Times Quick Cryptic 2908 by Jimmy

76 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 2908 by Jimmy”

1. Not the easiest of quickies, I thought. Some of the wordplay took some figuring out, CLAUSE, SCARCITY, PUBLIC. But got there in the end.
   Thanks Jack and setter.

2. I made rather a mess of this, sometimes not seeing the obvious. While there were good starter clues like plumber, Isis, papaw, and unearth, I struggled a bit with clues that should have been easier, like garage and impede. Furthermore, I never saw the two hiddens, but just biffed the answers after not being able to make sense of the clue. Scarcity was my LOI, and I biffed it and realized I had been looking at the cryptic backwards.

   Time: 11:46

3. Because The Times site kept rejecting me I went in via the club site, with its annoying predictive function that made me spell it WATEE instead of WATER, so a pink square. Like others I found this challenging and did it in 11.22, thanks Jimmy and Jack.

   1. Do you mean the “Skip Filled Squares” option? If you open the settings at the top right (the button looks like a cogwheel) you can toggle “Skip Filled Squares”.

      1. Oh is that what it is? Important info, thank you. I think I prefer the traditional way of doing things, I’m sure the skipping option saves time for some but I had to keep going back to put things right.

4. Took the hidden ITCHINESS to get me started today which was then followed by each of the next four clues to give me five on the first pass of acrosses and lots to do at the top and bottom. NE and SW went in nicely – particularly enjoying LET TRIP and PLUMBER – before hard work in the NW and SE. Finished up with PAPAW (thanks Baloo) and then PLAY. Hadn’t thought beyond ‘tip’ for worker’s reward and didn’t think of PLAY for drama so the extra time was deserved – ending up all green in 15.36.

5. 14:59 for a slow start to the week, and I’m glad I am not alone in finding this a stiffer test than our blogger suggests!

   It did not help that I thought PAPAW was spelt pawpaw, that I have a blind spot on female singers, that I could not work out what atelier was doing in the clue for EASEL (or what it means) and that I took a long time to see both hiddens. But all fair, so in retrospect the cause of my slow time was probably brain not in top gear as much as chewy clues.

   Many thanks Jack for the blog.

6. I think our brains are in an even slower gear than Cedric’s. Found this very tough, searching around the grid without ever really getting any momentum. Our L2I public and rolls took around 8 of our 35 minutes.

   Some very nice clues though, COD to magnifier, after trying various thoughts on bombs, had a thought and started looking for inflators before the clang of the PDM

   Thanks Jimmy and Jack for the DEL key!

   1. Your experience precisely the same as mine in every detail (except that I probably took longer than 35 minutes).

7. Felt a bit sluggish making my way through this one but there was nothing particularly tricky.

   Like Cedric, I was thrown by the spelling of PAPAW as I’d only ever seen it before with an extra ‘w’, but the clueing was clear.

   Started with ROLLS and finished with PUBLIC in 9.09.

   Thanks to Jackkt

8. I found this hard for a qc and took even longer than the others here, 16:26

9. 9 minutes. I bunged in several from the definition or from elements of wordplay and would probably have needed a couple of extra minutes to parse everything properly. WATER-SKI was my LOI and like a few others I was thrown by the apparently missing W in PAPAW. I liked LE TRIP.

   Thanks to Jack and Jimmy

10. Public Rolls Scarcity saw me heading for the SCC with a coffee and croissant which I finished in 22 minutes. Thanks Jimmy and Jack for an enjoyable breakfast accompaniment.

11. 10.02

    Also sluggish, like Vinyl, missing the obvious on numerous occasions. Probably the sign of a good puzzle.

12. I started in the NW and after three minutes had one answer (ISIS). So definitely tough for me! Things then came in a rush until I was quite quickly back in the NW, but now with checkers. They gave me SCARCITY, then ROLLS but I then had to stare at -U-L-C for a very long time. LIC for “a lot of insects” feels like an escapee from the 15 to me!

    Well over target at 10:12 for a Sluggish Day. I need coffee.

    Many thanks Jimmy and Jack.

13. I was on Jimmy’s wavelength and after hard going with some recent QCs, escapees from the 15×15, this was almost a write-in. Some lovely clues, clever and entertaining, and IMHO a perfectly-pitched QC. Thanks Jimmy and Jackkt.

