Times Quick Cryptic 2752 by Jimmy

82 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 2752 by Jimmy”

1. I didn’t know a DJ was a dinner jacket and was very confused about the clue.

   Otherwise my only other hold up was ELUCIDATE for no real reason but the word just wouldn’t come to mind.

   1. I thought DJ was a disc jockey and wanted explicate for ELUCIDATE.

      1. What curryowen said. No idea who Harry or RON were, just followed the wordplay.

2. I didn’t find this difficult – I recently solved a Guardian with DJ in the clue, so it is fresh in my mind. I couldn’t place Ron, but the wordplay is obvious. I was quite surprised that raunchier is an anagram for hurricane – longer one-word anagrams are rare, and I would have expected to have seen it before. Stationery was my LOI, and I should have seen it without having to write down the anagram letters.

   Time: 6:04.

3. I thought this was a nice mix of straightforward and challenging. It took me 8.19 and I found it enjoyable. Ditto Curryowen exactly, also Kevin. The I see = I date device at ELUCIDATE tricked me completely, and thank you to Jack for pointing out what was going on with THOROUGHLY and how NASTINESS was a hidden (I was wondering about a Romanian gymnast for a while). Liked several here, including EXPLODE, NON-STARTER and the raunchier anagram. Thanks Jimmy.

   1. Same thought re Romanian gymnast. I think my brain conflated Ilie NASTase with NAdia Comaneci.

4. Had no idea about Ron, I am glad to say—and also that I solved it anyway.
   Also glad to learn about the raunchiest/hurricane anagram.

5. Friendly start to a Monday morning.
   For ON THE HOUSE, I thought ‘on the tiles’ first but like the blogger quickly discounted it as I could see it didn’t meet the definition.
   Also took a while to get past Disk Jockey knowing there was an X in there somewhere the penny dropped.

6. The whole Potter thing works much better as a video game (Hogwarts Legacy). IMHO.

7. I do know Ron and his pals, books, films and audio book versions have all featured in this house of over the childhoods of the girls. It still took me a while to get it though. I did need to have THOROUGHLY explained to me though – thanks Jackkt. TUXEDO was LOI, took a long time see what the DJ was up to and to stop trying to force “eve” in there. All green a shade under 12.

8. A friendly start to the week which took me 10 minutes (or so – for some reason the Times app didn’t stop the clock on completion and I didn’t immediately notice). I got RON from the very clear wordplay without being able to understand the reference to Harry, and I biffed NON-STARTER and never went back to check the parsing, but otherwise no issues. Liked SINGLET, very clever and my COD – there is of course just one T in vest too. Making NASTINESS into a hidden was some achievement!

   Many thanks Jack for the blog
   Cedric

9. Nicely pitched with some very elegant clues. Tuxedo and thoroughly took a while to reveal themselves. Spent too long looking at utterly hot as an anagram. In the end finished around 29 minutes but the app is doing its thing where it doesn’t stop the clock again.

   Must have been a nice moment for Jimmy when playing with the letters of hurricane and discovering raunchier😀 but COD to nastiness, lovely hidden.

   Thanks Jack for the parsing of thoroughly and appal that escaped us in the moment but obvious now!

   Thanks Jimmy.

   Thanks

10. An enjoyable puzzle. I needed the blog to understand THOROUGHLY, as I tried to make an anagram out of UTTERLY HOT. Thank you, jackkt.

    I mention here in case it affects others and the tech people see it, but The Times Classic app on iPad did not acknowledge completion of the puzzle with the usual congratulations message and time. Might just be me. I see that Cedric has also mentioned.

    1. Yep, I got no congratulations message today. Just stayed on the completed grid.

    2. Same here

11. Gentle going but very enjoyable with several contenders for COD.
    A couple of minor hold ups, firstly trying to anagram ‘utterly hot, where I see I’m in good company, and a misspelling of STATIONaRY causing some issues with LOI ELUCIDATE.
    Finished in 6.26 with CsOD to HURRICANE and NASTINESS.
    Thanks to Jackkt

    1. The best part of 70 years ago I had a primary school teacher who said “E for envelopes and A for at rest”. Never had a problem since.

       1. . . .one cap and two socks in necessary etc. There must be equivalents in other languages, but of course you only learn the ones in your mother tongue.

          1. Is that an old school reference?

       2. E for envelopes and A as in car – as Invariant says, there must be lots of such mnemonics in lots of languages. But, I suspect, English needs more than other tongues.

