Times Quick Cryptic No 1142 by Joker

Author   plusjeremyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

[Whiskey: Weller Bourbon, Special Reserve]

After being stumped by 1 and 7 Across, I thought I was perhaps in for a difficult puzzle. Quod non, as I was then able to put in every answer almost from definition alone, barely pausing to read the entire clue, finishing in about five minutes. Accordingly, I’ll be deciphering most of the wordplay as I write this blog.

Across

1 Happening to team up after university in the end (10)
EVENTUALLY – EVENT (“happening”) + ALLY (“to team up”) after (“after”) U (“university”)
7 Run [for] someone to play a small part (5)
EXTRA – double definition.
Collins informs me that an ‘extra’ is “a run not scored from the bat”. Perhaps it’s scored from the feet or head. Cricket!
8 Short title reset on line (6)
LITTLE – TITLE (“title”) anagrammed (“reset”, as in ‘re-set’) next to (“on”) L (“line”)
10 Agreement to finish every clue thus? (3)
YES – final letters of (“to finish”) EVERY CLUE THUS
12 And so the referee gets more, but not millions (9)
THEREFORE – THE (“the”) + REF (“referee”) + (“gets”) MORE (“more”) without (“but not”) M (“millions”)
This clue wins the award for the most null synonyms. It’s practically a hidden word clue!
13 Country with no area lacking food (6)
HUNGRY – HUNGARY (“country”) without (“with no”) A (“area”)
Egészségedre! Once upon a time I designed a cryptic crossword in Hungarian.
14 A short day getting about continent (6)
AFRICA – A (“a”) + FRI (“short day”, Friday) + (“getting”) CA (“about”, an abbreviation for ‘circa’)
17 Breasts come back in more recent daily (9)
NEWSPAPER – PAPS (“breasts”) reversed (“come back”) inside (“in”) NEWER (“more recent”)
Never heard of the word. By way of scientific experiment, I just said to my wife: “Hey, bring those paps over here.”. Her reply: “Nope. Not how that works.”. A woman’s intuition.
19 Had ghosts appearing regularly (3)
GOT – GHOSTS (“ghosts”), every other letter (“appearing regularly”)
20 Write off English predicament (6)
SCRAPE – SCRAP (“write off”) + E (“English”)
21 Punt, not the first that is set free (5)
UNTIE – PUNT (“punt”) without the first letter (“not the first”) + I.E. (“that is”, i.e., ‘id est’)
23 Awfully pale suntan [is] not very nice (10)
UNPLEASANT – anagram of (“awfully”) PALE SUNTAN (“pale suntan”)

Down

1 They’ve Ring cycles here — the whole lot (10)
EVERYTHING – THEY’VE RING (“they’ve ring”) anagrammed (“cycles”) in this answer (“here”)
As a conductor of opera, I wholeheartedly support this clue. I also can’t imagine this brilliant wordplay hasn’t been done before.
2 Munch? European artist that’s empty (3)
EAT – E (“European”) + ARTIST (“artist”) without middle letters (“that’s empty”)
More great surface reading.
3 Farm vehicle [in] large area of land corn’s filling (7)
TRACTOR – TRACT (“large area of land”) + middle letters of CORN (“corn’s filling”)
4 Not being awake as former prime minister stood up (6)
ASLEEP – AS (“as”) + PEEL (“former prime minister”) reversed (“stood up”)
Sir Robert Peel (1788–1850), who observed: “Public opinion is a compound of folly, weakness, prejudice, wrong feeling, right feeling, obstinacy, and newspaper paragraphs.”.
5 Volume from Marvell I treasure (5)
LITRE – letters inside (“from”) MARVELL I TREASURE
Andrew Marvell (1621–1678), pioneer of the very short-lived genre of worm porn.
6 Consenting to nothing yet being paid? (8)
ALLOWING – ALL OWING (“nothing yet being paid”)
9 Pedant upset with term [for] division (10)
DEPARTMENT – PEDANT (“pedant”) anagrammed (“upset”) with (“with”) TERM (“term”)
11 A light meal / somewhere in Kent (8)
SANDWICH – double definition
Technically, however, this is a sandwich.
15 Chemical recipe representing alum turned up (7)
FORMULA – FOR (“representing”) + ALUM (“alum”) reversed (“turned up”)
16 A quiet set of bells [offers] a certain attraction (6)
APPEAL – A (“a”) + P (“quiet”, as in piano) + PEAL (“set of bells”)
18 Arrange to include one manifest (5)
PLAIN – PLAN (“arrange”) containing (“to include”) I (“one”)
22 Meal [of] duck cut short (3)
TEA – TEAL (“duck”) without its last letter (“cut short”)
“Get a look at the paps on that common teal!” —Andrew Marvell