    1. Ian, I have deleted the duplication. No problem, but you may like to note for the future that contributors can edit or delete their own comments for up to 12 hours after posting.

       1. 👍Thanks jackkt

    2. It’s perfectly pitched if you can knock off a 15 x15.
       For many of us who can’t, this was not solvable.
       I barely managed half in an hour and a half.

14. Got there eventually, but felt like wading through treacle.

    Pi ❤️

    1. For 20 down I took every other letter, IM, from the setters name – Jimmy! Gets the right answer!!

15. Easy in parts, but I was slow in NW. LOsI SCARCITY and PUBLIC, even YAM. Biffed ADELE. Struggled with IMPEDE, GARAGE.
    Liked MAGNIFIER, EASEL (kept looking for hidden) GLADDEN (missed hidden!), IMMOBILE, ROLLS.
    Thanks vm for blog, some much needed, Jack.

16. Finished with the help of my self-compiled directory which reminded me of PUBLIC, unlocking LOI ROLLS. Loved COD WATER-SKI, brilliant surface. Thank you, Jimmy.
    Oh Mrs M objects to PAPAW, says no one calls it that now, it’s a papaya. Does anyone agree?

    1. Pawpaw and papaya are different things here in Oz, but I think they are different variations of the same plant with different coloured fruit. I’ve been in many Pacific Island nations but NHO papaw.

       1. Interesting! My 1950 dictionary has the heading papaw, then below says “also pawpaw, papaya” as if all are actually the same. So if we start from here: I know papaya well, the outside is green and yellow mixed, the inside is a parroty red, the texture a bit like avocado – what would you say pawpaw was?

          1. I think here it is a bit yellower but I think Mrs M is probably right, and we’re basically talking about variations of the same thing. I don’t eat it much here, what tastes delicious in a beachside cafe in Vanuatu loses its appeal when it’s wrapped in plastic in the supermarket. It also acquires a smell that is fairly redolent of, um, sick…

             1. Thank you so much for your friendly reply! (That’s so funny – I was on this blog at the very moment when you posted – about something else – actually I deleted it and went away – and then saw your post!) I’m glad you said that before I did … because actually I find the same thing, but Mrs M – as a half-oriental – loves it so I don’t like to labour my slight revulsion! All best wishes

17. Thanks Jimmy and Jack. Sluggish, very. And Adele, Jack? You may have heard ‘Skyfall’, one of the better Bond songs, which she coauthored and sang.

    1. Sorry, CT, but no, as I don’t listen to ‘modern’ pop music, and I have not seen a Bond film since Roger Moore left.

       1. I’m like you Jack, a Connery/Moore stalwart.

18. Not feeling the love after having the weekend ruined with two days of man flu which has barely abated this morning so based on others comments will take my 9:13 as a reasonable attempt. Thankfully my ten o’clock has just been cancelled so back to bed for a couple of hours. Took me a while to parse both ADELE and GLADDEN maybe indicative of not quite firing today.

    FOI ISIS
    LOI ROLLS
    COD MAGNIFIER for the nice cryptic definition.

    Decent enough puzzle thanks Jimmy and thanks Jack for helping clarify one or two of my not quite fully parseds.

    Cheers

    Jonathan

19. Not a good start to the week. I am way out of step with jackkt and others.
    Some clever clues; some weird ones (e.g. LIC = ‘lot of insects’). Not a QC imo. Didn’t enjoy.
    Looking back, my times for Jimmy’s puzzles have varied widely (from low teens to the SCC) – perhaps it is just a wavelength thing.

20. I scraped under my target but certainly had to concentrate on this one. From COUNSEL to WATER-SKI in 9:36. Thanks Jimmy and Jack.

21. Very QC-ish I thought. Made steady progress throughout, apart from time spent trying to parse GLADDEN and only belatedly seeing it was a hidden. Assumed initially that spring time would be ‘Mar’ not ‘May’. Like Cedric I also thought PAPAW was pawpaw, so I’ve learned something today. LOI IMMOBILE. Thanks Jack and Jimmy.