       3. Never surprises me to see this written incorrectly – even in this newspaper it happens.

    2. “A stationer sells stationery” has always worked for me. But perhaps it wouldn’t work nowadays. I don’t think I’ve come across a stationer recently anywhere else

12. I’m amazed so many commenters were unaware of Harry Potter, probably the most significant series of books/movies of the 2010s.
    I found this pretty straightforward and whisker after struggling through a few recent crosswords.

    1. Aware, yes of course. Aware of the details, no not really (I suppose it depends if you had children of a certain age at the time). Front of mind when solving a QC, no not a chance!

    2. Reverse snobbery, I imagine.

13. I surprised myself by recognising what was going on with RON, despite having studiously avoided anything remotely connected to Harry Potter. I haven’t yet got onto Jimmy’s wavelength, but I’m having fun trying.

    FOI NICKS
    LOI TUXEDO
    COD THOROUGHLY
    TIME 4:11

14. 9:50 but…

    …managed to triple-pink-square myself somehow by typing NNICS at 7a which also kyboshed 1d.

    Didn’t help that my son was blabbering away which was somewhat distracting.

    Oh well.

    Thanks Jack and Jimmy

15. 10:29
    Not too bad, just re-engaging my crossword brain after a week at the Olympics.

    Still struggle with RONDO, I thought it was Rondeau. I like ON THE HOUSE, not hard but satisfying, brings a smile when it drops.

    COD RAUNCHINESS/HURRICANE. Always good to see a straight anagram pair, one to file away.

    1. I’m sure the two spellings are used in both contexts on occasion, but I tend to associate RONDO more with music and ‘rondeau’ more with poetry.

       1. I also associate Rondo with wine-making. It is a hybrid red grape dating from 1964. It is quite widely used in Northern Europe and, increasingly, in England. Denbies in Surrey made a gold medal winning wine (Chalk Ridge Rose) from 100% Rondo in 2010.

16. As per comments above. An enjoyable puzzle within my limited ability to complete in less than 25 mins. Just time for a croissant and a coffee in the club before heading off for an errant test follow up.

17. Very enjoyable coming in just under my 40m target.
    COD TUXEDO
    LOI NASTINESS. Finally spotted the hidden before I reached for the atlas to check out Essex place names. The fact both SIN and SPITE for ‘malice’ fitted with the crossers didn’t help.
    Enjoyed the Lang Lang rondo.

    1. Yes, he certainly made a show of it!

       1. He? I thought Lang Lang was a duo.

          1. That’s possible as there did appear to be 20 fingers playing.

18. 9:12
    No major hold-ups. I have read all the Harry Potter books, (and seen the films), so 4d was a write-in.
    LOI was THOROUGHLY, which went in from the definition, without my spotting that ROUGHLY was needed.

    Thanks Jack and Jimmy

19. I enjoyed this and found it a steady solve. Thanks Jimmy and jackkt. Not keen on OHO because I don’t recognise it or RON because I haven’t read Potter either but both were obvious.

    1. I was planning to query OHO as I associate it more with wariness than surprise (assuming the word I’m thinking of is spelt like that but the H is silent), but every dictionary I checked mentioned ‘surprise’ first or second.

20. I found this more difficult than some and I expect I’ll be bordering on orange.

    Took an age to unravel LOI STATIONERY, and only got it after seeing the hidden RONDO – STRAINING also took a while. Great anagram for HURRICANE.

    6:44

21. 8 minutes with LOI EXPLODE.
    No hold-ups and all confidently entered. A nice start to the week.
    COD to TUXEDO.
    David

22. Some very nice clues as mentioned above, and a gentle Monday solve, the only hiccup being the failure of the Times app to congratulate my success. Maybe I caught it unawares with my sub SCC pace…

23. Finished, but not that quickly. A lot of biffing. Smiled at LOI ON THE HOUSE, one of the many clues I should have solved sooner.
    I put RON but did not think of Harry Potter – doh! Will watch out for him in future. Biffed TOSCA, RONDO.
    Liked ELUCIDATE, SINGLET, TUXEDO, NON-STARTER (failed to see Course tho).
    Many thanks, Jack.

24. More gentle than of late. Confused by OHO but had to trust wordplay. FOI and COD to NON-STARTER which much made me smile. Only pause was for LOI STRAINING (doh). Have read all the Potter novels and seen all the films as my now grown up children loved them, as did I. Thanks for the Lang Lang link – wonderful.

25. 8:34
    No dramas.
    Thanks, jack.

