Times Quick Cryptic No 1207 by Orpheus

Author   plusjeremyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Introduction

And I’m back! As discussed a few weeks ago, I’m going to experiment today with a new portion of the blog, aimed at beginners, describing in detail how I approached solving this puzzle. As this puzzle was on the easier side, it might not be as useful as it could be, but let’s start here and see where it goes! First, the solutions.

Solutions

Across

1 Awkward and lumbering in an ugly manoeuvre (8)
UNGAINLY – IN AN UGLY (“in an ugly”) anagrammed (“manoeuvre”)
5 Male politician[’s] narcotic drug (4)
HEMP – HE (“male”) + MP (“politician”)
8 Lofty duke following senior relative (5)
GRAND – D (“duke”) after (“following”) GRAN (“senior relative”)
9 Run round hard pebbles on beach (7)
SHINGLE – SINGLE (“run”) outside (“round”) H (“hard”)
I did not know this definition at all! ‘Shingle’ is a mass noun, like ‘flock (of sheep)’ or ‘herd (of elephants)’ or ‘murder (of crows)’.
11 Diversion / the frenzied may be driven to? (11)
DISTRACTION – double definition
I didn’t know the second definition, where ‘driven to distraction’ is somewhat equivalent to ‘driven mad’.
13 Have the money for a crossing, so to speak (6)
AFFORD – A FORD (“a crossing”) replaced by homophone (“so to speak”)
14 Come first, keeping most of this inside (6)
WITHIN – WIN (“come first”) outside (“keeping”) almost all letters of (“most of”) THIS (“this”)
16 In favour of case stirring up anger, perhaps (11)
PROVOCATIVE – PRO (“in favour of”) + VOCATIVE (“case”)
I believe in a sentence like, “All right, children, it’s time to…”, the word ‘children’ is in the vocative case.
18 Person looking through book [and] software program (7)
BROWSER – double definition
19 Table part of provisional tariff (5)
ALTAR – letters in (“part of”) PROVISIONAL TARIFF (“provisional tariff”)
20 Bring in vessel mentioned in speech (4)
EARN – URN (“vessel”) replaced by homophone (“mentioned in speech”)
21 Amphibian old actor originally rescued in thick mist (4,4)
TREE FROG – TREE (“old actor”) + first letter of (“originally”) RESCUED (“rescued”) inside (“in”) FOG (“thick mist”)
Did not know the actor, which could be either Herbert Beerbohm or David, I suppose.

Down

1 Strong impulse revealed by our gentry (4)
URGE – letters in (“revealed by”) OUR GENTRY (“our gentry”)
2 Ceremonial escort[’s] defence of integrity? (5,2,6)
GUARD OF HONOUR – GUARD (“defense”) + OF (“of”) + HONOUR (“integrity?”)
3 Hard-working American music group taking dip in Asian river (11)
INDUSTRIOUS – US (“American”) + TRIO (“music group”) in (“taking dip in”) INDUS (“Asian river”)
I got this immediately from the definition and crossing letters, only figuring out the wordplay as I wrote up this blog.
4 Strong desire with regard to reflected light? (6)
LUSTRE – LUST (“strong desire”) + RE (“with regard to”)
6 Barker, crossword compiler with UK nationality? (7,6)
ENGLISH SETTER – SETTER (“crossword compiler”) next to (“with”) ENGLISH (“UK nationality?”)
‘Barker’ here is a dog, which I assume is what the  ?  is for.
7 Quietly ruling, [though] in the family way (8)
PREGNANT – P (“quietly”) + REGNANT (“ruling”)
Not quite sure about the ‘though’.
10 Implicate unfortunate Mercian in it? (11)
INCRIMINATE – anagrammed (“unfortunate”) MERCIAN IN IT (“Mercian in it”)
12 Obvious friend with capacity to seize power (8)
PALPABLE – PAL (“friend”) + ABLE (“with capacity”) outside (“to seize”) P (“power”)
15 Comparatively pale [and] more even-handed (6)
FAIRER – double definition
17 Sailing vessel of some size straddling river (4)
BRIG – BIG (“of some size”) outside (“straddling”) R (“river”)

Discussion

I approached this puzzle as I usually do: first going through all the Across clues, then all the Down clues, then back to any Across clues I missed, and so forth. This is a good strategy, especially for beginners, because it ensures that one is familiar with every clue. Sometimes if I’m really having trouble getting a foothold, I work Across and Down at the same time. (In larger puzzles, it can also be a good idea to start with the longest clues, because these often have simpler wordplay, and will yield a lot of crossing letters if the answer can be found.)

