Times Quick Cryptic 2116 by Joker

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Having failed to get anywhere in the NW, I started slowly in the NE and worked clockwise round the grid speeding up as I went. Coming home in 7:39 seems remarkable having had such a poor start. An extremely enjoyable romp – thanks Joker.

Definitions are underlined.

Across
8 Trouble about girl’s high-flown writings? (7)
AIRMAIL – trouble (AIL) about girl (IRMA). I suppose there’s always a name somewhere to use for tricky letters in a clue.
9 Supply English joke (5)
EQUIP – English (E), joke (QUIP).
10 Something implanted inside group (5)
INSET – inside group (IN SET).
11 Scientist’s note found in box (7)
CHEMIST – note (MI) found in box (CHEST).
12 A point about Royal Navy chaps showing tattoo, perhaps (9)
ADORNMENT – a point (A DOT) about Royal Navy chaps (RN MEN).
14 It is associated with hotel buffet (3)
HIT – it (IT) is associated with hotel (H).
16 Part of another age or epoch (3)
ERA – part of anoth(ER A)ge.
18 Rebels’ aim in revolution is causing unhappiness (9)
MISERABLE – anagram (in revolution) of REBELS AIM.
21 At home, with friend round before start of early afternoon show (7)
MATINEE – at home (IN) with friend round (MATE), (E)arly.
22 Initially very ill, really unwell … suffering this? (5)
VIRUS – (V)ery (I)ll (R)eally (U)nwell (S)uffering.
23 Pack of scoundrels surrounding king (5)
CARDS – scoundrels (CADS) surrounding king (R).
24 Clubs travelling round line shown on map (7)
CONTOUR – clubs (C) travelling round (ON TOUR). COD.
Down
1 Cooking in a dream, one might put chicken in this (8)
MARINADE – anagram (cooking) of IN A DREAM. Indeed one might – I had tandoori chicken last night.
2 Very quick power nap, perhaps, then nothing (6)
PRESTO – power (P) nap perhaps (REST) then nothing (O).
3 Funniness about a delay (4)
WAIT – funniness (WIT) about a (A).
4 Cut short revolutionary phrase that’s overused (6)
CLICHE – cut short (CLI)p revolutionary (CHE).
5 Traitor making arrangement to cede fort (8)
DEFECTOR – anagram (making arrangement to) of CEDE FORT.
6 Drive round Northern Ireland is fine, perhaps (6)
PUNISH – drive (PUSH) round Northern Ireland (NI).
7 Ends up in a narrow tongue of land (4)
SPIT – ends (tips) upwards (SPIT).
13 Snubs men developing a lack of feeling (8)
NUMBNESS – anagram (developing) of SNUBS MEN.
15 Time to allay the fear of losing son and wealth (8)
TREASURE – time (T) allay (REAS)s(URE) losing son (S).
17 A small seabird at the back of the ship (6)
ASTERN – a small seabird (A S TERN).
19 Outline of second sailing boat (6)
SKETCH – second (S) sailing boat (KETCH).
20 Burial place of old British missile (6)
BARROW – British (B) missile (ARROW).
21 Male at top of excellent club (4)
MACE – male (M) on top of excellent (ACE).
22 Very last market (4)
VEND – very (V) last (END) – which is appropriate.

36 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 2116 by Joker”

  1. I.. Technically DNF, because I had to google words for sailing boats, but besides that I finished this in over an hour. Some of the words are biffed, eg. Treasure, Hit, and Barrow. The SE corner sucked lol

    Some I thought I had parsed correctly but not, eg marinade (I didn’t see the anagram! Thought it was In A inside ‘mare’ Idk where the d went)

    FOI: defector
    LOI: hit
    COD: chemist

    words I learnt today: ketch, buffet — like storms, barrow – like burial mounds, spit — like thin bit of land

    Also there are lots of three letter words for scoundrel in the English language!

    1. Sounds like you’re enjoying these – and getting there. Any questions any time are welcome. Ketch seems to come up quite a bit so it’s worth trying to remember. Good luck!
      1. Hey Chris, what’s an ‘alphabet trawl’? It’s not on the glossary list

        Thanks!

        1. It’s when you go through the whole alphabet one letter at a time trying to find the answer.

  2. Glad to figure this one out successfully and come in under the half hour mark.
  4. I also took a while to get going and once finished I don’t see why.
    FOI: ERA
    LOI: BARROW.
    COD: PUNISH.
    23 minutes all parsed.
  5. A slow start, only five on the first pass of acrosses and all but CHEMIST in the bottom half. Downs flew in though and I ended up all green in 12. Held up at the end by the downs I missed, WAIT and PUNISH. HIT held me up too, took will power not to write ‘hot’ on the strength of ‘buffet’. Good one.
  6. 8 minutes. No problems. BARROW was known from studying Ordnance Survey maps at school.

    Edited at 2022-04-19 07:39 am (UTC)

  7. I found this one very difficult to get started on. In fact, my FOI wasn’t until Treasure. I wanted to give up as hopeless, but I pressed on. Once I started to get one or two answers, I had a few completed squares which helped. Put BURROW instead of BARROW, and needed help on a few of the clues.

    34 minutes.

