Times Quick Cryptic 961 by Felix

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
At 14 minutes this was something of a contrast (double the time) to the speed trial of yesterday. I suspect some will find parts of this too closely verging on 15×15 material but there’s lots to learn. There’s an anagram I found tricky at 11ac and some ‘interesting’ gk at 8ac, 18dn, possibly 19dn but especially 1dn where I rather feel I’m missing something but at least I gave the research a good go. One simply doesn’t get such opportunities to improve one’s knowledge with the concise crossword.

ACROSS

1. Hand over – deliver. A bit of bridge (the card game – HAND), completed (OVER).
5. Sped – raced. (S)chool, gym (PE), playgroun(D).
8. Lip-synch – silent performance (to mouth prerecorded words on television or film). Anagram (rendered) of PLINYS beside church (CH). In case anyone is wondering where they’ve heard of Pliny before – Pliny the younger was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome. Pliny’s uncle, Pliny the Elder, helped raise and educate him. Both Pliny the Elder and the Younger were witnesses to the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, in which the former died. So, not much to do with lip-synch as far as I can establish.
9. Boss – double definition.
11. Jeopardise – risk. Anagram (that could make) of JOE DESPAIR.
14. Aflame – red in the face (flushed/angry/embarrassed). A (A). Female (F), struggling to walk (LAME).
15. Knocks – double definition. Criticises is obvious, as for cricket it’s an innings – a high or quick scoring one is described as ‘a good knock’.
17. King’s Cross – London station. Pieces in chess (KINGS), Bridge (CROSS).
20. Only – simply. d(O)w(N)p(L)a(Y)s.
21. Red alert – thing to call for with crisis imminent. Wine (RED), beer (ALE), right (RT).
22. Exit – way out. Eleven (XI) in Crosswordland’s favourite sci-fi film (ET).
23. Ill-treat – abuse. I’ll treat you to an ice cream.

DOWN

1. Hals. I think this is to do with the Cavalier King Charles spaniel (the name seems to originate from Charles II of England being very fond of the toy spaniel, which is why the dogs now carry his name – not sure about the link to the cavaliers who were supporters of Charles I during the English Civil War) so ‘Charles’s portrait painter’ could refer to Frans Hals’ famous portrait of the Laughing Cavalier. I had expected to look up King Charles and portrait and come up with Hals but I didn’t find it as simple as that. Frans Hals painted the Laughing Cavalier (dated 1624 but with an unknown sitter) which is about the same time as Charles I was around – monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. However Anthony van Dyck was the chap who famously painted him.
Nevertheless Hals was a portrait painter and Henry’s can be Hal’s so the clue was gettable.
2. Nape – back of neck. Doze (NAP), (E)xposing.
3. Oxygen mask. O – the symbol for Oxygen – is supplied by an oxygen mask which covers the face.
4. Escape – slip off. Final letters of tak(E) and thi(S), long garment (CAPE).
6. Province – area. For (PRO), depravity (VICE) around north (N).
7. Disperse – scatter. Anagram (flying) of PERSEIDS. Nice surface given the PERSEIDS meteor shower.
10. Crankshaft – part of engine. The odd person’s hat (CRANK’S HAT) around (smothering) loud (F).
12. Banknote – e.g. a tenner. By side of river (BANK), see (NOTE).
13. Llanelli – Welsh town. Ennisk(ILLEN ALL)egedly backwards (turning up in a down clue).
16. Ordeal – test. Anagram (bats as in mad) of ARE OLD.
18. Meme – dnk image on internet (an image or video that is spread widely on the internet, often altered by internet users for humorous effect). The setter (the crossword setter and not the dog this time! ME) twice=MEME.
19. Stat – figure as in batting stats. I managed to grasp a tenuous memory of lace making a tatting – so makes lace is TATS backwards/upwards/rising.

40 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 961 by Felix”

  1. No trouble with MEME, it was TAT and HALS that required confirmation from google. At least the spelling of the Welsh town was given

    A good puzzle, but perhaps a bit tricky for a quick?

  2. I finished in 42m with one wrong inacts (batting|performances) for 15a, so worn down by the end I presumed inacts could = criticises.

    Too hard for quick cryptic:
    knocks = batting performance.
    makes lace = tats
    Charles’s portrait painter = hals.

    Easy to clue a slightly more “obscure” clue such as hals for the quickie audience:

    Dutch painter using tips of his apron, lacks style.
    small small tattoo? fact!
    criticises hits in cricket.

    COD to ill treat, although I have seen before.

