Solving time: 6 minutes, which is about as fast as things normally get for me as I’ve achieved 5 minutes only 5 times in 10+ years.
We have 6 pure anagrams, exceeding the limit of 5 I have always understood to apply in the 15×15 main puzzle, and logic suggests that there should be fewer in the 13×13 Quickie. 5 of the 6 appear in the Down clues which is a little unfortunate and certainly made blogging them seem repetitive.
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 | Invoice company directors for large sign (9) |
| BILLBOARD | |
| BILL (invoice), BOARD (company directors) | |
| 6 | Pastry’s price displayed regularly (3) |
| PIE | |
| P{r}I{c}E [displayed regularly] | |
| 8 | Chanel, say, fanatic for tropical fruit (7) |
| COCONUT | |
| COCO (Chanel, say – French fashion designer), NUT (fanatic) | |
| 9 | Relax, beginning to climb high ground (5) |
| CHILL | |
| C{limb} [beginning to…], HILL (high ground) | |
| 10 | Coaches ceramicist, one with a track record? (12) |
| TRAINSPOTTER | |
| TRAINS (coaches), POTTER (ceramicist) | |
| 12 | Drowsy Yankee strips in reverse? (6) |
| SLEEPY | |
| Y (Yankee – NATO alphabet) + PEELS (strips) [in reverse] | |
| 13 | Suddenly turn west, interrupting start of rally? (6) |
| SWERVE | |
| W (west) contained by [interrupting] SERVE (start of rally – tennis etc] | |
| 16 | Use handout he developed for spooky location (7,5) |
| HAUNTED HOUSE | |
| Anagram [developed] of USE HANDOUT HE | |
| 19 | Coffee seen in the middle of platter (5) |
| LATTE | |
| {p}LATTE{r} [seen in the middle of…] | |
| 20 | Thrilled former partner gets referenced (7) |
| EXCITED | |
| EX (former partner), CITED (referenced) | |
| 22 | Regret street in Paris (3) |
| RUE | |
| Double definition | |
| 23 | To short-term worker, cry of appreciation for carving (5,4) |
| TOTEM POLE | |
| TO, TEMP (short-term worker), OLÉ (cry of appreciation) | |
| Down |
|
| 1 | Resist horned creature (4) |
| BUCK | |
| Double definition | |
| 2 | Spy novelist appears back inside terrace lodgings (2,5) |
| LE CARRE | |
| Hidden and reversed [appears back inside] {t}ERRACE L{odgings}. Writer of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, etc | |
| 3 | Throw away part of pen that’s used up (3) |
| BIN | |
| NIB (part of pen) reversed [up] | |
| 4 | Painter, say, with odd traits (6) |
| ARTIST | |
| Anagram [odd] of TRAITS | |
| 5 | Rowdy crowd hoot for sci-fi show (6,3) |
| DOCTOR WHO | |
| Anagram [rowdy] of CROWD HOOTS | |
| 6 | Wheeze carrying one material for decorating (5) |
| PAINT | |
| PANT (wheeze) containing [carrying] I (one) | |
| 7 | Blow up general, unfortunately (7) |
| ENLARGE | |
| Anagram [unfortunately] of GENERAL | |
| 11 | I am someone in hospital, possibly fidgety (9) |
| IMPATIENT | |
| I’M (I am), PATIENT (someone in hospital, possibly) | |
| 12 | One studying larch so haphazardly (7) |
| SCHOLAR | |
| Anagram [haphazardly] of LARCH SO | |
| 14 | Italian dish — it’s roots in a stew (7) |
| RISOTTO | |
| Anagram [in a stew] of IT’S ROOTS. On edit: thanks to Vinyl1 for pointing out what should have been obvious to me, that something is wrong here as RISOTTO has 7 letters whilst what I took to be the anagrist (it’s roots) consists of 8. Another problem that’s not been pointed out below as I write this update, is that in the surface reading of the clue, “its” would not take an apostrophe, so the suggestion that the clue should read “it’s root” wouldn’t work either . Another suggestion that “it’s” might be read as a contraction of “it has” wouldn’t work either as explained by Vinyl1, so we are left with a mystery at the moment. I can see only one explanation, that the anagrist should have been “its root”, but that would mean there are two errors in the clue, the apostrophe “s” and the plural “roots”, which seems rather unlikely. Perhaps we shall find out from someone at The Times later in the day what was intended here. Later edit: The clue was amended to: Italian dish – its root in a stew (7). | |
