Times Quick Cryptic 3088 by Wurm

82 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 3088 by Wurm”

1. Smashing the six-minute barrier at 5.59, I enjoyed this puzzle. My main hold-ups were in the western hemisphere: IMPISH, REIGNED, PORTICO and LOI LEFT WINGER. I too struggled with 1ac because of the American ref for BANANAS and equating TOP and lead. Otherwise all good, thank you Wurm and Jack.

2. Thanks Jack and Wurm.

   I believe the parsing for 1 across is TO + PB (chemical symbol for lead) + A (American) + NANAS

   1. Well parsed! That takes care of my comment below.

   2. Thanks, mattkor, I have noted this in the blog.

3. 5:27
   I didn’t think about it at the time, but I don’t get ‘American fools’: ‘bananas’, in the US anyway, does not mean ‘fools’, it means ‘crazy’ (I suppose one could say ‘foolish’). ON EDIT: see mattkor above.
   I also flung in APOSTLE unthinkingly, and it wasn’t until I came here that I thought the Bishop of Hippo wasn’t an apostle; so it’s Augustine of Canterbury, the ‘apostle to the English’.

4. 9 minutes. Mattkor beat me to it for the (not easy) parsing of 1a. Otherwise not too hard, though I missed the ‘Augustine?’ subtlety pointed out by Kevin. Favourite was the surface for GLAMOUR.

   There’s a little present in the grid from a very situationally aware Wurm.

   Thanks to Wurm and Jack

   1. Very clever. Didn’t notice it.

   2. Aha! So there is. No centre though?

5. As I biffed my way through the puzzle, none of these quibbles passed through my brain. Top bananas – that’s the obvious answer, next clue please! I vaguely supposed there might be another Augustine, but the exact import of the literal is not as important if you solve from the cryptic. I did think impish might be a bit difficult for inexperienced solvers, but to me the impi are old friends, along with the Iceni.

   Time: 8:13

6. 3:47. The type of puzzle where knowing a few crossword-centric words (ERATO, IMPI, AGA, TIP-AND-RUN) really helps.

   1. Thank you! That is a little reassuring as those 4 were the ones that, after a speedy start, delayed us. NHO IMPI, AGA and dangerously (and wrongly) biffed HIT AND RUN only to (have to ) return to it, to correct it, without full understanding, to TIP…
      ERATO at edge of the boundaries….
      Happily knew NEFERTITI – though does not appear in blog?

      1. Yes, I think many such words would be impossible the first time (without very generous wordplay). I mean, even if you’ve dimly heard of the ‘Aga Khan’, it’s still a mental leap from that to ‘Ottoman Officer’. But happily, once you’ve seen them once or twice, they tend to stick!

         1. You are kind to add the word ‘impossible’… : ) The Aga Khan is indeed known, there was not, however, any PDM regarding Aga in this context. (Clearly my mind does not leap.. )
            As you say, ‘Next time’ – I live in hope. Thank you.

7. An enjoyable and gentle solve, although I’m another who misparsed TOP BANANAS.
   Started with GLAMOUR and finished with BOTTOM LINE in 5.14.
   Thanks to Jackkt and Wurm

8. A sedate but successful solve, just avoiding the SCC.

   I have never heard of TIP AND RUN, being an avid avoider of all ball sports; however, I have heard of IMPI having been an avid devourer of Wilbur Smith novels as a teenager.

   Pi ❤️

9. is it just me or is 11D missing from the blog?

   1. Apologies, NEFERTITI added now.

10. 33:51 (average: 37, target: 24:45)

    I found this very tricky in places. My mind didn’t start at all close to the answers and required a lot of effort to get to the right wavelength. I enjoyed the process very much.

    There were quite a few BHOs for me like IMPI and GAR that I took some time to dredge up. PAGAN took a long time to for my LOI. It had to be AGA given I had the two As, but took some time to make it work.

    I spotted the labels on the parts of the grid. Tried to make I work for the centre, but couldn’t come up with anything satisfying.

    Thanks Jack and Wurm.

11. Fairly cantered through this in 6:27, but did not parse LOI TOP BANANAS. With all those As as checkers though, it could not be anything else. I sometimes wonder how setters feel when they construct some brilliant wordplay for a clue and then people like me take one look and biff the answer. At least their cleverness is appreciated by others.

    Very nice start to the week; many thanks Wurm and Jack.

12. Misparsed TOP BANANAS. IMPI in the recesses of my brain. A good workout today. Thanks ‘situationally aware’ Wurm and Jack.

13. Good puzzle from Wurm – a couple of ‘might have/ not quite heard ofs’ but word play was good. Thanks to Mattkor and Jack for parsing of 1AC. LOI for me was ERATO.

    All green in 9:43 which is probably slightly better than par but notice other regulars seem to have done pretty well on this.

    As an aside noticed prior to Galsprays recent woes with the SNITCH my par had reduced from 15:00 odd to about 10 something which I reckon is about right. Previously I think I had left app open prior to submitting and had entered a 6 hour offering which was distorting stats which meant that often on easier days I was returning a WITCH of 50ish or less. That must now have dropped out of rolling average.

    Have good week all.

14. Aarrggh a DPS. As soon as the error message appeared I bemoaned my inability to spell NEFERTITI, despite having had three goes at it. Then I saw that in fact I had got her right but fat fingered RIGHT ANGLR.

    Next!

    Many thanks Wurm and Jack.

    1. Welcome to my Fat Finger Club!

15. Very quick then hesitated for a long time about ERATO. Didn’t know it/she meant inspiration. Also had to check with son re TIP AND RUN, though it had to be.
    Lots of anagrams helped today.
    COD RIGHT ANGLE.
    Thanks vm, Jack.