26. Mostly straightforward, apart from some trouble down the RHS, where I found the Utterly Hot* bear trap difficult to climb out. In the end, the second ‘o’ from CoD Tuxedo convinced me to re-think, even though I was still a little dubious about the first one from Oho (normally just Oh ?) A window seat near the back, so a bit slow but then it is Monday. Invariant

27. On the faster side of average for me at 14 minutes. I didn’t stop to parse everything so several were left semi-parsed at the end. I am pleased to say that I was just starting the ‘utterly hot’ “anagram” when I noticed the lack of a ‘g’ which I already had from STRAINING. I also failed to connect RON with Harry Potter despite being familiar with the books and films. Didn’t associate box with TV so VAT went in with a shrug. Excellent QC in my opinion.

    FOI – 10ac HURRICANE
    LOI – 15ac TUXEDO
    COD – a lot of contenders. I noted EXPLODE and THOROUGHLY during solving but on looking back I would add NASTINESS for the very clever hidden.

    Thanks to Jimmy and Jack

28. A pretty straightforward start to the week although I was halfway down the crossword before my first one went in. I was speedy enough after that sluggish start, and crossed the line in 6.30.
    Thank you Jack for putting on the link to Lang Lang playing Mozarts’s Turkish Rondo, a truly mesmerising performance, even if he did play it at a hundred miles an hour! As a listener to Classic FM, I know they are fond of playing Lang Lang who often plays a few additional notes to the composers original score, much to my annoyance. I’m reminded of that great scene in the film Amadeus when Emperor Joseph II tells Mozart after hearing one of his compositions that “there are too many notes perhaps”; to which Mozart replies “sire, there are neither too many or too few”.

    1. I saw the film once but I know Amadeus best from the original stage production seen at the RNT and later broadcast on Radio 4 with the same cast. Paul Scofield played Salieri and Simon Callow, Mozart. Iirc the ‘Too many notes’ line was used several times by the Emperor.

29. 3.33 – an enjoyable quickie.

    Some of us are young enough to have read Harry Potter as children ourselves!

    Thanks both.

30. I think the Harry Potter books are wonderful – brilliantly plotted and extremely imaginative. So COD to RON from me, solveiarmus!

    Underarm bowling from Oh Jimmy Jimmy today and I was home and hosed in 05:50. Would have been faster if I hadn’t spent a minute at the start trying to justify “non-runner” before realising that it wasn’t even long enough. Durr.

    Many thanks to the two Js.

    1. Solviearmus indeed 😀

31. Nice start to week.7:17 for me which I’ll take given the swelteringly hot train carriage on Londons hottest day of the year.

    Didn’t parse THOROUGHLY.

    COD goes to TUXEDO.

32. From NON- to STRAINING in 7:52. I thought the anagram for HURRICANE was great….not sure I would have solved the clue so quickly without the H in place. I also enjoyed the cluing for ELUCIDATE but my COD goes to THOROUGHLY as it is so apt given the weather today in the UK.

33. Not so sure about OHO, although clueing makes it obvious. Add me to the “know nothing about Harry Potter” club. A pleasant start to the week.

34. 6.35

    What Hopkinb said. Nice gentle opener to the week

35. 11 minutes. I had no idea of the connection between RON and ‘Harry’ and there were a few tricky ones like ELUCIDATE but nothing unreasonably difficult.

    Favourites were TUXEDO for the misdirection of ‘DJ’ in the surface reading and my LOI THOROUGHLY.

    Thanks to Jimmy and Jack

36. 4d Ron; Potter didn’t spring to mind, but it wasn’t hard. Afterwards I checked by typing “Harry and Ron” into Google and the flying Anglia came up and filled the whole page with similar hits.
    POI 6d for a while I had “On the Tiles” rather than House, and it works if you assume that going out for a beer etc implies you are released of any more duties for the nonce, thus free.
    19d Imply; I briefly biffed infer, which does NOT mean suggest, and was going to rant about people using infer for imply and vice versa. But no, this is the Times!

37. Enjoyed this one and completed with LOI TUXEDO in 20 minutes – knocking on the SCC door. NASTINESS was an inspired hidden and RAUNCHIER/HURRICANE extremely neat. Slight pause over thieves as a transitive verb: at prep school “who thieved my locker” was always corrected by those in authority. But NICKS was clear enough. Thanks to Jimmy and to Jack

38. Pitched just at the right level for me (i.e. not particularly challenging). Time = 21 minutes, so a prime seat in the SCC today.

    NON-STARTER (1a) came early, but the other key clue, ON THE HOUSE (1d), remained hidden until much later in the proceedings. I was pleased to piece together TUXEDO correctly. My last four in were APPAL, IMPLY, VAT and ENLIVEN, in that order.

    Many thanks to Jimmy and Jack.