45 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1142 by Joker”

  1. Does anyone use ‘paps’ these days? Let’s hope not. I attacked 20ac the wrong way, taking ‘write off’ to be the definition, and looking for a word that began in E. 23ac and 9d, my last two in, took more time than they should have. 6:56.
    1. Well, yes. I believe breastfeeding is more popular than ever. Or is that not quite what you meant? 😉
      In truth, I think PAPS would refer to breasts in their functional, rather than decorative mode, but I think you’re right, not much heard these days.
      1. Following the philosophers’ distinction between use and mention, I put ‘paps’ in quotation marks–well, I didn’t put ‘paps’ in quotation marks, there’s only the one pair, but. I’m sure that paps are being put to use in various ways just as much as ever.
      2. Heard by all hill walkers on the west coast of Scotland – the Pap of Glencoe and the Paps of Jura are very well known outings!
  2. You may mock cricket if you wish – many do – but leg byes are extras for example and are certainly scored off the (padded) leg!
    1. Not to mention that a leg bye could, of course, be scored off the head.

      1. And a wide doesn’t involve the body or bat at all. Not to mention the five scored by the fielding side’s loose helmet. I love cricket.
  3. I know “paps” from having been brought up in the Baptist (not the Papist—oy!) Church. As in, for example, “Luke 23:29: For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.”

    A true quickie. What held me up a bit was first taking SCRAPE by the wrong end of the stick, as did Kevin.

  4. 14 minutes, fast for me, submitted with 6d allowing unparsed so was pleased to see an all green grid.

    Scrape was second to last in as I also was looking for EC_A_E and was fixed on escape.

    Paps/baps: That’s a word I haven’t heard in a long time.

    COD department.

    1. 8 minutes. No need to take offence at the word PAPS as it’s still commonly used without sexual overtones to refer to teats of animals that suckle their young. It’s also used in geographical place names for a conical (breast-shaped) hill especially in Scotland which has the Paps of Fife, Paps of Jura, Pap of Glencoe etc.

      Edited at 2018-07-25 05:35 am (UTC)

  6. I changed the blog a bit. ‘Here’ is not a linking word, but part of the wordplay, meaning, “in this answer”. It’s a similar sort of device to “my first letter is […]”, where the clue refers to itself.
  7. Held up for a time by a carelessly thrown in ULTIMATELY at 1a – thankfully 2d came to the rescue so it didn’t have to be a case of the penny, um, eventually dropping.

    PAPS unknown (Mrs O would use the B-variant).

    4.23

    Edited at 2018-07-25 06:51 am (UTC)

    1. Boobs? Bristols? Bosom? Bust? Bazookas? (others may wish to extend the list….)
  8. I liked the conceit for ALL OWING. Mike Osborne is not the only one to throw in ULTIMATELY at 1ac: it’s only real redeeming feature is that it’s got TEAM* in there, but it felt almost right.
  10. I do remember that term for breasts but while not necessarily being an expletive, it’s not a word that polite people would have ever used (in my recollection)
  11. Sub 10 mins solve today in 8:53. I thought I was going to post a PB but got held up on my LOI 6d ALLOWING which I put in without parsing and then needed the blog to explain. Thank you Joker and Jeremy.

    Edited at 2018-07-25 08:21 am (UTC)

  12. As that flew in I thought “This is what it must feel like being Kevin” – read clue, write in answer. Only a minute more than the great man, this will never happen again. No wonder there’s a blood moon coming.

    Munro baggers will have had no problem with “paps”. Got held up a fraction on 9dn because I thought “term” was signalling “lent” at the end rather than being part of the anagrist.

    Thanks for the blog, Jeremy. We’ll have to wean you off bourbon and onto real whisky.

    Templar

    1. The ‘Quest for a Kevin’ time (quack to it’s adherents) is an interesting phenomenon. Lately, my fastest times have been when I’ve felt that I’ve been steadily plodding through rather than the ‘flying in’ exhilaration. Today’s was no exception with 7:15. I’m beginning to see that, in cricketing parlance, it’s the follow thorough which marks out the true Kevin from us lesser mortals who end up stumped too often. I was, temporarily, stumped today by ‘plain’ and loi ‘allowing’ which added those crucial seconds which took me into Kevin overtime. By the way – all respect to Kevin who seems to be taking all this in good heart but at his lightest word I’m prepared to desist.
      1. Same here – as the inventor of the Kevin as a standard unit of time, I should say (if it wasn’t clear already) that it is a mark of genuine admiration on my part.

