Solving time: 11 minutes with an error corrected whilst preparing to blog.
Des is one of the many pseudonyms of the late Richard Rogan and set the very first Quick Cryptic puzzle which appeared on 19th March 2014 which I was privileged to blog. The name was used only 25 times, the last two occasions before today being in November 2021 and March 2023.
Whilst researching this an amazing fact came to my attention. Richard’s most widely used pseudonym was Felix who set 93 Quick Cryptic puzzles beginning in April 2014, and I have blogged 306th since March 2014, yet I never blogged a Felix! What would be the odds on that I wonder?
We identified a Nina or theme in 7 of Des’s previous puzzles (GREETINGS FROM THE EDITOR was hidden in QC #1) so I was looking for one today but I haven’t been able to spot anything. Can you?
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]. “Aural wordplay” is in quotation marks. I usually omit all reference to juxtaposition indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
 Across |
|
| 1 | Behold one’s girl (4) |
| LOIS | |
| LO (behold), I’S (one’s) | |
| 4 | Football club employing round ball is concentrating (8) |
| FOCUSING | |
| FC (Football Club) + USING (employing) containing [round] O (ball) | |
| 8 | Sponsored youngster did clog dancing outside hotel (8) |
| GODCHILD | |
| Anagram [dancing] of DID CLOG containing [outside] H (hotel) | |
| 9 | Amphibian that we notice partially retreating (4) |
| NEWT | |
| Hidden in [partially] {tha}T WE N{otice} reversed [retreating] | |
| 10 | What kids never play at school (6) |
| TRUANT | |
| A first rate cryptic definition | |
| 11 | Draws group — to scale, initially (6) |
| LOTTOS | |
| LOT (group), TO, S{cale} [initially]. I only knew this as the name of a game so wasn’t sure about pluralising it, but the dictionaries confirm it’s also simply an alternative word for a lottery. | |
| 12 | Smelt absinthe being distilled in business premises (13) |
| ESTABLISHMENT | |
| Anagram [being distilled] of SMELT ABSINTHE. I also wasn’t sure about the definition here but SOED has: establishment – an institution or business; the premises or personnel of this | |
| 16 | Has to contain brief rash causing bother (6) |
| HARASS | |
| HAS containing RAS{h} [brief] | |
| 17 | Is capable, then led astray? That’s wicked! (6) |
| CANDLE | |
| CAN (is capable), then anagram [astray] of LED | |
| 19 | Pole to fight, but not seriously (4) |
| SPAR | |
| Two meanings | |
| 20 | Olga Grey is up the spout (8) |
| GARGOYLE | |
| Anagram [up] of OLGA GREY. She was an actress from the silent film era if you wanted to know. | |
| 21 | Game: it follows daily dance (8) |
| SOFTBALL | |
| SO (it follows), FT (daily – Financial Times), BALL (dance). For my LOI I biffed FOOTBALL. I’ve no idea why but I realised my error when marking up my print-out for the blog. | |
| 22 | Hard to follow some elite military band (4) |
| SASH | |
| SAS (some elite military), H (hard) | |
| Down |
|
| 2 | Hum nothing gloomy (5) |
| ODOUR | |
| O (nothing), DOUR (gloomy) | |
| 3 | Very disappointed not to be quite qualifying for Python sketch? (4,2,1,6) |
| SICK AS A PARROT | |
| A colloquial meaning followed by a cryptic hint with reference to the most famous Monty Python sketch | |
| 4 | Impose fine on illegal street trader first of all (5) |
| FOIST | |
| F{ine} + O{n} + I{llegal} + S{treet} + T{rader} [first of all] | |
| 5 | Cooks in less than boiling water, and spoils (7) |
| CODDLES | |
| Two meanings. The first is usually a way of cooking eggs. The second is akin to ‘mollycoddle’, to overprotect and spoil with kindness. | |
| 6 | Pi to be worked out: so sum in action! (13) |
| SANCTIMONIOUS | |
| Anagram [to be worked out] SO SUM IN ACTION. Considering we come across ‘pi’ in this sense almost daily, I took far too long to see what was going on. The surface worked as a clever distraction, for me at least. Enjoy such clues whilst you can as The Times are planning to exclude ‘archaic slang and the kind of abbreviations you know only from doing crosswords’ from the QC puzzles, so we can look forward to years of arguing about anything such as ‘pi’ that’s allowed through. | |
| 7 | Recently arrived in Spain, Rob went climbing (7) |
| NEWBORN | |
| Hidden [in] {Spai}N ROB WEN{t} reversed [climbing] | |
| 10 | Little piggy from the west? (3) |
| TOE | |
| Coming from the west implies going TO the E (east) | |
| 13 | Preparation for locks is fake, low-quality, mostly (7) |
| SHAMPOO | |
| SHAM (fake), POO{r} (low-quality) [mostly] | |
| 14 | Pasta dish ruined alas and starter of guacamole not available (7) |
| LASAGNA | |
| Anagram [ruined] of ALAS, then G{uacamole} [starter of…], NA (not available) | |
| 15 | Restrict clothing for male couple (3) |
| TIE | |
| Triple definition | |
| 17 | Joyous song Lorca composed (5) |
| CAROL | |
| Anagram [composed] of LORCA | |
| 18 | Lounges with sweets: ie has gone missing! (5) |
| LOLLS | |
| LOLL{ie}S (sweets) [ie has gone missing] | |
25m
Not in the best solving state, and got stuck on sanctimonious, softball, lottos, coddles, and LOI focusing.
COD Focusing.
All over the place on this one which ended up being a complete biff-fest. There were so many answers I couldn’t parse that I entered FOOTBALL at 21ac with a shrug and carried on. Luckily all the other biffs turned out to be correct. Struggled with the anagrams, especially SANCTIMONIOUS as I had forgotten the use of pi as an abbreviation for pious. All in all a fairly wretched 36 minute solve.
