Times Quick Cryptic 2818 by Joker

83 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 2818 by Joker”

1. Only two on the first pass of acrosses and then generally felt above my ability for the rest of the solve. Thanks to Kitty I now get BERRY (oh, that sort of plant) and TYPOGRAPHICAL (had repographical in there for a long time) but neither of those would have been so much of a problem had I been able to get BLUSTERY faster. That must be the most fiendish (for me) anagram yet, not sure why I couldn’t make any sense of those letters. All of TEMPERAMENTAL was hard and the lack of long ones told. All green in 22.53 but it felt a lot longer.

2. 14 minutes, so once again right at the limit of my revised target time where I was for all of last week except for Mara’s puzzle on Wednesday when I achieved my old target 10. REMEDY slowed me down, and DISADVANTAGED. With French accents in mind it amused me that ‘grave’ can mean ACUTE!

   1. Ha!

   2. Yes, and me!

3. Thank you for the explanation of MATT. it looked like such an easy clue and it completely stumped me! Esp because I tend to spell it Matte.

4. 10½ minutes but WOE: I had PUSH for POST at 9A. I thought that to advertise something implied one was pushing it, and that any woman giving birth might be encouraged to push as part of the delivery process. Not as neat as Joker’s preferred answer but not I might argue wrong.

   That apart, I noticed two instances where one had to alter the indefinite article to get the required answer. In 2D the wordplay An endearingly attractive gives A cute, and in 20A A supporting structure gives An arch. I’m not sure I’ve seen this before; usually A in the wordplay gives A in the answer.

   4D is also an odd clue: BERRY as “fruit from elder plant” is barely, in fact not at all, cryptic and it is almost as if Joker was trying to makes a simple clue complex enough for a QC not the Concise. I suspect most solvers will just biff this and not bother to work out the parsing.

   Many thanks Kitty for the blog
   Cedric

   1. The ‘a/an’ thing is common enough but maybe not so in QC puzzles.

      1. Thank you Jack, and one to store away then. Not that it was too difficult to spot what was going on as I was solving the puzzle.

   2. I actually think An endearingly attractive is the problem here, the other one seems fair game to me.

      to go from An endearingly attractive >> ACUTE you have to say that A = AN which is a bit murky imo

      To go from A supporting structure >>ANARCH you just have to say that (a supporting structure) = (an arch)

      1. It’s easy to miss, but you have to be ready to lift and separate words in clues even though there are some occasions where it’s necessary to read them together. Today we have two examples where you need to lift and separate:

         2dn. A (an), then separately CUTE (endearingly attractive)
         20ac. AN (a), then separately ARCH (supporting structure), I (one), C (carbon)

         AN and A standing alone are both forms of the indefinite article and mean exactly the same, so there’s nothing dodgy about one clueing the other.

5. Got going quickly in the NE after Mrs RH saw blustery in about half a second , and all going smoothly until , again, stumped by 2 crossing clues in the NW. It took close to 10 of our 24.00 to come up with acute and matt. MER at turmeric as curry sauce rather than spice?

   Liked berry. Thanks Joker and Kitty for the blog and parsing of rod.

   1. It’s ‘something in curry sauce’. Perhaps Kitty will underline later?

      1. Yep – missing underline now added, thanks.

      2. Ah, of course, thanks

   2. The clue says ‘something IN curry sauce’, so turmeric as one of its spices.

      Just saw Kitty’s edit. Ignore me!

      1. 😀

6. I found this mostly straightforward but was so puzzled by a few at the end that I registered 17.27, which is at least double par. I did this about eight hours ago, took no notes and can’t recall the details, but I agree with Cedric about the A/an issue with ANARCHIC and ACUTE. The former, especially, seemed to jar and I’m not sure whether this is fully legit. But there were some really nice clues here, I especially liked IMP LORE and TURMERIC. Thanks to Joker and Kitty (especially for pointing out the berry homophone).

