Times Quick Cryptic 2884 by Jalna

 

Solving time: 12 minutes

An enjoyable puzzle I found mostly straightforward, but how did you do?

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 A portion of haggis always lacks flavour at first (4)
HALF
H{aggis} + A{lways} + L{acks} + F{lavour} [at first]
3 Yell about terrible tune for quite a long time (7)
CENTURY
CRY (yell) containing [about] anagram [terrible] of TUNE
8 Somehow computerise nearly all valuable material (8,5)
PRECIOUS METAL
Anagram [somehow] of COMPUTERISE, then AL{l} [nearly]
9 Sort of info lawyers know to begin with (3)
ILK
I{nfo} + L{awyers} + K{now} [to begin with]
10 Urge, say, almost vanished (3,2)
EGG ON
E.G. (say), GON{e} (vanished) [almost]
12 Look, food is likely a big element of holiday expenditure (7)
AIRFARE
AIR (look – appearance, manner), FARE (food)
14 I told you, the cuts hurt (2,5)
SO THERE
THE is contained by [cuts] SORE (hurt)
16 Poet periodically welcomes in a doctor and priest (5)
PADRE
P{o}E{t} [periodically] contains [welcomes in] A + DR (doctor)
17 Cheek, or something next to it! (3)
LIP
A cryptic hint refers to parts of the face
20 Getting redundant sign updated (13)
UNDERSTANDING
Anagram [updated] of REDUNDANT SIGN. Geddit?
21 Discredited official silenced after losing millions (7)
REFUTED
REF (official), {m}UTED (silenced) [after losing millions]. One can refute or discredit an argument.
22 Dog possibly swallows small bug (4)
PEST
PET (dog, possibly) contains [swallows] S (small)
Down
1 Trousers for fashionable types (8)
HIPSTERS
Two meanings
2 Place is somewhat foul, i.e. unpleasant (4)
LIEU
Hidden in [somewhat] {fou}L IE U{npleasant}
3 Caught person throwing part of game (6)
CHUKKA
Aural wordplay [caught]: CHUKKA / “chucker” [person throwing]. Each of the periods into which a game of polo is divided. Polo players wear chukka boots.
4 Celeb ditching the practice of mentioning famous connections (4-8)
NAME-DROPPING
NAME (celeb), DROPPING (ditching)
5 Inconvenient direction hospital worker may once have gone? (8)
UNTOWARD
UNTO WARD (direction hospital worker may once have gone).  ‘Once’ indicates use of the somewhat archaic ‘unto’.
6 University awayday’s ending with beer! (4)
YALE
{awayda}Y [’s ending], ALE (beer)
7 Elaborate item printers get wrong (12)
MISINTERPRET
Anagram [elaborate] ITEM PRINTERS
11 I’d forget about trash (3,3,2)
GET RID OF
Anagram [about] of I’D FORGET. Colloquial slang meaning to throw away. It can also mean to wreck. 
13 Vision certainly embodied by rowing crew (8)
EYESIGHT
YES (certainly) contained [embodied] by EIGHT (rowing crew)
15 Joyful story upset newspaper boss (6)
ELATED
TALE (story) reversed [upset], ED (newspaper boss)
18 Engine noise is mostly clean, right? (4)
PURR
PUR{e} (clean) [mostly], R (right)
19 Large amount of money in substantial property (4)
PILE
Two meanings. Stately homes or mansions are sometimes referred to as country piles.

91 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 2884 by Jalna”

  1. One for the old hands I think, I found this very hard to finish, with 4 clues unsolved (CHUKKA, UNTOWARD, AIRFARE, and PILE). I’d NHO of CHUKKA or PILE in the sense of a house, UNTOWARD is very hard IMO, and AIRFARE was tough without checkers (and look=AIR is not easy to get).
    I felt like this puzzle had a huge range of difficulty, some very easy clues and some real hard ones, which I didn’t really enjoy.

    1. Thanks for your support – your experience was very similar to mine. But my sister-in-law has a PILE; and maybe you have a Rolls-Royce?