22. I don’t think I am on Jimmy’s wavelength! Failed again on ROLLS and PUBLIC.

23. Tough but fair and quite clever. Izetti-esque!
    Thanks Jackkt

24. Very slow today, taking 21:44.
    COUNSEL, SCARCITY, YAM and MOUSSE all held out for ages.
    SCARCITY had been the wrong track for ages, desperately chasing pavements south of the river trying to find a place beginning NOTRAIN.
    Not the first time I’ve struggled with MOUSSE being described as “creamy”. Just because my favourite chocolate mousse has no cream in the recipe doesn’t mean my mind should filter it out when running through a list of trifle, eclair, etc.

    Thanks Jimmy and Jack

25. 19:34 for the solve. Jimmy’s puzzles seem to have got harder – I was averaging about 11mins on them last year and enjoying them. This year it’s been 17, 19 and 19 again today. All tight wordplay but I have to say I’m glad I got decent at the QC when I did because it feels like it would be very difficult to be starting now – many of the recent puzzles just seem to have too many moving parts or tougher definitions going on in them.

    1. Everything is getting harder…everything!

26. A small valley usually among trees

    Nevermind your delete key…

    Fat zero but given the reveals I could fathom all bar two of the parses which were a step too far for me.

27. I thought it was hard.
    Liked Le Trip.
    Re the fruit they are 2 different things, from Wiktionary:
    papaw (plural papaws)
    A tree, Carica papaya, of tropical America, belonging to the order Brassicales, and producing dull orange-colored, melon-shaped fruit.

    pawpaw
    See also: paw-paw
    Asimina triloba fruit
    Via Portuguese and Spanish papaya (which is botanically unrelated) from Kari’na kapaja; the reason for the change in spelling is unknown

    papaya (plural papayas)
    A tropical American evergreen tree, Carica papaya, having large, yellow, edible fruit.
    The fruit of this tree.
    An orange colour, like that of papaya flesh.

28. Found this a bit of a struggle and had to biff some unparsed (Adele, water ski, gladden) but in retrospect don’t really know why. 22 minutes – and just pleased to finish.

29. Well the wheels well and truly fell off today with my slowest ever recorded time for a finished QC at 26.19. Utter brain freeze with about five to solve down the left hand side, where it must have been over ten minutes without me putting in a further answer. I was convinced I was searching for the name of a south London borough, and it was only when the penny finally dropped on this one that things kicked off again. I agree with others that this was tough, but certainly not as tough as I made it for myself. I’m just amazed that I persevered really, as I have given up after twenty minutes on the odd occasion I failed to finish.

    1. Exactly the same experience/pattern as Mr Pandy above, except that I took nearly twice as long. I made steady progress for 25 minutes or so, but then hit the buffers with six clues still to solve. Those were ROLLS, SCARCITY, YAM, MOUSSE, PEEP and EASEL – all linked down the LHS of the grid. There followed a 15 minute gap before ROLLS and SCARCITY unlocked the grid again and the remaining four clues all fell quickly after that for a successful completion a little short of 50 minutes.

       SCARCITY was the real key to finishing and EASEL was my LOI, as I had no idea what ‘atelier’ meant. I can’t remember ever having seen or heard it (and neither can Mrs R), so EASEL was only possible as a pure guess once all of its checkers were in place.

       Many thanks to Jack and Jimmy.

30. 9:50 Fairly smooth sailing, no long holdups. SCARCITY was my COD. Like simjit I didn’t think of MOUSSE as creamy. Then that got me pondering what exactly does creamy mean to me- a thick liquid with positive connotations, I guess.

    1. Smokin’ ⚡

       1. Hit the ground running today!

31. Knowing very little about female pop singers and having not considered the del key I gave up at 25 minutes. I should really have persevered as I have heard of Adele. 25 minutes for the rest with some biffed. I don’t seem to be able to get out of the SCC these days.

    FOI – 12ac ITCHINESS
    LOI – DNF
    COD- 6dn LET RIP. Also liked ITCHINESS

    Thanks to Jimmy and Jack

32. 32:47

    Really stuck on last 2 which added 10 minutes to my time. Was looking for car parts that sound expensive so struggled with ROLLS and then couldn’t make head nor tail of LOI PUBLIC.