    Edited at 2017-11-14 05:34 am (UTC)

  3. 15 minutes for this one, my worst showing for nearly a month (and 11 weeks before that particular glitch). Apart from the unknown MEME where I waited for both checkers before committing to the answer that seemed likely from wordplay, it was the long answers that did for me. I over-thought OXYGEN MASK and wrote some of the letters of CRANKSHAFT in the wrong squares which resulted in having incorrect checkers when trying to solve the intersecting clues. What with the very difficult 15×15 on my blogging turn this has not been my best day for solving crosswords.

    Edited at 2017-11-14 06:03 am (UTC)

    1. You’ve scared me off having a go, especially at work so not much time, I think I will just read your blog!
      1. It’s a shame that paid work has to take precedence sometimes!

        The only trouble with just reading a blog (as I have just done mine) is that it makes most of the answers appear obvious so that one might wonder why the blogger had such difficulty. But I take heart from the comments to date (only 3 so far) all agree that it was a hard one.

    2. I forgot to add (and now I can’t edit):

      I bunged in HALS on first reading, making an immediate association wih ‘The Laughing Cavalier’, but until reading the blog I hadn’t noticed that the clue is a little on the tenuous side unless we’re missing something as of course the painting isn’t actually of King Charles. I know the piece well as it hangs in the Wallace Collection in Hertford House, Manchester Square, W1, which I visited often during my 4 years as a student in London. My college was only a few yards around the corner so it was very convenient to pop in during lunch-hours etc.

      Edited at 2017-11-14 06:17 am (UTC)

  4. Four short today at the 30 min cut off. KNOCKS was tough as I had missed PROVINCE going down a dead end with PLOT for ‘area’.

    Also overthought 3D and needed all checkers and an alphabet trawl.

    TATS dnk and 23a seems like a new chestnut.

    But good to see new words such as Lip Synch and Meme: no complaints on these.

  6. I thought that this was one of the more difficult QCs. I took 12 minutes today (I took 34 minutes for the 15 x 15). I still don’t get the “Charles” element to 1d.
  7. Definitely a harder one. Loved the clue for OXYGEN MASK. To my shame, initially put in LAP-DANCE for 8A, based on the checkers I had at the time, the mention of “performance” in the clue, and the church ending. Can’t help with the HALS parsing, as I put that in from the Henry part and just assumed that Hals must have done a famous painting of a King Charles.
  8. About 30 mins today and I would agree that it was much more difficult than most recent puzzles. I’m probably having a senior moment but I am still unsure about the clueing of 3d. Where does Mask come from?
    1. I think the whole clue is the definition, but we are helped in our way by the wordplay: ‘face-covering’ = MASK

      Edited at 2017-11-14 10:04 am (UTC)

      1. Ah – okay that makes sense. I had been working on the principle that the O gave Oxygen, ‘to be supplied with’ somehow gave Mask leading to the definition ‘face covering’.
  9. Got most of it done pretty fast (assumed The Laughing Cavalier was Charles himself, every day’s a school day) but then struggled over SE corner, including CRANKSHAFT. Like flashman I was convinced it must be “in” = batting at 15ac but eventually got there.

    By the time I decided that it had to be STAT I couldn’t even be bothered to google for a connection between lace and tats.

    Anyway. Very good in parts, as the curate said of his egg.

    Thanks for the blog.

    Templar

  10. This was certainly no write in. Clever clueing and well disguised wordplay throughout. No problems with the GK but suckered in by ‘in’ for batting at 15a, causing much delay. Thank you Chris and Felix. Off to 15×15-land for what threatens to be a bruising time.
    8’50”
  11. My last two (after 40 mins) were 1d and 19d – nicely symmetrical and equally difficult. Eventually got Stat, but had no real idea what was going on with 1d, so I wasn’t surprised to find that Hall was the wrong answer. On the hard side for a QC. Invariant
  12. I found this one quite straightforward, with a shorter than average time – 15 mins. I wonder why? Meme and lipsynch were fine; crankshaft held me up. Also puzzled about Hals, but I worked it out from the clue and once I had confirmed he was a portrait painter that was enough for me. As a Welsh learner I was amused by Llanelli. When I do crosswords in Welsh (very basic ones for learners) I have to remember that ll is one letter and goes in one box. So Llanelli becomes a 6-letter word.
  13. Took me around 50 mins, and to be honest I was pleased to finish at all. Like everybody else I simply assumed Hals had painted one of the two Charles. Did he paint the future CharlesII during his exile? LIP SYNCH and TATS I had to drag out of the darker recesses of my memory and MEME I have vaguely heard of.