  8. Ten minutes for all but chemist and punish, which took five minutes more. FOI equip, twenty on first pass. LOI punish which therefore is my COD. All parsed except cards. Thanks, Chris, and Joker.
  9. Like others I was slow to get started but once I had a few checkers the pace picked up considerably, finishing with TREASURE and HIT, which I’d been overcomplicating, in 8.41.
    Thanks to Chris
  10. Estimated c.20 mins of solving time (unexpected break required!)

    Slowed down by WAIT and PUNISH.

    Loved HIT – very clever.

    Is there a quibble to be had on MISERABLE as it’s an adjective while ‘unhappiness’ in the clue is a noun?

    Walked up Nine BARROW Down on Isle of Purbeck in Dorset at the weekend. There’s a couple of barrows on the golf course too including one that gives one of the best views in the country (I’m biased) across Poole Harbour, Isle of Wight, and Dorset to the North and West.

    Thanks Joker and Chris

    Edited at 2022-04-19 08:18 am (UTC)

    1. A good point. I’ll update the blog so the definition is ‘causing unhappiness’.
      Collins has the adjective as:
      If you describe a place or situation as miserable, you mean that it makes you feel unhappy or depressed.
      There was nothing at all in this miserable place to distract

      Edited at 2022-04-19 09:09 am (UTC)

    2. I think the ‘causing’ should also be underlined as a part of the definition, as being miserable can be a cause of misery or unhappiness.

      I have played Isle of Purbeck 5 or 6 times in my life, and totally agree about the quality of the views — I have never been miserable there!

      2. Ah, yes I guess that makes a bit more sense. Thank you.

        And you’re right, the beautiful views outweigh any amount of poor quality golf!

    3. I played IoP once, about ten years ago, on a charity day. Lot of rain and hailed so hard that we didn’t complete the 17th or 18th as it covered the green. Not a pleasant June(?) day.

      My neck of the woods though, so appreciative of what we’ve got down here.

    4. I was brought up in Christchurch and spent many a weekend tramping over the Purbecks. I remember spending a week, during my final year of primary school, on a field trip to Langton Matravers – althougg I can’t remember what we did all the time.

  11. the 6.5 hours in a car yesterday, I managed to tackle this fairly well.

    LOI was WAIT, I liked CARDS best, though the surface for VIRUS also was v good.

    4:58

  13. A slow start and then I had the bottom half completed quickly.
    The top was another matter but I crossed the line in 11:36 with LOI CLICHE. AIRMAIL and others held me up.
    Another excellent puzzle from Joker; hard to pick a COD, maybe EQUIP.
    David
  14. I started with ERA and INSET and carried on with only BARROW needing a pause for thought. CARDS was LOI and I also had to discard CURS before seeing it. 7:16. Thanks Joker and Chris.
  15. A 12 minute solve today, with no major problems. FOI EQUIP, LOI MACE and COD AIRMAIL (I haven’t met an IRMA for many a year). Thanks both.
  16. My cheap nasty tablet packed up yesterday, having gone a whole fortnight past the expiry of its warranty, so I made the fatal mistake of doing this on my phone. The inevitable typo was “teeasure”.

    Edited at 2022-04-19 12:10 pm (UTC)

    1. Sorry to hear that your tablet stopped working, Phil. I know that some manufacturers will repair them, foc, if it’s very soon after the warranty. Their ‘payment’ is that you might tell family and friends about it.
      However, if you’ve have blasted and set fire to it..
  17. 16:59. Held up by trying to use ADO At 8a for “trouble”.

    LOI VEND with long alphabet search.

    COD PUNISH with the exceptional misdirection of “fine, perhaps”

  18. In common with others I had a slow start but picked up speed when I tackled the down clues. I then ground to a halt again but two fortuitous interruptions meant that when I returned to the puzzle the last half dozen or so fell quickly. 18 minutes excluding interruptions.

    FOI – 9ac EQUIP
    LOI – 23ac CARDS
    COD – 24ac CONTOUR

    Thanks to Joker and Chris

  19. Couldn’t seem to get anything in the top half and unusually completed all of the bottom before I even ventured back up there.

    Unfortunately, I fell into the “Hot” trap for 14ac, thinking it was just a crap clue (along with 10ac “Inset” which I also didn’t think was great). Upon review, I can see it is actually very clever and therefore I humbly doff my cap to Joker for putting me in my place.

    FOI — 16ac “Era”
    LOI — 6dn “Punish”
    COD — 12ac “Adornment”

    Thanks as usual!

    Edited at 2022-04-19 01:33 pm (UTC)

  20. Couldn’t finish NW corner – PRESTO, AIRMAIL, WAIT, INSET.

    1hr40 of struggling

  21. Took a while and had to check BARROW (doh!) but got there. An entertaining challenge with some chewy items.
  22. Bottom half ok but slow top
    Technical dnf as put hot buffet not hit as in a parsed answer. Hot being from hotel.🥴
  23. A slow start, followed by a rapid middle once I’d got down to the bottom half, and then a measured finish, ending with HIT in 16:03. Lots to enjoy, so thanks to Joker and Chris.

  24. Like others, a slow start on the acrosses with mo entries until ERA my FOI. Then it just rolled in and I thought I would recover to come in under my 20 min target. But then I was stuck on EQUIP for 10 minutes. Took an alphabet trawl before I finally saw it. Hey ho – 28 mins fully parsed and satisfied to avoid a DNF.

    COD to HIT for a very clever misdirection.

    Thanks Chris and Joker. Prof

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