Below I list the 35 steps I took to solve the puzzle. I don’t claim that my approach is anywhere near best; I just want to show beginners who are struggling to get started how someone might do it.

  1. Clue: 1 Across. I immediately see ‘awkward’ and I look for anagram letters. But ‘and lumbering’ doesn’t work. So I keep looking and I see ‘in an ugly’, which is the right number of letters, and the word ‘manoeuvre’, which definitely could indicate anagram. So now I know the definition is ‘awkward and lumbering’. I write ‘in an ugly’ backwards: YLGUNANI, and I immediately see the answer, UNGAINLY. Solved.

  2. Clue: 5 Across. The first word is ‘male’, which makes me think M. I look to the end of the clue for the definition, most likely ‘drug’. Do I know a four-letter drug beginning with M? Maybe METH? But then I look at ‘politician’, and ETH isn’t one I know of. Usually, ‘politician’ is MP. Do I know a four-letter drug ending in MP? And do I know any alternative answers for ‘male’? HE works, and so does HEMP. Solved.

  3. Clue: 8 Across. ‘Lofty’ doesn’t get me anywhere, but ‘duke’ is often D. ‘Following’ could mean the D comes at the end. So what about a four-letter ‘senior relative’? AUNT? No. My brain goes blank for a minute. I glance back at ‘lofty’, the definition, and at the same time, GRAN and the answer GRAND come to mind. Solved.

  4. Clue: 9 Across. ‘Run’ could be R, ’round’ can be O, and ‘hard’ can be H, but that doesn’t get me anywhere. ‘Pebbles on beach’? Is that even a thing or is that more wordplay? I write RO? in the margin and move on. Not solved.

  5. Clue: 11 Across. I can see right away that the definition is likely ‘diversion’ (a definition-y word), and ‘the frenzied may be driven to’ is another definition, likely alluding to an expression like “driven to [blank]”. But the answer is long and ideas aren’t forthcoming so I move on. I consider that ‘may be driven to’ indicates an anagram of ‘the frenzied’ so I write DEIZNERFEHT but I’m not convinced this is correct. Not solved.

  6. Clue: 13 Across. I see ‘Have’, which is not likely the definition on its own or wordplay, so I read on: ‘have the money (for)’. Well, that sounds like a definition, but the answer doesn’t come to my sleepy brain, so I look to the wordplay: ‘a crossing, so to speak’. I know from experience that ‘so to speak’ indicates a homophone, so the answer likely begins with A, and now I need a synonym for ‘crossing’. I think about words meaning ‘have the money for’ starting with A, and I simultaneously think about crossing a river. As before, FORD and AFFORD come to mind at the same time. Solved.

  7. Clue: 14 Across. I start scanning the clue and see “keeping most of this inside”. ‘Most of this’ is probably THI, so I want THI inside some other word. But what should I be putting THI inside? ‘First’? IST? But ITHIST or ISTHIT aren’t words, so I’m stumped and move on. It turns out that I’m stumped because ‘inside’ is the definition, but I don’t see this yet! Not solved.

  8. Clue: 16 Across. I see ‘in favour of’, which is probably PRO, and the definition is probably ‘stirring up anger’, but what does ‘case’ mean? Some sort of briefcase? I can’t find the answer, so I write PRO in the margin and move on. Not solved.

  9. Clue: 18 Across. Here I’m a bit confused. I see ‘through’, which could mean puttitng one word inside another, and ‘book’, which could indicate B. But I’m not sure what the wordplay could be here, and I overlook the simple double definition. Not solved.