7. An average time but I forgot to go back and check an answer I wasn’t sure about and got a DPS for ‘topographical’ – wish I could put it down to being a typo but …
   Thanks to Kitty and Joker

   1. Clearly a topo not a typo …

   2. I started with TOPO too!

   3. Ditto re topo but quickly corrected

   4. Another TOPO- but forgot to remember to correct…

   5. Same here. Got most of the checking letters, and the word “chart” in the clue sent me in the topographical direction.

   6. tOpographical, aargh! Missed that. I solve on paper and didn’t get the pink ‘un.

8. I found this a bit tricky as all the black squares were missing from the grid on my iPad, so I had to blunder around to find where clues actually started. Slowed me down a bit. 11.11. Thanks Joker and Kitty.

9. Taken over average by this Monday puzzle – Mondays are rarely easy in QC land I find.

   More than the normal number of biffs/not quite sure what was going on. BERRY, MATT, REMEDY (though very clear with hindsight!), the MENTAL of TEMPERAMENTAL.

   LOI was MATT, I liked IMPLORE.

   7:38

10. I found that mostly straightforward but with a few really tricky ones – LOI MATT required a trawl, the plural “devils” in 13d completely threw me, and REMEDY was a bit 15ish. (Oh, and I wouldn’t write in BERRY until I had all checkers because I thought it involved using “elder plant” as a rather macabre reference to “burying” an elderly relative and couldn’t believe the Times would do that! Durr.)

    Anyway, despite difficulties 06:13 and a Very Good Day. Many thanks Joker and Kitty.

11. DNF put PUSH for 9ac. Yes POST makes much more sense.

12. I made so many errors in solving this that I was never going to beat my target. For a start I biffed DISORGANISED for 12ac, and it was only when I was scratching my head for the down clues that I took the trouble to check the letters of the anagram properly. Then I biffed VILLAIN for 14dn which made 21ac unsolvable. Eventually I came to my senses and carefully parsed everything, thus enabling me to finish with WELLNESS and finally IMPLORE my last ones in. By this time the clock had ticked on to 16.20. A poor start to the week for a puzzle that I should have been a good deal quicker on.

13. Couldn’t get started – FOI DYE – then one led to another with the long ones fortunately going in easily … except the last two MATT and ENGULF, simply too difficult for me. So you mean “short book” could be Gen, Ex, Deut, Num, etc. any at all?! Seems a bit random …. Thanks, Kitty. By the way you haven’t underlined a word in 11 for the definition, presumably swamp?

    1. As “girl” can mean Ann, Bea, Cath, Dot… I shouldn’t be surprised at random shortened “books”, but it was a new one for me too.

    2. I had similar thoughts about MATT, but vaguely remember seeing it in a lectionary. I then found https://lectionary.app/abbreviations/ Potential rich pickings here!

       1. Yes! Sorry I forgot Lev didn’t I. Thanks

    3. Oops, forgetting to underline all over the place today. Will add that now – thanks.

14. About halfway through this, having roamed around the grid for clues I could do, I feared I would not finish. In particular, the long words eluded me for some time.
    Eventually made it to the SCC once MATT fell into place.
    I wasn’t sure about BERRY, which seemed initially obvious, as when I’m gardening I don’t bury the whole plant, just the roots, and I wondered if it was a clever deception – no, just me overthinking it. Liked IMPLORE once it clicked that I didn’t need an S in the answer for a plural.

    1. It depends on what you are planting. If bulbs or potatoes, planting and burying are the same.

15. 11:27
    LOI MATT, went in with a “but of course…”

    Thanks Kitty and Joker

16. From BLUSTERY to BERRY in 6:42. It took me a while to see MATT and I thought MENTAL = abstract was a stretch. I parsed all the clues pre submission which, like Kitty, meant ‘I had to engage my brain a bit’.

17. 14 minutes with LOI MATT unparsed. I spent some time over this but couldn’t think of the book.
    I managed to see the parsing of BERRY though after the initial ” not cryptic” reaction.
    I thought this was a high quality puzzle, and of course Joker’s puzzles generally are.
    Hard to pick a COD; ENGULF was a good PDM.
    David

18. Seemed very hard at first look, but turned out to be a steady solve in about half an hour. LOI MATT.

19. A mixture of the straightforward and the challenging! MATT was in the latter category and somewhat questionable IMHO. I also question ANARCHIC as being “revolutionary”.However, an enjoyable start to the week.