  2. AIRFARE took nearly three minutes of my 10.28, I just couldn’t get that noun sense of look. UNTOWARD took a while too, but no complaints. I knew that meaning of PILE because my dad (a newspaperman) used to swear there had been, in the pre-war years, a report of a fire in England headlined ‘Duke’s country seat on fire’ with the subheading ‘Historic pile burns’. I’m quite sure he wasn’t making this up, thanks J & J.

    1. Editors and headline writers love to have fun. A bit like soap opera script writers working cryptic jokes into the dialogue. It made watching soaps with Mrs N tolerable.

  3. Great crossword. Congatulations on the HALF CENTURY (whatever that means).

    Thanks to everyone who enjoyed my Weekend QC.

  4. 29.57 Fits and starts – a happy challenge for us.
    Almost bare grid after sweep of across clues : ( Triggered things somewhat with the downs.
    Couldn’t spell CHUKKA, nor parse it, likewise no idea about U in ‘UNTOWARD’ (thought N possibly direction) Thank you Jalna – and Jakkt for explaining all. : )

  5. I’ve been finding Monday’s hard recently so I was glad to make it home in 12.37 this morning. Held up by AIRFARE at the end. I’m no stranger to the Channel Tunnel but I don’t often fly to holidays so AIRFARE took a while at the end – but that’s no excuse for a former Heathrow employee (pesky COVID)! Five on the first pass of acrosses and then better on the downs. Particularly enjoyed UNTOWARD. Nice to be the right side of the GK divide once with CHUKKA. An all green start to the week.

      1. That’s my recollection too, Nutshell, not that I would have been the target market as I was still wearing grey flannels with blazers or Harris tweed jackets at the time, but my AI assistant takes another view and the term possibly applies to a different type of trouser now:

        The term “hipster” has been around since the 1940s, but the current definition of a hipster emerged in the early 2000s. Hipster fashion, including their signature skinny jeans and tight-fitting trousers, gained popularity around the same time.

        The hipsters I remember were not jeans nor particularly tight-fitting; the word referred more to the low position of the waistband.

        1. I think the term (which as I said I’d never come across) might apply to what I would have called low-riders, which were popular, here anyway, for far too long (see Wiki sv sagging). Perhaps the stupidest fashion idea since the sack dress.

        2. A verse from the TV show (late 50’s ?) 77 Sunset Strip’s theme song:
          “You’ll meet the highbrow and the hipster
          The starlet and the phony tipster
          You’ll see most every kind of gal and guy
          Including a private eye.”

          1. Mid 60’s I think – I would never have been allowed to watch it as a five year old, but thanks for the ear worm 😉

  6. Took ‘caught’ in 3d to be ‘C’ and then wondered what came next, even though I knew of the polo game period. Beaten by UNTOWARD and AIRFARE. Everything else was pleasant enough. Also missed the Half Century.

    I can recommend having a crack at the 1935 crossword that is on the crossword club now. Certainly different.

    Thanks Jack and J.

      1. I looked at the 1955 one on Sunday and got absolutely nowhere. I could say the fact that only 3 down clues were included made it impossible to solve, but that wasn’t the real reason.

    1. Was on the wavelength for once. As per Quadrophenia (and others), I took Caught to start C, ending with A and CHUKKA was a write in. Aural wordplay [caught] had me stumped (!) but assumed it was a double definition for Chukker.
      Liked EYESIGHT,PILE and AIRFARE although best advice is to avoid inflight food unless travelling long haul in First. As a friend once said, always travel in First Class. If you don’t, your children will.
      Thanks Jack and Jalna.

  7. Tough in parts with a couple of clanging PDMs when we finally found the definition at the other end of the clue!

    All done in 26.10 with only Chukka unparsed, thanks Jack. Wanted to put in clobber, caught + one who throws but couldn’t rationalise with any definition.

    COD among a fear contenders to lip, nice one Jalna, thanks.

