simple but that I made hard work of eventually crossing the line in 12.42 with LOI ARREST.
    Thanks to Chris
  12. Must have been a wavelength thing as I got lucky and finished in about 8. I don’t think there is any for need for the word chap any more than Ernie is a boy, and I don’t think up to date usually means cool but I’m nitpicking. Thanks setter and blogger.
  13. I never felt as though I was into my stride with this one. UP TO DATE = COOL? Excuse me while I retrieve my eyebrows! MISER and MOBILE dropped straight in however and I worked steadily through. ROYALIST seemed too easy, but had to be. I eventually finished with IN EARNEST. 10:07. Thanks Oink and Chris.
    1. According to the Oxford Dictionary on my phone, Cool can mean ‘fashionably attractive’, which sounds ok to me.
      1. That’s because the Oxford dictionary is compiled by middle class academics who are also middle aged or older. In common parlance by the young and streetwise who mainly use it, it means no more than ok or good.
  14. No problems today, just a steady solve needing a bit of thought in places. Glad to see Oink’s usual piggy reference in 16a!
  15. in 46-mins. Not a great time but I often don’t complete so pretty good.

    FOI REVAMP
    LOI ARREST
    COD AMAZE (doh moment when I saw it)

    Took ages to unpick the anagrams of STRATOSPHERE, IN-EARNEST, SPEARHEAD. Probably would have struggled with A-BAD-APPLE except the 1-3 were easily filled.

    Don’t understand what’s particularly cryptic about ROYALIST for a moment I thought Royalhat?

    Took a while to remember popular/fashionable = IN as we haven’t had those in the QC for a while.

    A lot of the parsing and definitions e.g EXPRESS-TRAIN = state school were complete misdirections that made it harder for this bear of little brain.

    All in all, pretty happy to complete that in 46-mins!

  16. Think this was a PB at 25 mins.
    Managed to parse everything- even a snigger at the toilet humour of WHEEZE.
  18. I actually thought this was one of Oink’s easier offerings — as many of their recent puzzles have caused me problems. Only thing I struggled with was 17dn “Wheeze” where I wasn’t sure if it was just me thinking it was toilet humour.

    Didn’t think 3dn “Royalist” was a great clue though and 22ac “Ernie” was one of those you either know or you don’t.

    FOI — 1ac “Miser”
    LOI — 17dn “Wheeze”
    COD — 17dn “Wheeze”

    Thanks as usual!

  19. Completed this earlier and in about half the time of yesterday’s (16:54) so a reasonable day at the office (not that I’ve ever worked in an office). Only things I didn’t understand were “up to” = doing and ERNIE. I assumed that a boy picking winners might be said to be in receipt of earnings and hence an earnee, which might be an unusual alternative to earner as well as an unsignposted homophone of ERNIE. Like I said, I didn’t really get it, so I’m glad to learn the real answer, as well as who to blame for the fact that my premium bond numbers hardly ever come up. Thanks Oink and Chris.
    1. Think you have to be of a certain age to know of Ernie. It’s been surpassed by the National Lottery as the gamble of a lifetime for the Brits. I only got the answer once I had the Es.

      I bought in back in the 1990s for a year with some tax money I knew I was going to have to pay and won nothing.

      I believe my mother has a few thousand invested and regularly gets small wins – she reckons it’s better rate of interest than the banks these days. But then what isn’t.

      1. Your mother is right about interest rates. I switched some of my savings from minimal interest accounts to Premium Bonds at the start of last year and have had 17 wins between March 2021 and March 2022. Only £25 each time but still far more than if I’d left the money where it was. The trouble with the lottery is that you lose capital with every losing line. I gave up on it when they added the extra numbers to the draw as I hardly won anything with the 49.

        Edited at 2022-04-12 10:35 pm (UTC)

  20. Found this fairly straightforward, except not getting the wordplay for 13d up to date, and missing the homonym for 17d, clever.
  21. All done and dusted in 27 minutes, which I am very pleased with. Quite fast through the top half of the grid, but much slower on my second pass through the lower half. LOI was ARREST, which required a 4-minute alphabet trawl – I wonder what it’s like not having to alphabet trawl at least one clue per puzzle. The other troublesome clue for me was the TRAIN part of EXPRESS TRAIN. I don’t know why, as TRAIN for ‘school’ is perfectly reasonable.

    Mrs Random is just finishing her attempt and is fairly comfortably escaping the SCC – as is her wont.

    Many thanks to Oink and Chris.

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