Times Quick Cryptic No 1193 by Mara

33 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1193 by Mara”

1. This caused me a couple of difficulties: BRANDING took a while as I recall, and INCONTESTABLE & ETERNAL. ‘inadequately’ seems a bit of a stretch as an anagrind, especially in a QC. I don’t see the DBE in 20d; ‘bus’ to clue, say, TRANSPORT would be a DBE, or ‘Nautilus’ to clue SUB. 6:37.

   Edited at 2018-10-04 01:40 am (UTC)

   1. I saw it as follows. The definition is ‘one has a periscope’. A sub{marine} (the answer) is an example of something that is famous for having a periscope, but it isn’t the only thing, eg a tank or a 1950’s football fan at Wembley or a soldier in the trenches. Maybe I am misunderstanding DBE.

      I agree your comment re the suitability of inadequately as an anagrind, although I think it is just about acceptable as argued by jacckt below.

      1. My understanding (and that word should be in scare quotes) of DBE is, an example of some class of things is given as the definition, and the solution (or relevant part of it) is the class. As, say, ‘koala’ in the clue, MARSUPIAL as the solution. Whereas ‘marsupial’ in the clue would be fine as the definition for KOALA. To what extent this distinction is worth fighting over is, so far as I can tell, an as yet unsettled question.
         1. Yes. I think that’s right. “Favourite cat, perhaps? (3)” [PET] is a DBE, whereas “Pet jazz enthusiast (3)” [CAT] is not.
            1. Although, to complicate matters, your DBE example would pass muster, since you add ‘perhaps’ and ‘?’. Either one would indicate a DBE, and indicating a DBE seems to be an allowed way to actually do one. So both your clues would be accepted by the Rules Committee, where ‘Favorite cat’ [PET] would be condemned.
2. …as I couldn’t see several obvious ones for the longest time….like ‘second’ and ‘carpet’, which both should have been easy.

   I suspect this might be considered pretty easy, but let’s see what the beginners say.

3. I don’t usually do the QC in the middle of the night, but I found this one just at my top level of difficulty, finishing in 15 minutes over my target of 30. At one point I came to a complete halt but saw ‘Badminton’ which gave me just enough checkers to get it finished. In a reversal of our esteemed blogger my last three were 1A, 2D and 4D. The indicator in 1A was beautifully hidden in the surface. However, I don’t think I would have finished it even a few months ago.
   Back to sleep (hopefully)!

   Brian

4. 11 minutes. I ranked this as harder than average with BRANDING, BADMINTON and INCONTESTABLE all requiring several return visits before eventually falling.

   I was going to agree with Kevin about ‘inadequately’ as anagrind but its first few entries in my thesaurus have given me pause for thought: defective, faulty, imperfect. I would still agree it’s perhaps a bit much for a QC though.

5. 6.29 so on the harder side for me, and the leaderboard times seem to bear that out.

   Last one in for me was my preferred tipple, as I don’t immediately associate bitter and acidic.

   Held up by a careless biff of CONSIDERATION at 8a, but the mini-flute put that right.

6. I didn’t think this was too difficult and had I been able to see ‘Incontestable’ despite having most of the checkers I would have been quicker. As it was I came in at 23 mins which is just above my target of 20.
7. A very sluggish 16 mins here mainly, I think, down to me rather than the puzzle. My evidence for this is that my loi was 2dn which shouldn’t have caused any problems. The second last was 19ac – with every checker in a 13 letter word – held me up for a long time.
8. I found the top half surprisingly straightforward and then took ages with many of the bottom half. 25 minutes and then a further 10 just to get Second LOI. So mixed feelings.
   Thanks all
   John George
9. Maybe it’s just that my head is a bit bunged up at the moment, but this was a very slow grind. I was seriously thinking I might have a DNF on my hands after about 20 minutes when I had maybe only filled in a third of the grid. However, perseverance paid off and I eventually came in at 55:59. Had never heard of Minton (though I think he has come up before now I think about it) but once I had the B from branding, badminton was obvious.
10. As a beginner I abandoned ship after a few clues solved. Far too testing for breakfast time !
11. I actually found this QC a lot easier than many of late. Just three clues pushed me over my 10 min target. The clues were 10a BRANDING, 10d BADMINTON which went in unparsed and LOI following an alphabet trawl 19a INCONTESTABLE. The LOI occupied a couple of minutes of my time and I finished in 13 mins. I enjoyed this QC by Mara particularly because it neither contains obscure words nor relies on expansive general knowledge.

    Thanks for the blog Rotter. Welcome back, you have missed some QC doozies.