| 15 | Turn away, taking in opening of drink commercial (6) |
| ADVERT | |
| AVERT (turn away) containing [taking in] D{rink} [opening of…] | |
| 17 | Female relative not initially let loose? (5) |
| UNTIE | |
| {a}UNTIE (female relative) [not initially]. Only last Thursday we had: Free relative forgoes introduction (5). | |
| 18 | Golf club missing top and side (4) |
| EDGE | |
| {w}EDGE (golf club) [missing top] | |
| 21 | River starts to curve around mountain (3) |
| CAM | |
| C{urve} + A{round} + M(ountain}. On which stands Cambridge. | |
Trelawney is also my favourite compiler, we seem to be on the same wavelength. Today’s time of 5:53 is my second best ever. My record remains at 5:00 (also Trelawney no. 2668). FOI – PIE, LOI – BUCK, COD – DOCTOR WHO. I’m also guilty of biffing risotto and not noticing the error.
I’ve also noticed today that we now have Quick Snitch ratings for Saturday puzzles. Has these been there a while and I’ve not been very observant or is it a new feature? Would it be possible to also have a Snitch rating for the main Saturday puzzle as well?
Thanks Trelawney and Jack.
I’m not sure about the Saturday Quitch, but as the Saturday 15×15 is a prize puzzle I expect the times/confirmation of accurate entries aren’t available in the same way.
Well spotted for the Saturday QUITCH. I don’t think it’s been there for very long, but it looks like starstruck has gone back a few months.
What Amoeba says for main Saturday puzzle – you don’t get a score or position on the leaderboard until a week after the puzzle, so it wouldn’t be able to scrape the data the same way.
I had a double-take when I saw the Saturday results going back months, but it has only changed in the last couple of days:
https://timesforthetimes.co.uk/times-quick-cryptic-no-2796-by-joker#comment-436930
As per comment above – starstruck_au reprogrammed it on Saturday – it was down all day.
He has a “Buy Me a Coffee” page over at https://buymeacoffee.com/xwdsnitch and if we all bought him (at least) one to show our gratitude, he won’t be sleeping for a week!!
Er …. greetings one and all. I’m typing this in hushed tones, so as not to admit I’ve already returned from my “disappeared” state. Please don’t tell anyone.
And I’m very glad I did come back, as Trelawney has kindly delivered me a PB. My first ever all correct, 10 minute solve!
A proper QC, straight after my worst ever week!
I have nothing more to say really, other than to offer my heartfelt thanks to everyone who replied to my rather hasty (and, it now transpires, ill-advised) decision on Saturday.
Many thanks to Trelawney and Jack.
P.S. Mrs Random has just asked me why I don’t rattle through every QC as quickly, as I wouldn’t then “wander around for the rest of the day like a bear with a sore head” and I would “become available sooner to get on with some of the important stuff around the place”, but I couldn’t offer her a coherent answer. She’s so understanding, is Mrs R.
Phew, Random. We were all a bit worried for a moment.
The Flouncer returns!
Good to see you back and well done on the PB
LP
Very pleased to see you back, and congratulations on the PB!
So pleased you’re back, Mr Random. 🙂
As quick as it gets for me, but interrupted halfway by a request to search for something in the house. I worked steadily down the across and down clues, and only had to go back to BUCK and check RISOTTO.
12 to 15 minutes of fat thumb typing on the App.
Good to hear from so many newcomers. Just shows that an encouraging puzzle can inspire.
A nice easy one today, as shown by me actually finishing it!
W00t – second one this month
For me this was a perfect QC – ten minutes of fun solving. BILLBOARD went straight in and I was away – the clueing was generous, the anagrams not too difficult, the touch light throughout. I just ignored the extra S in RISOTTO thinking that it would be explained: it has, a little slip now corrected! Thanks Trelawney and Jack.