  10. Clue: 19 Across. I immediately latch on to ‘part of’ as indicating a hidden word and find ALTAR. Solved.

  11. Clue: 20 Across. Once I see ‘mentioned in speech’, I assume this is a homophone clue. So I need a synonym for ‘vessel’ (which will either be a sailing vessel or some sort of cup) which is a synonym for ‘bring in’. I’m used to thinking of ‘bring in’ as being crosswordese for “make money”, so I think of EARN and double-check that ‘urn’ is a sort of vessel. Solved.

  12. Clue: 21 Across. Hard to know where to start here. Possibly ‘amphibian’ is the answer. ‘Old’ could be the letter O. The word ‘originally’ probably means ‘first letter’, but is it first letter of ‘actor’ or ‘rescued’? It feels like the word play has to be: (originally rescued) in (thick mist). Could ‘thick mist’ be FOG? That would make FROG, which is definitely an amphibian. But what about the first word? That has to come from ‘old actor’, and I don’t know any. I’ve heard of a TREE FROG, but TREE doesn’t sound like the name of an actor. I fill in FROG for the second word, and put TREE in the margin for later. Partially solved.

  13. Clue: 1 Down. I have the structure U _ G _ , and I’m already thinking URGE for ‘strong impulse’. The hidden word confirms the answer. Solved.

  14. Clue: 2 Down. From the F in the middle I get OF as the middle word. Of course I don’t know the word for a ceremonial escort, but I do see the cryptic definition has ‘defence of’, which could be GUARD OF, which sounds right, and fits the crossing G _ A _ _ . As for the last word, a synonym of ‘integrity’, I haven’t a clue, since I only have the last letter R. Partially solved.

  15. Clue: 3 Down. I see ‘hard-working’ and immediately plop in INDUSTRIOUS. I had the following crossers: I _ D _ _ _ R _ _ _ _ . Not such a wild guess, since the second letter most likely has to be N. Nice when your brain does the work for you! Solved.

  16. Clue: 4 Down. I only have the L, so for ‘strong desire’ I wonder if it’s LONG. ‘With regard to’ sounds like RE or ON. Is LONGRE or LONGON a word having to do with light? Neither sounds right, though I write LONGRE? in the margin. Not solved.

  17. Clue: 6 Down. I have E at the top, and T _ R at the bottom. Not much to go on, but ‘UK nationality’ makes me wonder if it might be ENGLISH something or other. ‘Barker’ sounds like a dog, perhaps, and I’ve heard of Irish setters. Then I see ‘crossword compiler’ which is a synonym for SETTER and I know I’m on the right track. I put in ENGLISH SETTER but I put a question mark in the margin because I’m not totally sure about ENGLISH (what else could it be though?) and I always want to look up things afterwards if I’ve never heard of them. Solved. (Maybe.)

  18. Clue: 7 Down. I already have the P, which ‘quietly’ can clue. So I turn to the end of the clue for the definition, see the words ‘family way’, which means PREGNANT. I double check, a bit to my surprise, that the remaining letters spell REGNANT, meaning ‘ruling’. Though I have never used or seen that word, I know ‘regal’ and ‘reign’ so it must be right. Solved.

  19. Clue: 10 Down. When I see weird words in a clue, it’s probably an anagram, especially when it’s the right number of letters. I write down TININAICREM and think, could it be INCRIMINATE? I cross off the letters to check that I’m not imagining it. Solved.

  20. Clue: 12 Down. Here I’m a bit stumped. I have _ A _ _ _ _ _ E, and I know ‘friend’ can be PAL, but I can’t think of any word that begins with PAL, meaning ‘obvious’. As usual I write PAL in the margin and move on. Not solved.

  21. Clue: 15 Down. When I see ‘comparatively’ I know the answer likely ends with ER. But then I see the other half of the clue is also a comparative, so I surmise this is a double definition. FAIRER is not hard to find. Solved.

  22. Clue: 17 Down. I have _ R _ G, and I know the answer is probably R inside something else, but I can’t think of the ship or what _ _ G should be. (“Of some size” is, in retrospect, a confusing definition!) I put a question mark and move on again. I’m worried, because there’s no more crossing letters to get. Not solved.