39. Got RON from wordplay only, despite being familiar with the Potter franchise. I just didn’t make the connection. NON-STARTER was FOI. Submitted at 5:07 to be told I was only 98% complete. This was due to not having filled in HOUSE at 6d, where I’d used the solution to fill in URN and ENLIVEN, but neglected to put in the O and U. Fortunately I didn’t hit the second enter. 5:20. Thanks Jimmy and Jack.

40. 10.18 Mostly straightforward. I couldn’t connect RON to Harry. NON-STARTER, NASTINESS and THOROUGHLY were biffed. ENLIVEN and VAT took a few moments at the end. Thanks Jack and Jimmy.

41. 25 mins…

    I made hard work of this, especially some clues I should have got a lot faster than I did: 13ac “Hasten”, 15ac “Tuxedo”, 6dn “On The House” for example. Wasn’t convinced about 12ac “Oho” – “Oh-o” perhaps, but not as one word. I will have to look above to see what other people think.

    FOI – 10ac “Hurricane”
    LOI – 17ac “Straining”
    COD – 21dn “Vat”

    Thanks as usual!

42. A slow day for us at around 16:45. Took far too long to see that the required education was training and also to see the hidden RONDO, perhaps it’s more difficult when the clue is split across two lines though there’s enough of a hint in the wording. COD to ON THE HOUSE. Thanks to Jack and Jimmy.

43. 10:17. THOROUGHLY and VAT were favourites.

44. How interesting to read such snobbish and prejudiced comments about the marvellous JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series.
    Maybe some of you should borrow a copy (over 500 million sold, so no problem getting hold of one) and give it a try. You might surprise yourselves.
    You started this, jackkt, with your comments in the blog. You have lost a lot of respect that I previously held for you.

    1. Hi Joanne, I didn’t realise you had time to do crosswords.

       Reading back, I’m not sure I’ve seen any snobbishness or prejudice. Plenty who aren’t familiar with the work, which given the demographic of a lot of those who post here, isn’t that surprising. Plenty who know it through their kids, and plenty who say they love the books and/or films.

       Slightly strange phrasing – it is JK Rowling who is marvellous, or the Harry Potter series?

       I’m in the middle category, and have seen some of the films, but have felt no compulsion to read the books.

       1. I don’t disagree with you HB regarding demographics, but at the risk of stirring up a hornets nest, I’d say there are a couple of comments along the lines ‘I’m glad I don’t know the answer to this’ which come across as a tad superior! I’m not so young myself (sadly) but that doesn’t mean I’m not aware of the importance of modern cultural phenomena like the HP stories, along with a whole load of other stuff like I’m a Celebrity, the Marvel films, Taylor Swift etc etc that I don’t have any interest in but know that lots of other people care passionately about!

          1. My daughter is off to see Taylor Swift on Thursday. She is practically vibrating with excitement!

             That’s why I read it back PB. A bit of “it’s not my thing”, but you’d have to be thin-skinned to get quite so snootily upset (at the mild-mannered Jack) about other people not being interested in something you like.

             1. I think we’re basically completely agreed on this! Just a different way of phrasing it 😊 I hope your daughter has a wonderful time – I remember feeling the same about the bands I loved! Not something you grow out of really- I went to see ELO in 2017, having never seen them in the 70s, and I’m still getting over it seven years later 😅

45. Just under target at 14:08. No issues with the Harry Potter connection: my children are of the age where the publication date of each new book was on the calendar from the day it was announced.

    COD THOROUGHLY, for the PDM.

    Thanks to Jimmy and Jackkt.

46. A slow but unaided finish. On beach, swims, picnic, etc. putting Redspot at first clearly didn’t help and it took me a while to parse Rondo, as didn’t see the hidden. Otherwise a quick and enjoyable QC. Thanks Jimmy and Jack

47. A gentle Monday solve even in the heat.
    Madam Rowling does seem to cause controversy somehow

48. I was on the ‘slate’ for a bit, until I found house apart from that, breezed through with decent time; complexity just right for me, although biffed RON, guessing Harry Potter, whose exploits are totally unfamiliar to me.

49. Enjoyable puzzle, but with such a mix of easy and then others that need thinking about that I found it hard to get any steady pace into the solve. Quickly saw the correct DJ and the X was then a giveaway. Had to rethink On The Tiles… Wasn’t keen on 12a Oho.
    FOI 1a Non-starter
    LOI 9d Thoroughly – a biff
    COD 1a Non-Starter

50. 21:42

    Fairly slow going. Took a while to see STRAINING and had to take a leap of faith with LOI RONDO.

    Loved the Harry Potter reference. The best children’s books ever written.

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