FOI – 1ac LOIS
LOI – DNF due to football error but my last entry was 22ac SASH
COD – 2dn SICK AS A PARROT
Thanks to Jack for the much-needed blog.
Ran out of time, but was never going to get SANCTIMONIOUS in a millenium – Pi?
Yeah, it’s part of what I call “the code”. British slang, short for “pious” apparently.
DNF. A flying start on the crosses was later met by firm resistance from Sanctimonious and Lolls. Thanks all
Good puzzle, harder than the 15×15 today in my opinion
Dnf…
Thought I’d finished this in 30 mins, but then realised I’d made three errors: 21ac “Football”, 5dn “Cuddles” and 17dn “Coral”. For the latter, not sure what I was thinking of (probably “Chorale”), but obviously missed the straight forward answer. At the time I didn’t think Football worked, and probably should have trusted my instinct – but, as I couldn’t think of anything else that fit, I stuck with it.
FOI – 1ac “Lois”
LOI – 5dn “Cuddles” (incorrect)
COD – 6dn “Sanctimonious”
The more I think about it, the more I’m not really happy about the archaic terms disappearing completely from the QC.
Thanks as usual!
10:26
Very enjoyable QC.
Thank you, jackkt and Richard
The pasta is lasagna but the pasta dish is lasagne as there are several sheets of lasagna. But we can’t engage with our setter as he is in the great trattoria in the sky.
So I was another who thought 21a ended in reel.
So 1 wrong and 3 DNF.
J
I looked after Richard and his death upset me more than most. As evidenced yet again today his was a greater brain than mine. I regret not having had the opportunity to talk to him -at least he was spared listening to my ward round….
Gave up with 2 to go DNK Pi for sanctimonious (saw the anagram but lacked a pen and paper) but I really should have got Lottos
I’m sorry for your loss. At these times one has no words. Thank you for looking after him and caring about him.
Don’t bother reading this unless you want to see just how bad I am.
55 minute DNF.
Put CORAL for CAROL. Not a typo, I really am that bad. Even by my standards, that is a very poor error.
Took 25 mins over CODDLES and LOTTOS. Saw CODDLES quickly but couldn’t parse it.
Another day of utter humiliation and another week shot to pieces. The fact that this was a QC largely for the enjoyment of the more skilled solver does not excuse my pathetic display.
Why do I delude myself into believing I will ever attain one iota of respectability here? I simply cannot do this!
Don’t respond. I’m turning off my computer so that I can wallow in self-recrimination. There is absolutely nothing positive I can take from today, and motivation for the rest of the week will be hard. Last week was bad, but this was in a different league.
Is it so difficult to achieve my very modest target? Apparently it is.
Thanks for the blog.
A somewhat slow but enjoyable solve this morning, and a very late post! But I thought the whole thing was worth it just for 20a. I have just finished reading Alan Connor’s book on crosswords ‘Two Girls, One on Each Knee’ and the last chapter was called RACY 😅 Some very entertaining examples of naughty / smutty / rude clues, and I’d say that ‘Olga Grey is up the spout’ should be there too! The book was published pre-Quickie, but is a good read – recommended.
I really liked GODCHILD and ESTABLISHMENT, wanted to spell the pasta dish with an E, and put SOFTBALL in with a shrug. No idea on the nina though – any sign yet? So sad to think that in the old days, RR would have put us out of our misery by now.
15:43, FOI Lois LOI Coddles COD Gargoyle (truly laugh out loud)
Thanks for the blog Jack, and thanks to Des
Penny I have it on my bookshelf and read a long time ago. I shall now read again and I’m sure enjoy again! Thanks for the nudge!
I got it for Christmas and have been reading it in dribs and drabs – a lovely book for dipping into. I hope you enjoy it all over again 😊
Something to dip into when I’m tearing my hair out over an ungettable clue 😂
I thought I’d got it all right until checking here only to discover I also scored an own goal with football and I biffed lithos for 11a. Thanks jackket
I don’t understand the ‘Pi’ link at all. I’ve never come across it in crosswords. Can anyone explain it to me?
Hi Bob,
Pi is short for Pious, a synonym of sanctimonious.
Thank you!
DNF
Really struggled with this. Took me too long to recall the meaning of pi, struggled with TRUANT, had exactly the same mix up as James with CAROL, thinking of chorale and rounded this disaster off just under 40 minutes with football.
11:16
LOI was SOFTBALL and it was very tempting to just write in FOOTBALL there, but I couldn‘t see how that would work, then I was looking for -OITBALL but couldn‘t make anything of that, finally I thought of SO for It Follows and then ***finally*** realised how that clue parsed!!
Thanks „in absentia“ Richard for a good puzzle with a nice trap at the end.
Haha I spent a long time muttering foitball? toitball? poitball? yoitball? even though I knew it was ridiculous. The moment of revelation was very pleasing.
A long and enjoyable slog, this one, and (like many) I opted for football: could it be that there’s a tournament going on somewhere? Liked Lottos for draws and sanctimonious for Pi – lateral thinking required. 30 minutes plus but I started late and my brain was full of opera, having weekended at Grange Park for three terrific productions. Back down to earth now for rest of week.
I was determined to finish, although it almost finished me in the process. Well into the SCC, but all green and parsed.
35.57 I found this really hard though the late hour didn’t help. I spent a good while trying to fit ADDLES into 5d and finished with LOTTOS. Thanks Jack and Des.
I struggled and took longer than same days cryptic
Please dont go too modern Times Cryptic as you will find yourself becoming old fashioned rather quickly.