  8. A perfectly decent puzzle somewhat spoiled by technology!

    For some reason the crossword club (or my laptop??) decided to display a touch screen keyboard option every time I changed clue, which I then had to minimse before answering it. No idea why it decided to do that as my laptop doesn’t even have a touch screen technology.

    Started with HALF and finished with PILE in 8.51 with no significant sticking points.
    Thanks to Jackkt and congrats to Jalna

  9. Seeing other times here I’m very happy with 10’55”. CHUKKA, UNTOWARD, AIRFARE and CENTURY made that whole corner challenging but pleasing when completed.

    Nice puzzle, thanks (and congrats) Jalna and thanks Jackkt for the fine blog.

  10. 22:08 for the solve! Reached my last pair at fourteen mins with PEST taking a couple of mins and then being left with PILE – the dreaded -I-E checkers and not a very helpful double def.

    I don’t think that was easy but I did find some very enjoyable clues in there, well done to Jalna for reaching the half century. Look back through my stats shows I’ve been successful on 25 of 39 puzzles since I started.

  11. CHUKKA took me back to Saturdays in the 1960s watching the polo in Windsor Great Park, treading in the divots with the unmounted members of the royal family. My favourite player was one Major R.I. Ferguson, who went on to obtain fame of a different sort when his daughter married the Queen’s favourite son. His wife ran off with an Argentine horseman, if my mother is to be believed, though it sounded to me like something from the Jilly Coopers she used to read.

    7:01

  12. An interesting and immersive QC which I enjoyed. I slowed towards the end and only just avoided the SCC. LOI HIPSTERS.
    Looking back, I have often found Jalna to be a difficult setter so I was happy to complete this one. Thanks to Jalna and Jack – I was happy to have confirmation of a couple of hurried parsings.

  13. Dnf…

    I thought this was hard. I started off well, but got bogged down in the lower half. After 30 mins, I still wasn’t sure about 3dn “Chukka” (I put “Chucks”) and thus couldn’t get 12ac “Airfare”. In addition, ended up looking for a word with 8 letters for 11dn rather than (3,3,2) which left me scratching my head.

    FOI – 1ac “Half”
    LOI – Dnf
    COD – 11ac “So There”

    Thanks as usual!

  14. OK much reasonably “straightforward” but couldn’t get beyond four to the bad. AIRFARE and UNTOWARD are difficult; NHO CHUKKA; biffed SO THERE but parsing way beyond me; and don’t have a Rolls-Royce so not familiar with PURR. Thank you for explanations, jackkt.

  15. Lack of patience this morning. Blitzed six and moved on to the washing up.

    Going back to it, I reveal the answers and then attempt to parse the clues. That should help improve my technique.

  16. 12:31, and very much as Jack says “mostly straightforward”. But not without clues that required more thought: I was on for a good time until the two long anagrams of MISINTERPRET and UNDERSTANDING needed to be written out on paper, and then the U of the latter gave me the checker I needed for my LOI PURR. “Engine noise” is not what I would immediately think of for purr, and most cars I have had have either growled or clanked – but I suppose if Jalna had referenced cats it would have been too easy!

    Many thanks Jack for the blog
    Cedric

    1. Yes, all my autos made only annoying sounds. I drove a Rolls once( movie prop) and discovered I was travelling twice the speed limit because there was no usual noise or vibrations to alert me to how fast I was going!

      1. I recall reading an article about a film / TV series where the protagonists were travelling in a Rolls Royce and the director got the effects team to overdub the sound of an engine because it was felt viewers wouldn’t believe it was really being driven otherwise

  17. 9:31

    Felt pretty slow this morning – some of the answers took a while in coming to mind, but got there in the end. Picked up on the HALF CENTURY (congrats Jalna).

    Thanks Jack

  18. One pink square, for CHUCKA. Vaguely heard of the word, but had not remembered how to spell it.

    Thanks Jack and Jalna

  19. 14:48. not particularly racing as was listening to something at the same time. the long anagrams didn’t really jump out at me so was rather slow on unscrambling them until I got a few crossers. I nearly caught myself out with UNTOWARD as my brain decided that UPTOWARD was a perfectly valid word. a fun QC and thank you setter and blogger.