    All in all quite a struggle.
    PlayUpPompey

  14. Like Flashman, I crashed and burned on 15a, with an ill considered INACTS, which I suspected was wrong but couldn’t see my way past. The rest of the puzzle was quite tricky too, taking me to 13:26 with one wrong. I vaguely knew HALS as a painter but didn’t think any more deeply than Hal for Henry. Thanks Felix and Chris.
  15. A similar experience to others. After 19 minutes (my average completion is about 20) I had three left : 6d 15a and 19d.
    I got Province and then could not see past Inacts. My LOI was Stat with fingers crossed (had no idea about the lace bit).
    So 23 minutes with one wrong.
    I used to work near the Wallace Collection and went in quite frequently so no problem with Hals, but did he actually paint Charles? Some good original stuff from the setter.
    COD to 3d. David
  16. Over 12 minutes, so definitely one of the hardest QCs. Was nearly done under 10 minutes, but took ages to remember CRANKSHAFT, having thought of DRIVESHAFT, which was clearly wrong. Having got that I finally saw KNOCKS – a nicely elusive double definition. 6d my COD.
  17. Having been addicted to the QC for about 6 months, I’m pleased to say I finished this one, although it took a while. I wouldn’t have stood a chance 6 months ago.

    Thanks to all our bloggers for helping me get this far!

  18. … and oddly completed this crossword where I’ve struggled for the past week!
    as a learner (3 months in), it was really enjoyable. just enough to keep your head down, but nothing obscure other than 1d (loi). I’m not sure I “liked” 14a, perhaps that’s because I’m always looking for the definition at the start or the end of the clue and “red in face” doesn’t scream out “aflame”.
    15a and 6d held me up for a long long while.
    cod 5a, it was quite easy, but the simplicity was beautiful.
    Carl (still learning!).
  19. I got most of it completed in 24 minutes and then came to a grinding halt with 6d, 15a and LOI 19d. As a cricket fan 15a should have been a write in but I had a complete mind blank and nearly went down the ‘inacts’ route out of desperation. LOI a very tentative 19d.
    Despite my struggles I found it very enjoyable, particularly liking 8a and 12d. No time as there was a long break with a couple of fruitless revisits along the way.
    Thanks for the blog
  20. Too hard for beginners like me. Hals did not make any sense and I don’t know why the F in crankshaft derives from loud. I could see the word but the reference to loud completely threw me me. It is hard for those of us trying to master the genre if the clues are too obscure or in this example don’t make sense. Poor effort Felix.
    1. F comes, i assume, from Fortissimo music term. The letter P is frequently used for soft/quiet (pianissimo?). There’s also a useful variation of right=RT at 21a whereas it’s more frequently R. If you get a login you will find the regulars here very helpful. Hope this helps
      1. Just to add, -issimo denotes something more extreme, the equivalent of adding ‘very’ in English. So f = forte = loud and p = piano = soft or quiet, ff = fortissimo = very loud and pp = pianissimo = very quiet / soft. ff and pp turn up a lot in wordplay too so it’s as well to be clear about them.

        The instrument ‘piano’ is an abbreviation of ‘pianoforte’, so called because it was the first keyboard instrument capable of playing both soft and loud according how the key is struck by the player.

  21. Hard one. I didn’t know Stat/Tats and even missed Ill Treat. Hals biffed as an option for Henry’s but without the knowledge. Thanks blogger
  22. About 25 mins over several short sessions.
    Didn’t get knocks – its bad enough having endless cricket terminology, without having to know the colloquialisms as well
    Meme and Hals were no problema, but Stat took a while.
  23. About 45 minutes for this before giving up without completing 19dn, which I spent about a third of my time going through the alphabet and somehow overlooked stat to be a figure – although having read the explanation in the blog I am kicking myself as I’m sure that there was a clue a few months ago that talked about tatters and lace. My first DNF for about a fortnight, but being relatively new to the QC I am feeling quite pleased that the general consensus is that this was a harder one and I still managed a 98% completion rate. A big thank you to the blogger (and previous bloggers) – without your clear explanations I wouldn’t have progressed so much in the time since I started.
    1. I think that I picked up ‘tatters’ about that time ago aswell. As for the blog – you’re very welcome – and without input it might not seem worth the effort. Thanks.
  24. DNF – had ‘done over’ and ‘Dali’ in NW. Albeit I knew that was unsatisfactory for the wordplay. Well over 90 mins. Found this tougher than in recent days.

    Mighty

  25. …and some unreasonable clueing. How can ‘red faced’ be considered a definition of ‘aflame’?

    ‘Knocks’ dodgy, too, as is ‘Stat’ which troubled so many and I had wrong (as Stet).

    Altogether too tricksy. But COD 3d, which was brilliant and entirely fair.

    treesparrow

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