33. Got there eventually. Guessed Adele – only pop singer I could think of beginning with A.
    Didn’t know which of Rolls/roles was required, having missed the significance of “picked up”. Fortunately guessed correctly. Also papaw as spelling was new to me.

    Felt much more like a QC to me than some of those I attempted last week. Enjoyable and the clues were fair if tough.

    Thanks, jackkt and Jimmy.

34. 9:38

    Much of the last two minutes spent mentally analysing my car for parts, hence LOI ROLLS once the P D’ed.

    Thanks all.

35. Excellent puzzle. I too thought it was PAWPAW, but parsing was obvious.

36. 35:18. Very nice puzzle with a good mix of clues and misdirections everywhere.
    Thanks Jack and Jimmy.

37. A strange solve: Public, Isis and Clause were write-ins, but the rest of the NW remained a mystery until almost the end, even to the point that I began to seriously doubt whether 8ac was an anagram of On Clues. . . The reference to south London in 1d had me struggling for districts south of the Thames, particularly as I had no idea where Hackney was, and lower down the grid Magnifier was another all round the houses job.
    A 25min finish with all that going on was something of a minor miracle, albeit not quite on a par with England’s performance on Saturday 😁. Invariant

    PS Today’s 15×15 was fairly gentle, but with a few ‘trust the cryptic’ answers thrown in.

38. 10:58. my first pass across the top yielded nothing, but the down clues went in easily. PAPAW was a new spelling for me, causing a momentary doubt. didn’t fully parse IMMOBILE and a couple of others until after submitting. enjoyed it overall, thank you both.

39. 15m
    Needed 2 sittings to finish off scarcity, rolls, and public. These also get my COD.
    Didn’t parse water ski.

40. Others here who didn’t share our bloggers experience. I came here expecting there to be renewed complaints after last week. We were only 2 s away from knocking on the door of the SCC and slower than any of last week’s. POI PUBLIC and LOI ROLLS (was looking for homophones of car parts that would mean expensive!) held us up the most but, tbh, it felt tough the whole way through. I’m another PAWPAW person so that also delayed entry. Didn’t see the hidden GLADDEN until we had all of the checkers. Thanks Jack and Jimmy.

41. I was another to struggle with this, just managing to beat 30 minutes. PAPAW? Only ever seen PAWPAW. Last in were PUBLIC , ROLLS and SCARCITY. I’m clearly not on Jimmy’s wavelength at all.

42. Gave up with 10 left. More and more like it recently.

43. I don’t understand why DEL =KEY
    in 2 across. I’m clearly missing something blindingly obvious. Can someone please explain?
    Thanks

    1. The “Delete” key on a computer keyboard is often labelled “Del”.

44. 14.43 This was quite bitty. I chucked in GHIAS for 10a, which would have worked had it been singular. That delayed the NW then I finished with GLADDEN and GARAGE. Thanks Jack and Jimmy.

45. 8.09.

46. 8:32

    Slowish and sluggish – Jimmy comes up with a slightly chewier offering. I’ve been away for a few days and it’s surprising how quickly one gets out of the rhythm. Nothing too tricky perhaps, just needed to zone in a bit more.

    Thanks Jack and Jimmy

47. Possibly my longest solve time to date, but got there.

    PEEP, LOI, stared at me for more time than many correspondents took to complete the whole shebang.

    Thanks Jack and Jimmy.

48. Just got into the SCC before it closed because I’d taken too long. Like others thrown by PAPAW. Ages to get ROLLS and PUBLIC.

49. Dnf…

    Think I’m having an existential crisis 😩 – I just can’t seem to finish anymore within a reasonable timescale. Haven’t read all the comments yet, but I found this another hard slog. Managed to get everything after 35 mins apart from 21dn “Peep”, but I still don’t get “Peep” = “Tweet”.

    I’ve had a shocking virus for 3 weeks, but not sure I can even blame that. Like Spurs, I need a good run.

    FOI – 3dn “Isis”
    LOI – Dnf
    COD – 4dn “Clause”

    Thanks as usual!

    1. Peep, tweet, cheep, chirp are all used to represent the sound of a bird.

50. DNF. Poor show all round. Gave up before seeing the two hidden: ITCHINESS and GLADDEN, which should have helped.

    Also thought it was Pepaw or Pawpaw.

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