    1. Interesting Goldy. An anarchist is against all forms of government by def. You might argue that the anarchist isn’t going to win by democratic means as that would mean standing for a new government, so that only really leaves a revolution?

20. DNF. Spent half my allocated 20 mins on MATT. My alphabet trawl did not consider TT, and I have always spelt MATTE. I had PUSH anyway.

    Did not know the correct spelling of turmeric, thought it was “tumeric”.

    Did not understand BERRY.

    COD IMPLORE

21. The RHS seemed pretty straightforward, but I think Joker must have sub-contracted the LHS to a different setter. In the end I had to use aids to get the first half of Temperamental, and only then did Matt and Acute slot into place. CoD to 13d, Implore, from quite a messy SW corner (Appeal x2). Invariant

22. I struggled with 2d. Medically speaking acuteness has nothing to do with the gravity of the situation. Perhaps I’ve spent too long in outpatients recently!

    1. I had the same thoughts about whether acute = grave, and for the same reasons!

    2. Ditto.
       A cold is an acute illness. It is rarely grave.
       Motor neuron disease is not acute, but is certainly grave.

23. Given this seems to have taxed others perhaps a little more than average, I’m pleased with coming home in 15:20. I almost always enjoy Joker’s offerings and find them scrupulously fair, although I must confess I’m not sure I’d ever have got TEMPERAMENTAL from word play alone. LOI to APPEAL, COD to UNCLEAN. Thanks Joker and Kitty.

24. 10:37 but…

    …bunged in TOPOGRAPHICAL from the checkers and forgot to go back to it.

    A hard start to the week.

    Thanks Kitty and Joker

25. Found this a real struggle: couldn’t work out the long clues, which made it more difficult. Matt and land the last to go in after half an hour plus. Think my Monday morning head wasn’t working.

26. I am always surprised to hear TV chefs pronouncing TURMeric as TEWmeric.

    Nice puzzle. MATT was LOI after some head scratching

    COD Implore, which brought a grin

    Thanks Joker and Kitty

27. DNF in 28 minutes. Mostly quick again but stumped by MATT. Thanks Kitty and Joker.

28. A new week, so I tried again with renewed enthusiasm. Sadly, though, the same outcome – a DNF, this time with five clues unsolved (MATT, REMEDY, WELLNESS, ACUTE and TEMPERAMENTAL) and one error (PuSh) after my allotted time of 40 minutes.

    Mrs Random has watched my solve rate (and enjoyment) plummet since the summer, from a reliable 90% – 95% over the previous 12-18 months to only just above 50% during the past couple of months (incl. 14 DNFs from the last 25 QCs!) and is very pleased that she has all-but given up on the QC. She said it became too elitist and too time consuming for her. I’m trying very hard not to come to the same conclusion, but the evidence just continues to stack up against me.

    I may report back again later this week or early next, but I am properly demoralised by the QC at the moment. Sorry to be so gloomy and good luck to everyone else.

    Many thanks to Kitty, of course.

    1. Yes, I agree that recent puzzles seem more difficult, though newcomers like Tina are doing well. The Snitch mostly measures the speed of experienced solvers rather than SCC members. I can’t complain as I don’t time myself. But if I were a beginner, I might have abandoned the Times QC by now, despite the valiant efforts of the bloggers. The chap who compiles the Snitch is obviously a good egg too, though.

       1. Excellent point about the Snitch being (mostly) experienced solvers. The key thing here is that an increase in the difficulty of a puzzle will affect people of differing levels in greatly different ways. A more difficult puzzle (however measured) could push a regular 4-minute solver out to 5 minutes; it won’t much change their enjoyment and won’t at all change their completion rate. The same puzzle might however push a 10-minute solver out to 20 minutes, significantly change their enjoyment and may start impacting their completion rate. And it might push a 20-minute solver into a bad DNF and disillusionment.