16. Ah well, I neglected to copy my post before pressing ‘send’ and, predictably, lost the lot getting only the ‘error 500’ message. I will try to remember what I wrote and try again. I appreciate the efforts that are being made to try to solve this issue but it is a pain.

    Like Templar, I managed a fat-fingered error. Mine was PADAM so I was unable to fill in SAMARITAN until the penny dropped (in favour of M!) The delay took me to 16.40 which is close to my new normal. I confess that I didn’t parse APOSTLE or my LOI TOP BANANAS. I did dredge up ERATO and IMPI from somewhere in my long-term memory, though.
    A very enjoyable and well-pitched puzzle, I thought.
    Thanks to Wurm and Jack.

    1. Today I had a lot of trouble just opening the Times for the Times website on my desktop and then I couldn’t log in. Is it just us Blighter?

       1. Just to reassure you that it really is recognised as a problem. I was copied in on an email from the guy (a volunteer) who looks after the website following the posts from many contributors who have had (and are still having) serious problems accessing the site. I find it normal to have to try 3 or 4 times before I get through to the site without the Error 500 message.
          It seems that we may have grown too big for the current site and he is talking to the technical people about possibly migrating to another platform.

          1. Thanks

17. 17 after a slow start.

    Tip it and run was what we called it.

    Failed on Aga despite hearing Aga Khan on the racing commentary in my youth.

    NHO erato or impi

    Thanks Wurm and Jack

18. 6:49

    Not sure if anyone has yet pointed out the nina – the perimetric answers indicate their positions on the grid…

    (On edit: I see that Bletchley Reject and a few others got there first)

    Fairly sedate solve – one or two answers were slow to come e.g. TOP BANANAS needed all three As to see (and I failed to fully parse it, wondering what American was doing there)

    Thanks Jack and Wurm

    1. So nearly was the first to point out the Nina! Spent five minutes scrolling up and down thinking someone else must have mentioned it!! Then they did…

    2. Well done for seeing the Nina. Well done to Wurm, too, for including a clever twist that, for once, didn’t seem to affect the flow of the solve. Neat.

19. NHO the Zulu band or the cricket game but both guessable. Problem was the SW corner: either it’s RICHARD (in which case 21 A-T? but why pelted?) or 21 is NUT (in which case the erstwhile monarch is R-C-N-D). Went for the latter but rely on jackkt to put me right, thank you.
    Oh! my stupidity, writing PORTciO – no wonder. Drat and drat.

    1. it pelted down…it rained👍

20. 12:26 Impi and Nefertiti came with generous definitions to boost my somewhat murky GK. Top Left and Bottom Right held me up (Yes like BR, I too spotted the Nina and was looking for clowns, jokers or stuck to be in there )
    Very enjoyable
    Ta J&W

21. 5.47

    Enjoyable puzzle except 6D flashed up a very unpleasant image of a certain Alexander Isak beaming in his new kit (Toon supporter here and apologies for breaching the rule on commenting on contentious political issues).

    Quite a nice clue though.

    Thanks Wurm/Jackkt

    1. At least the saga is now over and hopefully the new signings will fill the gap (in time).

    2. Just let it go…it’s not worth the angst.

       1. What makes it worse is my son supports Liverpool! 😂

22. I felt a long way off the wavelength but still finished in a relatively sprightly 12:16, with rather more than my fair share of biffing (apologies if there isn’t enough biff left over for the rest of you).

    Thank you for the blog!

23. Like others I missed the proper parsing of 1a and just biffed it, having solved the top row downs first. The muse and African tribe often appear in the 15×15 making IMPISH and ERATO write ins for those of us who regularly solve that puzzle. As usual I missed the nina until it was pointed out. From TRAMP to BOTTOM LiNE in 5:22. Thanks Wurm and Jack.

    1. I know there are nine muses and I did try to memorise them – but I can only ever remember ERATO, EUTERPE and TERPSICHORE. I think I’ve seen EUTERPE in a crossword. Do any of the others appear?

       1. Yes, any of the 9 can occasionally pop up, as can the 3 Furies, Allecto, Tisiphone and Magaera.

24. Eventually got on the site after four or five Error 500s. It’s beginning to get on my nerves now! No problems with the solve today finishing in a respectable 7.12, although like so many others failed to parse TOP BANANAS correctly. I did think it odd however that I’d never heard the word as a synonym for ‘American fools’.

25. 14:16 for me. It felt like I was going quicker than that. Nice puzzle overall. Glad to be reminded of the Impi’s existence. Haven’t seen them for a while. Thanks Jack and Wurm.

26. A jolly start to the week. Liked the Nina. Got slightly waylaid by trying to parse BRASSES instead of BANANAS in 1 ac, my LOI. Otherwise a fun and straightforward puzzle. Thanks Wurm and. Jack

27. I hate footballers and football

28. Too weird for me. TOP BANANAS, ERATO, IMPISH and APOSTLE all went in without me really understanding why. Also, I never solved A_A. I DNK the Ottoman officer and alphabet trawling _A_A_ was just an impossibility. So, an unsatisfactory, rather less than enjoyable DNF (in 37 minutes) to start the week.

    Thanks to Jack and Wurm.

29. From where I sit, Vienna, Poland is in the north. Keep getting caught by this. Must put my head in London before I start the crossword.

    1. You must have found the Cold War very confusing!

30. 15 mins…

    An enjoyable start to the week, although there were a few that took a while to parse: 17ac “Samaritan”, 1ac “Top Bananas” and 13ac “Impish” come to mind.

    FOI – 3dn “Anger”
    LOI – 7ac “Erato”
    COD – 17ac “Samaritan”

    Thanks as usual!

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