  23. Clue: 9 Across. I have no idea what’s going on here. (Tough definition.) Not solved.

  24. Clue: 11 Across. From the crossing letters D _ S _ _ _ C _ I _ N, I realize it’s not an anagram, but I can’t see the answer. Not solved.

  25. Clue: 14 Across. Now I have _ I _ H _ N so I fill in THI to get _ITHIN and see that it has to be WITHIN. Only then do I realize that ‘inside’ was the definition, not part of the wordplay. (In the parlance, I failed to “lift and separate”.) And ‘come first’ must be WIN. A nice penny-drop moment. Solved.

  26. Clue: 16 Across. I have _ _ _ _ O _ A _ I _ E. I put in my guess, PRO, as well as the obvious ending letters, to get PRO_O_ATIVE. Looks like PROVOCATIVE, and VOCATIVE seems like a grammatical case like genitive, accusative, etc. Solved.

  27. Clue: 18 Across. I have _ _ _ _ S _ R. I’m thinking computers… is it PARSER? COMPILER? No. I move on. Not solved.

  28. Clue: 21 Across. Now I have the crossers _R_E for the first word, so if it isn’t TREE, I don’t know what it can be. I put it in. Solved. (Maybe.)

  29. Clue: 4 Down. I have L _ S _ R _, so RE is definitely the ending, and LUST comes to mind for ‘strong desire’. Solved.

  30. Clue: 11 Across. Technically I should be continuing with Down clues, but my eye catches D _ S _ R _ C _ I _ N and my mind fills in DISTRACTION. Not totally sure how that works but it’s probably right. Solved. (Maybe.)

  31. Clue: 9 Across. Coming back to 9 Across, I have S _ I _ G _ E, and I’m thinking… SHINGLE? That’s a word I know but that doesn’t seem to fit with the definition. And yet, the H could be from ‘hard’, and SINGLE could be a ‘run’, so this is probably right. I put in SHINGLE and put a question mark in the margin. Solved. (Maybe.)

  32. Clue: 2 Down. Now I have _ O _ _ _ R for the third word, and HONOUR comes to mind as a fitting final word. Solved. (Maybe, because I’ve never heard of it.)

  33. Clue: 12 Down. I have _ A _ P _ _ _ E, and when I put in PAL, I get PALP _ _ _ E and I see it must be PALPABLE. Solved.

  34. Clue: 18 Across. I have B _ O _ S _ R, and from the computer part I guess BROWSER. But if B is for ‘book’, what’s ROWSER? Oh, silly me, it was just a double definition. Solved.

  35. Clue: 17 Down. Focussing on the ‘sailing vessel’ part, I come up with BRIG out of the depths of my mind, although I thought that was a maritime prison. But BIG makes sense so it’s probably right. Solved, and done!

Hopefully this is helpful for somebody! Until next week.

64 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1207 by Orpheus”

  1. Lordy, Jeremy, what an impressive blog! What the RC boys would call a work of supererogation.
    TREE is Beerbohm Tree, founder of RADA and half-brother of Max Beerbohm, and perhaps the most hated chestnut in Times cryptics. Alice addresses the Mouse in the vocative, ‘O Mouse, …’ since she remembered seeing ‘of a mouse, to a mouse, a mouse, O mouse’ in her brother’s Latin grammar. I never thought of grammatical case here, and after staring at PRO … for a while, I threw in the towel.
    1. Thanks for the acknowledgment. I decided to try a post like this after noticing a handful of beginners who felt quite frustrated with the increased difficulty of the Quick Cryptics a few weeks ago. (Finding the right level of puzzle for a “beginner” is quite a challenge, I’m sure.) I wrote the Discussion in the hopes that it might be helpful to solvers who are struggling. I don’t know if it will be, but I wanted to try something! Of course, I’m open to suggestions.
      1. After a long time doing this puzzle and still considering myself a beginner ( fastest times in the region of 28 minutes), I really found your detailed explanation extremely interesting and useful.
        Thanks
        Alan
    2. I had to look it up. Supererogation is ‘the performance of more work than duty requires’. Another one to add to my cerebral cortex. Thank you
  2. Nice instructions, and now I’m curious: does everyone else tackle each clue in order? I try to make a cluster in the NW and spread out from there, always working on clues with at least one checking letter
    1. When I’m fearful, I go for the cluster approach. I’m not sure it’s always best — the reason being, when I work that way I usually discover at some point that there’s a handful of clues I’ve never looked at. The more I think about it, the more it seems better to at least scan all the clues at first and put in anything that comes easily.
    2. I vary. I do find it easier to start top left and work down and across from there if I can, but if I get stuck early I turn to picking off the shorter answers, especially if there are three- or four-letter ones to be had. Now, you can make a three-letter answer surprisingly hard, but all else being equal, I do often find them an easy way in to a difficult puzzle.