Having sharpened my wits on the 15×15 I flew through this in 10 mins, my PB. Got every clue on first reading except coconut and Totem pole.
How is it possible to read 26 clues and write in the answers in 5 mins? That’s 11.5 secs per clue!
Anyway thanks Trelawney and Jack (even if for once I didn’t need help in parsing any)
If you want a faster time, don’t linger on clues that don’t come immediately. Just get the low hanging fruit into play which then gives extra checkers. I often skip anagrams for this reason.
As for 11.5secs per clue – that is, of course, an average. You can read a clue in under 2 secs and if the answer comes immediately, you’ve saved 9.5secs for one of the harder ones!
Anyway, if it should interest you to see; I put my solves up here … https://youtu.be/g3iSHukFqFU
Thanks for the encouragement
4.53 w00t! First time under five. I started a bit slowly trying to justify BULL for 1d and DOCTOR WHO needed all the checkers, but everything else went straight in. RISOTTO had been fixed by the time I looked at it. Thanks Jack and Trelawney.
Congratulations!
Knew this was easy as it went it straight top to bottom except I misread the clue 1d as ‘homed’ and had to go back to finish off. Hadn’t even time to finish my Costa – it was still hot when I’d done…. Missed the Risotto issue as it was so obvious it went straight in. Must be a PB if I ever timed these.
12 mins…
We sometimes go from the ridiculously hard of last week to the ridiculously easy of today. Whilst I’m not complaining, as a few have pointed out above, I now feel I should have done a little better.
Without looking at it closely, I (wrongly) assumed the “s” after the apostrophe could be ignored in the “Risotto” anagram – but now I’m not so sure. I will have to read the comments above in more detail to see if a solution was found or if it was a genuine error.
FOI – 1ac “Billboard”
LOI – 10ac “Trainspotter”
COD – “Trainspotter”
Thanks as usual!
No, no, this is not a thing. 5:40?
I’m fully awake, there’s no weird slang, etc etc but nonetheless I’m pretty shocked because it’s about 60% of my previous fastest time. I knew there would be a bunch of us, it was a bit like being led by the hand through the basics of Times QC solving.
Loved TOTEM POLE!
Thanks Trelawney and Jack. Today I’m struck anew by how much work the setters and bloggers put in for my daily enjoyment.
Well done Steel City ⚡ Have to agree about TOTEM POLE especially the OLE part!
Haha indeed. Ole!
7:08, and you can add me to the already long list of those who’ve clocked up a PB today. My second and third best times are also Trelawney, he’s like the yin to Izetti’s yang (or possibly vice versa).
Thank you for the blog!
Congratulations to you too!
3:35. Yes. Quite gentle. I never noticed the problem with the clue for risotto. Thanks Trelawney and Jackkt
10 minutes.
Poor when compared to many people I was once level with.
As a pen and paper solver, I will never be fast, but I seem incapable of improving like the rest of you.
Stupidly looked at the Snitch and just put myself under pressure to do well. As a result, I didn’t enjoy it and derived no satisfaction from it.
Nowhere near a PB and nowhere near a top to bottom solve. Really frustrating when I see what others can achieve.
I ‘finished’ the grid for the proper crossword but have little doubt that it contains several errors. I won’t be reporting back as on this as there’s no point.
Only 2/5 on Quintagram. Appalling. Off to sulk.
At least you had a successful solve. Can you recommend any self-abuse I should inflict for my stupidity? 😀
Gary is a very supportive person that would never suggest that you think badly of yourself! In fact the opposite, he will celebrate you
One day he will realise he treats himself worse than he treats everyone else. In the mean time I continue to be impressed by his improvement here and on the big one, I can’t even touch the big one 🙁
Don’t worry Tina, ND isn’t being serious. He’s telling me to stop beating myself up unnecessarily.
Thanks for your comments about my improvement. 😊
Give the big one a try. The hard part is getting an initial foothold, but then it gets a bit easier. There are often several clues that are no harder than the QC.
8:11
Given my target is 20 mins I think it’s safe to say this was about as easy as they get. It’s very rare that I break 10 mins, let alone 9.