  20. Enjoyable puzzle. LOsI CHUKKA (unparsed, but have watched polo) and AIRFARE. Liked REFUTED, PURR, NAME DROPPING, LIP, UNTOWARD.
    Thanks vm, Jack.

  21. 7:11 for me today continuing a good run of form. Held up briefly in SW corner and LOI was PURR.

    CHUKKA wasnt quite sure whether it was spelt with a “KH” but went with the double K and was fine.

    FOI HALF followed by HIPSTERS which I hadn’t heard of in the trouser sense.

    A decent Monday offering from YALNA with nothing too clever but Ill give COD to my PP(pen-penultimate)OI AIRFARE.

    Thanks for blog JAck

  22. I started well enough but the last few clues proved challenging. I eventually finished in 22 minutes. As I often find Jalna difficult I was reasonably happy with this time. Couldn’t parse either airfare or refuted and had to check the spelling of chukka.

    FOI – 1ac HALF
    LOI – 21ac REFUTED
    COD – 20ac UNDERSTANDING

    Thanks and congratulations to Jalna and thanks to Jack for providing my missing partings.

  23. A fairly swift start to the week for me crossing the line in 7.38. It seems quite a few of the answers were unknowns to many, but all were familiar to me. I even owned pairs of hipsters in the 60s together with some floral patterned shirts and ties that were all the rage at the time. A dedicated follower of fashion as Ray Davies of The Kinks once penned. The only answer that I paused over was the spelling of CHUKKA, but I managed to persuade myself there was no C involved.

    1. To my, now, embarrassment I will admit to having posessed two pairs of velvet hipsters as a student; one red, one purple. Bizarrely they were purchased from the local butcher whose wife was a machinist in an East End sweat shop. I thought they were great. Fortunately my sons are unlikely to ever read this admission.

  24. From HALF to CHUKKA in 9:12. Like others I was held up at the end by AIRFARE and LOI CHUKKA. The latter went in unparsed as I thought the C = caught. I really have no excuse for not getting AIRFARE sooner given my son got up at 2 am this morning to pilot passengers from Birmingham to Alicante. COD to SO THERE. Congratulations to Jalna.

  25. Slow today(too many distractions with the plumber in to fix our shower) and a silly typo (LOP instead of LIP). I saw the HALF CENTURY without knowing its significance until coming here. Jalna has given us a fine puzzle to mark the occasion. Thanks to him and jackkt for the blog

  26. DNF

    Gave up on final two after 35 mom’s, being MISINTERPRET and AIRFARE. Couldn’t get despite crossers (misinterpret because I thought the definition was ‘Elaborate’)

  27. I made heavy weather of this by my standards, and I’m not sure why since it wasn’t overly difficult.

    40 years of driving black cabs didn’t help me to consider PURR as a noise from an engine – I drove one of the short-lived Metrocabs for a few years, and that roared, rattled, and clattered!

    FOI CENTURY
    LOI HALF
    COD SO THERE
    TIME 5:02

  28. Like others I found this hard and had to reveal some clues to help me get others.
    I thought a CHUKKA was something ice hockey players pushed around the rink so I have learned something new today.
    Thanks Jack and Jalna.

    1. Think it’s a puck although you never see the hockey sticks or pads when they put on A Midsummer Night’s Dream

  29. I love the word refute, which always reminds me of this Johnsonism recorded by Boswell:

    “After we came out of the church, we stood talking for some time together of Bishop Berkeley’s ingenious sophistry to prove the non-existence of matter, and that every thing in the universe is merely ideal. I observed, that though we are satisfied his doctrine is not true, it is impossible to refute it. I never shall forget the alacrity with which Johnson answered, striking his foot with mighty force against a large stone, till he rebounded from it, ‘I refute it thus’.”

    Held up by LOI AIRFARE and COD SO THERE (what a good clue). All done in 07:51 for a Good Day. Thanks Jack and congratulations Jalna!