      I used to be a bit more rigid, but after watching Magoo a few times, I noticed he was dotting about a lot more than I was, so I try to be a bit more flexible these days, and “go with the flow”, hoping some intuition is actually helping!

  3. Hemp is the fiber and seed part of the plant whose flowers give us marijuana, which is not an opiate either.
    Just sayin’.

    1. Complaints to the dictionary compilers if necessary, but the meanings of both words have expanded past their originals.

      SOED has:

      hemp

      4 The drug marijuana. L19.

      narcotic

      2 drug affecting the mind and widely prohibited or controlled, but still sold and used illegally. Freq. in pl., illegal drugs. Orig. US. E20.

      Collins and Chambers list similar secondary definitions so the setter is covered every which way.

      1. Oh, of course, Jackkt. Don’t tell… anyone, but my real point in saying that was political. Using the terms in the looser, broader senses is harmless in a crossword, but a different story when it comes to public policy. There are also other, more positive ways one could refer to hemp. It is a very useful plant, quite aside from its flowers, but its cultivation has been hampered in the United States since 1970’s Controlled Substances Act.

        Also, if the illegality of a substance is what makes it a “narcotic,” as above, this is no longer true about marijuana in Canada, and true in increasingly fewer parts of the United States.

        Edited at 2018-10-24 05:59 am (UTC)

  4. 9 minutes with all of the long answers presenting some difficulty. What would it take to persuade setters and editors to ban the old actor for good?

    On solving techniques there’s no right or wrong method if it works for the individual, but for me, having solved an Across clue in the first row (e.g. 1ac in today’s grid) it would be making unnecessary difficulties for oneself not to try immediately to solve the Down clues for which it has provided the first letters, and then build on the checkers provided by each answer added.

    As another general point I’d suggest that long answers, particularly those which consist of only one word, are easier to solve when they have a checker or two or three in place, so I wouldn’t usually spend time trying to solve them ‘cold’ (i.e. without any checkers)

    Edited at 2018-10-24 04:57 am (UTC)

    1. I’m with you. I always make use of crossers immediately (especially if they start new answers).
      I also tend to go for multi word answers or 3 letter answers if my early progress is slow as I think that I solve them more quickly.
      1. But checking all the across ones first, and even then the down ones from clue only, is a useful ‘neutral’ approach – a chance to fully take in wordplay etc. A follow-up check of any intersecting letters in the grid gives a second bite at the cherry.
  6. Well done Jeremy…nice touch.

    I seem to be back on form today completing in 10:40 so just outside my 10 min target. I started slowly but finished with a flourish in the SW corner. LOI 13a AFFORD. I needed most of the checkers to solve the anagram at 10d INCRIMINATE and biffed the 21a TREE part. I didn’t worry about 5a HEMP as it was clearly the answer from the wordplay. Single as run is also a new one for me. It certainly helps if I do not overthink clues.