          On a slightly different matter, I don’t think I’d entirely agree that “recent puzzles seem more difficult”. There have been more (in number) of the more difficult puzzles, certainly, but there have also been some new setters who are very much more friendly, and the main thing I have observed is that taken overall they are becoming more varied. And in terms of our 20-minute solver I mentioned above, that means there are more days when they experience an ugly DNF and disillusionment – even if on average the puzzles are not really collectively harder than they were.

          1. Thank you, Cedric. You have expressed the point I was trying to make so well.
             Thing is, I don’t usually mind how long the QC takes me. I just enjoy the game and sometimes I need 40 mins or longer. But it is dismaying that good chaps like Random feel discouraged and one wonders how the Silent Majority of non-posting beginners are getting on.

             1. Me ….. a “good chap”? Thank you, Countrywoman1! Maybe I should run and tell Mrs Random ….. but on second thoughts, perhaps I shouldn’t. She might fall over laughing and do herself an injury – and that would be my fault.

          2. A very good analysis, Cedric. I’ve had very few 25-35 minute solves recently, despite it being my most common time window over the past couple of years, but I have significantly upped my 15-24 minute solves.

             Basically, I’m one of those 30 minute solvers who get severely buffeted about by inconsistent setting. I will get used to it, but it’s an uncomfortable process.

    2. Keep going, we would miss your comments.

    3. Chin up RandomChap.

       The QCs have been getting harder over the past couple of months and today’s had a few stinkers in there, MATT!

       Enjoy the clues you can solve and learn from the ones you can’t.

       After a few years of QCs I’ve now graduated to the full cryptic. I reckon my solve rate is hovering around the 10% mark!

29. I didn’t know how to spell turmeric, and couldn’t parse berry. Well, at least Matt. was my FOI. The long ones were a bit difficult, but I just waited for crossing letters. Finished by biffing wellness, an obvious answer.

    Time: 10:14

30. 17:05 Slow on a lot, taking a while to see many of the definitions and parsings. Thanks, Kitty, for the elucidation!

31. Difficult, I thought. Pleased I had finished all correct eventually but then noticed I had forgotten to solve ENGULF.
    Spent ages on MATT and ACUTE.
    Early solves included TURMERIC, BLUSTERY. I saw BERRY straight away but could not parse so hesitated.
    Once I had finally solved the 3 long clues I felt better.
    Admired CHAOS, VILLAGE, LAND, among others.
    Phew, exhausted. Thanks vm, Kitty.

32. Beaten by MATT but completed the biggie so still happy.
    Thanks Joker and Kitty

33. 12/25. I am hoping for an easy one tomorrow, which will be my last attempt at a QC, because Waitrose is withdrawing its newspaper vouchers. A sad day!

    1. But Waitrose hasn’t given free papers for months around here. You could always subscribe to the on-line Times and print off the puzzle?

34. Like some others, a these days rare DNF for us. Having spent very many minutes going through mental alphabet trawls at least twice we gave up on MATT after twenty minutes. I’d even said to Mrs T that I thought we might be looking for a shortened book of the bible but I had in mind a first or final single letter omission and I never considered potential ATT endings. C’est la vie. It was a perfectly fair clue. Well played, Joker, and thanks, Kitty.

35. 15m
    Quite tough
    Had to do in 2 sessions.

    COD Implore, but I think the clue needs a ?

36. Fairly quick, but left with some doubts. Thanks Kitty, cracking blog as usual.
    FOI 1a Matt. Interesting it scored heavily as LOI. I’m no bible-basher, but there are only 4 gospels, and they are fair game for the setters.
    2d Acute. Nearly didn’t put it in as it is in French accents the antonym of grave.
    3d Tempera… had difficulty making mental=abstract, then thought of animal, vegetable, mineral game. Good one.
    4d Berry, instantly came to mind, and later, with checks, BIFD as Cedric prophesised, never thought of bury=plant. DOH!

37. 13:02, relatively fast for me. On the one hand it helped that I was fully awake; on the other hand it’s a high-anxiety day. Who knows what the net effect was on ease of solving!