  30. 6.25

    Unusually found this easier than others despite never going to Polo or wearing hipsters.

    Probably helped there being fewer DDs.

    Thought the two longer anagrams were nice and have to admit CHUKKA was my favourite.

    Thanks (and congrats) Jalna and Jackkt

  31. 12:39

    I found this tough as I thought I was going to need knowledge of the haggis and didn’t see LOI HALF until an alpha trawl yielded POI HIPSTERS. Also struggled with PILE. Good puzzle, thanks Jalna and Jack.

  32. I was heading for a comfortable enough sub-20, with just the anagram at 7d to untangle. The problem was I had ‘get wrong’ as the anagram indicator (ironic, eh?) and hence Elaborate as the target. . . Several minutes later I reluctantly entered Misinterpret, as the only word that would fit, and came here expecting to find it was an unknown fifth definition (twice removed). . .🙄 Damn and blast, or words to that effect.
    Anyway, congratulations to Jalna on the half century: take a fresh guard and push on to a hundred.

  33. This took a little time to get started, but HIPSTERS gave a number of first letters which opened things up. PILE seemed to fit better than alternatives, but not convincing. LOI UNTOWARD. SO THERE seemed correct but the parsing eluded me. Just the right level for me, not straightforward but all complete after two cups of coffee.

  34. DNF.

    I can usually bludgeon my way to a long winded conclusion, but UNTOWARD sat and smirked at me until even my patience failed.

    I found it pretty tough overall, like others I didn’t see the anagram cue for MISINTERPRET, just put it there because nothing else fitted. As a one time stable hand / groom CHUKKA shot in, which having seen the comments from others is something of a consolation.

  35. DNF

    NHO CHUKKA. Knew what was going on with the clue but tried CHUCKA.

    The rest wasn’t easy either, took an eternity to unravel AIRFARE. Thought a lot of money and large building was a MILL. Sorted that out eventually.

  36. DNF Defeated by Untoward and Airfare: annoying start to week! Enjoyed it up to that point, except delayed by Chukka.

  37. 14 minutes for all but the 1s.
    For some reason HALF and LOI HIPSTERS held me up during the solve and I crossed the line in 17 minutes in the end.
    Some good clues. COD to SO THERE.
    I thought PURR was fine for a RR but I cannot think of many makes which that would fit.
    David

  38. Just over half an hour, I think, which is about average for me. The top two Acrosses took a long time to come, but all four really long clues came surprisingly quickly. In fact, PRECIOUS METAL was my FOI. My last two were UNTOWARD and HIPSTERS, where I first came up with ‘hopeless’. Fortunately, the definition in the clue didn’t refer to my crosswording skills, so I knew to keep on alphabet trawling.

    Like several others above, I have never driven a car that PURRed and I also arrived at the solution in a slightly different way than our blogger. I had PUR{ge} for ‘Mostly clean’, but I think both routes work.

    Congratulations to Jalna and many thanks to Jack.

    P.S. Has anyone seen my avatar? It’s a view of Chanctonbury Ring (in the distance), looking West along a footpath that runs below the scarp slope of the South Downs. I had it a few days ago, but it’s appears to have gone missing.

  39. After struggling with many clues, surprised myself with a 22 min finish. Getting some of the long ones quickly gave the checkers for the more obscure ones. Thanks Jalna and Jack

  40. 15:11 with no errors. Having checked my records I have completed 22 out of 38 of Jalna’s puzzles (20 if you disallow typo’s) so definitely a compiler that I tend to struggle with. I had a good start as PRECIOUS METAL, UNDERSTANDING and MISINTERPRET went straight in. I seem to be in the minority in having no trouble with CHUKKA and HIPSTERS. Like most I was held up by AIRFARE and LOI PILE which was entered with little expectation, but I couldn’t think of anything more likely. Very happy to see all green when I pressed enter as I suspected PILE was wrong.
    Thanks and congratulations to Jalna on reaching the half-century and thanks to Jack for the blog

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