  7. Many thanks for the explanation of your process.
    As a beginner I found the explanation extreamly useful.
  8. At last, a Quick Cryptic as of yore. Thanks, Orpheus. The blog was a great departure and a boon to newer QC solvers, I’m sure. I started systematically in the NW like Jeremy but soon started jumping around as usual, looking for easy prey. I finished with Fairer, Palpable, and LOI Lustre.
    Some very nice clues – a good balance, I think. A little under 12 mins – probably around my usual 3 Kevins but that is pure conjecture today. John M.
  9. Sometimes one finds oneself in on a roll or not!. I don’t usually manage less than 10 minutes but this was just under 7. last week on one day it took me nearly 7 to fill in my first clue:)
  10. I’ve been doing the QC for about three and a half years now and I’ve got my target down to 30 minutes thanks to the blog, and I would have found this type of blog very useful at the start. I follow much the same pattern as plusjeremy now, although I knew that Brighton beach was made of shingle and didn’t know that Tree was an actor, but surprisingly most frogs in Crosswordland are tree frogs.
    I did this one in 23 minutes on my phone, so easier than usual. I would recommend beginners to get the Chambers dictionary app if they have a smartphone, it’s very easy to check definitions and spelling and saves a lot of worry about mistakes while solving.

    Brian

    Edited at 2018-10-24 09:21 am (UTC)

  11. for the very thorough blog. Interestingly enough, I usually follow Jeremy’s order of solving. Today, however, as 1ac went straight in, I tried the cluster approach and was rewarded with a PB of 12mins. I am not sure this was the result of the new method or the easiness of this QC….Thanks to Orpheus and Jeremy.
    NB following a hint in the blog on Monday, having struggled mightily with the QC, I tried the the 15 x 15 and found it much easier! Oh well…..
  12. yep, this is certainly easier in comparison to the recent offerings!
    I use to prefer the “cluster approach”, but I prefer the scan of all across clues first then down. For some reason, it gets me thinking more and seems to help my ability to solve trickier clues. When I re-surface and attempt again, the checkers then help.
    LOI: WITHIN (quite clever and had me fooled).
    COD: as per LOI.
    thanks to blogger (it’s reassuring hearing similar thoughts when tackling this QC), setter and all who contribute.
    Carl

  13. Great blog. Each day I read this and all the regular contributors inevitably help me in some way. I always look for the long clues that are broken up (2dn today) as often the word play is easier. I’m never going to sub 10 mins but every day it’s a challenge I enjoy 😊

  14. To Jeremy! What dedication! Read all of the blog most carefully as I was DNF at 30 mins. Pro-o-a-I-e stumped me and Earn/urn (note to self – must remember ‘bring in’ meaning). Biffed the Tree in tree frog assuming there was an ‘old actor’ (never heard of him). Frankyanne
  15. My time yesterday was 11:23 which was quick for me. Today, solving on paper,I was finished in just under 5 minutes, a clear PB. It shows what regular practice and this blog can do as I was a relative beginner not that long ago.
    FOI was Hemp,LOI was Provocative.
    No real hold-ups. Tree Frog would have puzzled me but I have seen it recently.
    So a good puzzle for beginners I think, and a really excellent blog from Jeremy.
    I should also mention Cracking the Cryptic on Youtube which has been very helpful to me. David
  16. Excellent blog Jeremy. I’m sure the less experienced solvers will find it really helpful. I usually use the cluster approach, trying the shorter words first to get a foothold, and moving to a different quadrant if I don’t make quick progress. The multi word long answers are often a good source of crossing letters too. I did find today’s puzzle a bit easier than some of late. I started with UNGAINLY and finished with PALPABLE. 7:45. Thanks Orpheus and Jeremy.
  17. As a beginner I found today’s puzzle pretty easy only missing one clue. But the explanation was excellent and I am certain will be very useful on the harder puzzles which are becoming more frequ3nt.
    Thanks to the blogger. Tim
  18. At 18 mins, an (increasingly) rare sub 20 finish for me today. The actor was, and no doubt will remain, unknown to me, and I also got into a tangle with 14ac by initially looking for something beginning with a ‘C’. My loi was 16ac, Provocative – a nice clue, that I should have seen a bit quicker. My thanks to Orpheus, but my admiration to Jeremy for providing what I’m sure will be a very useful guide for those new to this game. Invariant
  19. What an amazing blog, Jeremy, real dedication to duty! Congratulations and much admiration.

    Fascinating to see that you and so many others approach a crossword by going through the acrosses and then the downs. It has genuinely never occurred to me that anyone would do that – I have always started by trying to get 1ac/1dn (or any clue which would give me the first letters of some other clues) and once cracked, built from there. So I always progress round the grid attacking clues in which I already have checkers, and only if I get stuck with those do I turn to “blank” clues. How interesting to see that so many others follow a different method, I might try it!