    So pleasant to forget the worries and deal with the manageable challenge of this QC. ACUTE and UNCLEAN made me laugh. Happy with REMEDY because I finally encountered one of these substitution clues that I was able to understand instead of biffing. But COD to the self-referential RESOLVE.

    Many thanks to Joker and Kitty.

38. Seemed fairly middle of the road but couldn’t parse MATT or BERRY. Obvious now (thanks kitty). Biffed a fair few including TYPOGRAPHICAL and BLUSTERY. Took the tempera bit of TEMPERAMENTAL on trust. Now I understand MATT it gets COD. Thanks kitty and Joker.

39. Thought I’d done reasonably well except to find 1ac “daft” delivered some pink squares. I thought it worked; being d(r)aft for short book and daft=dull (as in slow-witted). Do we have VAR?

40. DNF. Never thought of MATT(hew) or the medical meanings of acute & grave. I also had “push!” as a “delivery job”, which I like better than the actual answer! Ah well, on to tomorrow.

    Thanks to Joker and Kitty.

41. I too had Push instead of Post. Also had Adhere rather than Cohere ( should have checked the parsing ) and it meant I couldn’t get Chaos. Medically Acute and Grave are not the same as has previously been discussed in the blog, one relates to time course and the other to severity. I actually thought this was a wry comment on French accents .

42. 22 min but with topographical.
    I found this a steady solve. Very enjoyable.
    The blog was useful for those I couldn’t parse. Thank you.

43. Another good puzzle from the consistent Joker. But, another DNF with 9a Push/Post. Liked 11a Engulf, 19a Bout, 20a Anarchic, 13d Implore and 17d Chaos. Looked at 6d with all the crossers in place and with Typical in mind then Typographical went straight in. Started off 14d with Villain/Village and had to choose correctly to get 20a Anarchic, so thanks to Kitty to giving me the right parsing.
    FOI 4a Blustery
    LOI 18d Reign – simply the last clue to look at
    COD 17d Chaos.

44. The later I start the QC the slower my times because the brain cells have nodded off by now. 29 minutes to completion today, so rather slow.

    FOI- 4ac BLUSTERY
    LOI- 1ac MATT
    COD- 11ac ENGULF

    Thanks to Joker and Kitty

45. DNF

    Let down by my spelling of TEMPERAMENTAL. Having failed to get that I also didn’t think of MATT for a short book.

46. 28 minute DNF.

    My week was ruined by 1ac! Meant nothing to me. Every time I think it can’t get worse, it does.

    I am wasting my time here. Why do I bother when I am so obviously incapable of anything approaching a reasonable performance?

    Don’t reply. I’m really beyond advice now and there is nothing anyone can say that will make me feel any better.

    FWIW, I got all but 4 on Friday’s big crossword. Totally meaningless now.

    I give up.

47. I was beaten by Matt and put Push instead of Post. I took about 40 minutes and like others I don’t care how long I take – I actually prefer the more challenging ones so long as when the answers are revealed they make sense and are words either known to me or if not known I should be able to work them out from the clues, eg today where I should have got both but didn’t.
    The blog and comments really do help the more inexperienced of us to improve. I never thought I’d be able to do cryptic clues but after 3 years now finish about 75% of the QC’s.
    Thank you Joker and Kitty.

48. Completed all but 2 today. Beaten by Matt and acute.
    FOI & COD – blustery – because it reminded us of Winnie the Pooh
    As always the blog is very helpful. Thanks Kitty.

49. Got most answers in big crossword but very limited parsing.

    How long does it take before one gets any pleasure at all from this? I feel like I’m hacking through rock with a teaspoon. When does the enjoyment start, because right now I find this a joyless slog? Surely that can’t be right?

50. 31 mins…

    First pass I got nothing in the top half so was fearing the worst – however, the bottom half was easier so I steadily built up the grid from there. Only issue was whether 9ac was “Post” or “Push” as I thought both were potentially valid. In the end I opted for the former.

    FOI – 12ac “Disadvantaged”
    LOI – 1ac “Matt”
    COD – 6dn “Typographical”

    Thanks as usual!

Comments are closed.