Times Quick Cryptic 956 by Pedro

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
The two long anagrams at 14ac and 4dn hold the key to this puzzle – I found them both reasonably easy to get (I particularly enjoyed cod 14ac) and so I had a good time – 8:55.
The clueing didn’t strike me as too tricky and the vocabulary didn’t seem too unusual. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

ACROSS

1. Dumb – stupid. Black (B) and wet soil (MUD) turning over backwards.
3. Off-stage – out of view. Bid (OFFE)r curtailed (without the last letter) traps deer (STAG).
9. Winsome – looking attractive. Be only partially successful – you win some, you lose some.
10. Amass – gather. Old woman’s (MAS) blocking (inside) a (A) and (S)chool.
11. Chaos – disorder. Nothing (O) with Charles (CHAS) around.
12. Zodiac – group of twelve things. Your intrepid blogger went in search of all things Zodiac and found that the oldest preserved zodiac dates from 3000BCE when the Sumerians in Mesopotamia developed their Zodiac based on twelve heavenly bodies they could see, such as planets. So the definition of ‘group of twelve things’ sounds right – ‘zodiac’ can be other than just the twelve signs we know today. One dozen (I DOZ) recalled (backwards) by bill (AC).
14. Station Master – railway employee. Anagram (adapted) of TO STEAM TRAINS.
17. Wrap up – double definition.
19. Cramp – muscle pain. Runs (R) into holiday site (CAMP).
22. Llama – source of wool. A (A) and lot of shops (MALL) all rejected (backwards).
23. Impress – to look good. A reporter would say ‘I’m Press’.
24. Polymath – brainy type. A person of great and varied learning C17: from Greek polumathēs having much knowledge. College (POLY) and school subject (MATH)s mostly – without the final letter – our American friends would not need the ‘mostly’.
25. Fall – stumble. Force (F), everybody (ALL).

DOWN

1. Downcast – unhappy. Actors (CAST) covered by feathers (DOWN).
2. Mania – an example of mental illness. End (AIM) upwards suppressing (holding) an (AN).
4. Freezing-point – when ice forms. Anagram (roughly) of FINGERPRINT ZONE.
5. Staid – calm. Homophone (audibly) of stayed.
6. Adamant – determined. A (A) and soldier (ANT) getting around blockage (DAM).
7. Easy – presenting no problems. The answer is occupying hous(E AS Y)et.
8. Bonsai – small plant. A snooty person (A SNOB) picked up (upwards), one (I).
13. Proposal – suggestion. To support (PROP), anagram (development) of LAOS.
15. Airmail – long-distance communication. Homophone (we hear) of beneficiary (heir) and man (male).
16. Accept – do not oppose. Legislation (ACT – of parliament) around (limiting) Church (CE) and power (P).
18. Psalm – devotional song. Friend (PAL) leading mass (M) including second (S).
20. Arena – sporting venue. Region (AREA) to receive new (N).
21. Slap – strike. (S)eriously (L)imit (A)ctual (P)roduction.

25 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 956 by Pedro”

  1. I could pretty much repeat what Chris said, word for word. I biffed ZODIAC once I got the Z, then saw the wordplay. Nice, for this rhotician, that the homophones were uncontroversial. 5:04.

  2. 19:15, worked the puzzle anti-clockwise: NW, SW, SE and finally NE with AMASS LOI. S=school? Is there any word that is not a legit abbreviation in Chambers?

    24 ac had College=POLY, just one week after I moaned that it also was ETON.

    The ancient Sumerians could only see 12 things in the sky?

    1. merlin,

      The S in question is clued as “school’s opening” i.e. the first letter of the word ‘school’. In blogging shorthand, correctly used by Chris, this can be indicated by S(chool). The other S comes from the apostrophe S at the end of “old woman’s” – MA’S – again as correctly blogged above.

      Chambers and the Oxfords do not list S as an abbreviation for “school” (in my editions at least) but as it IS in Collins I can’t promise you that it will never turn up. However, as to your general point about abbreviations, there is, or was, some sort of policy at the Times, to restrict the inclusion of single-letter abbreviations to those most commonly in use in order to play fair with solvers. Whilst I don’t expect to see this ‘code of practice’ restated explicitly by the Times – the last mention of it was years ago under a previous editorial regime – I have not noticed a change of practice creeping in so I assume it’s still broadly accepted and in place, and even more so in the case of the QC puzzle. S as an abbreviation is most likely to be clued by south, small, saint or sulphur.

      Edited at 2017-11-07 06:55 am (UTC)

      1. And as I believe you yourself have pointed out, Jack–correct me if I’m wrong–such abbreviations as S for School in London School of Economics are not considered kosher.
        1. Exactly so, Kevin.

          I’ve just found this posted by Peter B when TftT was founded:

          Abbreviations
          The Times puzzle does not let setters use all the abbreviations in any dictionary. For one-letter abbreviation’s in particular, there is believed to be a fairly short list of acceptable ones.

          Edited at 2017-11-07 07:33 am (UTC)

    2. I’m a little out of my depth here not being intimate with any ancient Sumerians, but here are my thoughts based on a little research. I’m sure they could see more but, like mathematicians and makers of clocks, went for the easy-for-a-human-being-to-count 12 items which, probably, became reference points on a chart for other points.
  3. 45 minutes, lots of work interruptions so more like 20.

    Held up by dumb, mania and accept.

    COD dumb.

  4. I’m short of time after my long contribution above so I’ll just say 7 minutes for this one.
  5. I enjoyed this – a good mix and nothing controversial 🙂 I put in staid reluctantly as I think of it as a boring or fixed in one’s ways but OED gives it as respectable. Can one of you guys tell me how you are using the word biff orbiffed?
    1. Bunged in from definition – rather than waiting to work out the word play. Not sure how it started but it’s there alongside clue of the day – cod, last one in – loi.
      1. Grestyman coined the term not that long ago: BIFD (Bunged In From Definition). That quickly morphed into a verb, to biff, hence etc.
  6. I found this quite a gentle offering which I finished in 12 minutes, but there were plenty of enjoyable clues including 9 and 14a. LOI 16d
  7. I got really bogged down on the NW corner for no really explicable reason, so ended up around 30 mins for the second day in a row.
    Delighted to find out the derivation of the term ‘biffed’! Has it reached the dictionaries or is it unique to this forum? Could it eventually become the answer to a clue?
  8. 16 minutes for this and one more to review and correct my dubious answer for 15d -Air Call.
    No particular problems apart from that. Liked the anagram for 14a.
    I seem to be live on Livejournal now. Still getting to grips with it.
    A relief as the Captcha route was getting tedious. David
  9. 5:10. I thought this was a gem of a QC with lots of lovely neat clues with smooth surfaces. I particularly liked 14a with the railway employee being an anagram of (to) steam-trains. 24a my LOI but nothing really held me up and I managed a clean sweep of the down clues on the way.
  10. The champ has covered this puzzle on Cracking the Cryptic on Youtube today.
    I find these Vlogs are really helpful and it is rare for Mark to look at the QC.
    Recommended for beginners especially. David
  11. I found this quite straightforward. Apart from my LOI, BONSAI, this was a top to bottom solve. 6:44. Nice puzzle. Thanks Pedro and Chris.
  12. 5 completions in a row! This one the quickest by a distance c35 mins. No standout hold ups. Adamant the only one unparsed until the blog. Waiting for a fall tomorrow!

    Mighty

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