12. I didn’t think this was difficult, but some of the clues did hold me up. Like Vinyl, it took me ages to see CARPET and SECOND. AROSE and BRANDING took a while too. However, I came in at 10:35 just over my target, so no complaints. Thanks Mara and Rotter.
13. Another one that I found quite tricky, but at least I avoided another howler like yesterday. My 40 mins time might have been 5 or so minutes quicker had I not been stuck on the Branding/Badminton combination, but I eventually realised that, for once, potter had nothing to do with wizards. I also thought that Flagon, although nicely clued, was a bit hard for a QC. My favourite today, by a long way, was 11ac, Second. Invariant
14. Easiest of the week so far I thought.. In fact everything except the SW corner went in quite quickly. INCONTESTABLE took a while to unravel, and RESTART I couldn’t see at all until I had all the checkers (LOI). COD to BADMINTON having rejected “Harry” and “Beatrix” Potter. MINTON is probably a little obscure these days and its usually referred to as china rather than pottery.
    Had no problem with ‘inadequately’ as an anagrind, and for me SUB is definitely a DBE.
    PlayUpPompey
15. As a newbie who has been fed up with the lack of reasonable puzzles, I found this to be ok. I did not get 3 clues but at least understood the logic of the setter. I would be very happy for this type of puzzle. For other new puzzlers who have become despondent of late, I have a friend who tells me the guardian Everyman puzzle are much more consistent in their level. I have not tried them yet but given the lack of consistency in the times QC I might well switch.

    Anyway a pleasant puzzle today that took me around 30 minutes to get as far as I did which is as long as I want to spend on a puzzle.

    Nakrian kickiat

16. I don’t usually comment on the Quick puzzle, and it’s usually a fast solve for me, but I found this one quite tricky, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Not timed properly, but around 10 minutes.

    My LOI was SECOND, which would have been my COD on the 15 x 15 puzzle had it been there today.

17. A very sluggish 16 mins here mainly, I think, down to me rather than the puzzle. My evidence for this is that my loi was 2dn which shouldn’t have caused any problems. The second last was 19ac – with every checker in a 13 letter word – held me up for a long time.
18. Like yesterday I was held up by a few tricky offerings at the end – in particular 19a and 2d. Thought BADMINTON and SECOND were very clever. Completed in 18.30.
    Thanks for the blog
19. Yes, a bit tricky is a fair description from me, too. As always, some nice wordplay from Mara and a helpful blog from rotter. A little inder 3 kevins for me and I can’t help feeling it shouldn’t have taken me that long. Roll on tomorrow. John M
20. There seems to be an interesting mix of experiences on the level of difficulty today. Maybe I was just lucky not to get stumped by anything, but this one was my quickest for a fortnight. Like Mike I frowned at bitter being defined as acidic, which is sour. But I see from a quick dictionary search it is a pukka synonym. SECOND my COD. 4:56.

    Edited at 2018-10-04 12:39 pm (UTC)

21. My last two were Flagon and 19a which I had to spend quite a while on as I was not sure of the required definition. Then I wrote in Uncontestable which did not feel quite right and I corrected it after a final check.
    So 25-30 minutes in total for an enjoyable and quite tricky puzzle.
    COD to Second. David

22. As a newbie who has been fed up with the lack of reasonable puzzles, I found this to be ok. I did not get 3 clues but at least understood the logic of the setter. I would be very happy for this type of puzzle. For other new puzzlers who have become despondent of late, I have a friend who tells me the guardian Everyman puzzle are much more consistent in their level. I have not tried them yet but given the lack of consistency in the times QC I might well switch.

    Anyway a pleasant puzzle today that took me around 30 minutes to get as far as I did which is as long as I want to spend on a puzzle.

    Nakrian kickiat

    1. The Everyman varies now more than it used to, but it has always been on a level above the Times QC. For many many years prior to March 2015 the Everyman was set exclusively by our “Tracy”, so look out for his continuing contributions to the QC.
23. Struggled my way through. Didn’t know flagon, had to wait for this review to get branding and incontestable. Didn’t know minton and having few checkers failed. However on reflection clues generally fair and some more learnings for this newbie.
    Graham
24. About 12 mins for all but 11a which I got sometime later. Loved the xword thanks Mara for the complete absence in both clues and answers of rubbish 50’s musicians, 70s third rate tv shows, oxbridge classics, military and cricket, and daft crossword land only stuff like pi and non-u.
    If I wanted to be pickey the 4 taste groups are sweet, sour, salt and bitter. Bitter (the beverage) is only sour when it has gone off and the alcohol started to tun to vinegar

    Edited at 2018-10-04 06:53 pm (UTC)

25. Found this the hardest for a while – couldn’t get anything in the NE corner at all! But enjoyed 10d and 21ac. Thanks for explaining the missing answers.
26. Again begin. ?? Is that Yiddish? Johnny
27. Going to try the Guardian’s Everyman puzzle from now on. These have become far too difficult
28. You have a picture of Terry-Thomas as your avatar and yet you call holiday ‘vacation’? Shame on you, Terry would be spinning in his grave.

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