        Templar (whose Quest is as fruitful as Sir Gawain’s).

    2. I used to feel the same way about bourbon. I drank only Scotch and Irish whiskey for a very long time, until one day I was seduced by rye: now here was an American whiskey I could drink.

      A shop opened up near my apartment that specialized in small batch bourbons and ryes, many produced locally. Fascinating stuff, and a fraction of the price. Over time my liquor cabinet went from all scotch to all bourbon and rye. People are doing fascinating things with bourbon in the US these days.

      That being said, I’ve been back to scotch lately (for the most part) and have been quite enjoying myself.

  13. 4.23, my first and probably last sub 1 Kevin solve (to use the preferred unit of time on this blog) and a good two and a half minutes off my previous PB. In the unlikely event I ever get less than 1K on the 15×15 I might even sign up to this site.

    First time I’ve ever done the quicky after the main event – perhaps that makes the difference? Or maybe, as the blogger found, this was simply a very biffable QC.
    Thanks to setter and blogger.
    Rupert

  14. It was on the easier scale, or probably a good puzzle for a learner. Good puzzle good blog. Nakrian
  15. Under 1.5 kevins so a fair romp. Thanks to Joker for a nice mix of ingenious clues that required a bit of head scratching and answers that seemed to drop out on a quick reading of the clue – just as Jeremy describes above (thanks for the helpful blog). John
  16. A straightforward solve for me in 7:33 with EVENTUALLY my FOI and DEPARTMENT bringing up the rear. No particular hold ups. Enjoyable puzzle. Congrats to Templar and Rupert on their record times:-) Thanks Joker and Jeremy.
  17. 14 mins, including 2 spent trying to parse 17ac – unsuccessfully as I didn’t know paps. That’s about as quick as it gets for me, as, like Jackkt, I try and parse each answer as I go along. 20ac was the other hold up: like others I was looking for something beginning with ‘e’, before the penny dropped. A nice puzzle and a nice blog, so my thanks to both J’s. Invariant
  18. A very straightforward 4:37 – or 0.59 Kevins to use the new unit of temporal measurement; although at just under 2 Mohns still some way short of greatness.
  19. Finished in 7:03. No real hold ups, although made the same mistake at 20a as others. Thanks to blogger and setter.
  20. I was on for a personal best of 12 minutes but panicked regarding 6d. I just couldn’t see Allowing even though I did consider A in my alphabet trawl. (Obviously not considered well enough). Blooming flooring me again.. John George
  21. About 15 minutes for this and then a pause whilst I considered alternatives to Allowing. Having been through the alphabet and briefly considered Elbowing I thought Allowing had to be right. Then I finally saw the All Owing bit and deconstructed the clue properly. Not sure how long in the end.
    I recently saw The Paps of Jura from Machrihanish -a mighty fine view from a mighty fine golf course. David
  22. 22 mins. Fastest time ever. Either getting the hang of it or just tuned into Joker! 🌞 Mags
  23. Under 1.5 kevins so a fair romp. Thanks to Joker for a nice mix of ingenious clues that required a bit of head scratching and answers that seemed to drop out on a quick reading of the clue – just as Jeremy describes above (thanks for the helpful blog). John
  24. A steady solve today coming in at 12.14, held up at the end by ALLOWING and being a little slow to unscramble the anagrams at 9d and 23a. I’d never heard of paps so I’ve learnt something new today.
    Thanks for the blog
  25. Ha, great blog, Jeremy 🙂 I laughed aloud at the last bit about Marvell. Not been around much recently — my shop got broken into, over £2000 gone and I don’t think insurance will pay out…been attempting the xword everyday but this is the first one in a week or so that I’ve stormed through.
    Re: paps, BAPS is still commonly used round here (in the decorative sense lol). I always thought it was because they look like breadcakes (?!) but maybe it’s a derivative of paps? Pub conversation for the weekend sorted..,
    Thanks Jeremy and Joker for brightening my day!
  26. Like Nakrian (though days later), this is the first I have completed. (A few minutes here and there, totalling very many Kevins).

    I find the blogs a great help and am, at last, starting to interpret the clues correctly. However I am repeatedly surprised at the gaps in some bloggers’ vocabulary and their inability to parse some of the solutions.

    Misocapnic

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