    Enjoyably easy puzzle today, sub ten with probably 4 mins spent on PROVOCATIVE (whcch I was over-complicating). Thanks Orpheus.

    Templar

  20. I tend to be a “block’ solver. So today the NW corner all went straight in. Then I moved to the NE, etc. If that doesn’t work then I go through the clues in order, pick up what I can then build from whatever checkers I have in place. Always look at the long ones early especially if I have some checkers in place. I find long, multiple word clues are often the easiest.
    Enjoyable puzzle on the easy side. Never heard of the actor ‘TREE’, but FROG was obvious so just biffed it. FOI URGE (a gimme), followed by UNGAINLY and off I went. LOI LUSTRE (‘with regard to’ threw me a bit). COD INDUSTRIOUS (enjoyed the surface and the build-up of the clue)
    PlayUpPompey
  21. Excellent blog! Really good of you to spend so much time going into so much detail. I’m sure it will be appreciated.
  23. If only someone had gone to so much trouble when I first tried the main puzzle a few years ago! The blog is one of the finest I’ve seen – well done. I completed this in about 9 minutes, hopping around the grid as new checkers arose. However I intend to try all across / all down to see how this goes. My question though is “has anyone compiled a document of commonly used abbreviations or alternatives”? (Eg right can be R or RT, male can ge M or He etc.). Thanks again for all this
  24. Great blog Jeremy. I’m glad your extra effort has been appreciated. Pretty much my solving technique too… having got most of the acrosses in the first sweep, I managed a clean sweep of the downs thanks to all the checkers I had. PROVOACTIVE my LOI. Like you, I briefly considered an anagram of “the frenzied” at 11A. SHINGLE my COD. 4:08.
  25. Thanks for the blog, For a relative beginner to the QC, it is really helpful to see how others solve the clues – and really wonderful to discover that I have actually developed some of the same strategies on my own! I look forward to your next session!!
  26. Much better solvers than me would say that our blogger’s method is very inefficient as it demands each across clue is solved ‘blind’ ie with no assistance from crossers. Don Manley (Izetti) in his book recommends ‘working the grid’, that is building outwards from solved clues using the crossers provided and that is the method used by the great Magoo if you watch his amazing Youtube videos.
    When I first look at a grid I start with the clue that will give me the most initial letters if I solve it straight off. Today that was of course the generous anagram at 1a which got everything off to a flying start. The first three down clues fell in quick succession and suddenly the grid was full of crossers.
    I no longer post my times for the QC as I now feel I have fully graduated to the 15×15 having started here as a novice four years ago. I do look in most days though to see if I have beaten Kevin 😀.
    1. I know better solvers than me who *do* use this method! 🙂

      The idea is not to force yourself to solve every clue without assistance. It’s to familiarize yourself with the entire grid, let the mind ruminate on all the clues in the background.

      Undoubtedly for a very fast and experienced solver, it makes sense to work from the checkers in an outward spreading fashion, because there is a much higher probability of solving any given clue on a first pass, especially with a few checkers.

      But for a beginner or intermediate solver, I think one of the biggest problems is getting stuck in an area or in a handful of clues. The idea behind scanning all the clues first is to know the entire grid more intimately so that one knows after solving a clue how those letters might help.

      Solving in a cluster fashion can be stressful. Okay, you solved 1 across. Now which of the crossing down clues will you do? All of them? And if you solve several now which across clues will you do? All of them? In what order? There is also the feeling that if you didn’t get 1 across, how will you get the down clues?! Committing oneself to working across then down on a first pass takes away the pressure to get any one clue.

      There is merit to both approaches.

      1. Sorry, still not convinced. The key (again I quote Mr Manley) is not to let yourself get bogged down. If an answer – or at least a very clear route to it – does not appear fairly quickly move on. I allow myself no more than 10 seconds or so on a QC clue. Any stragglers can be mopped up at the end and you would be amazed how often you go back and write the answer straight in. Your method of trying to hold a picture of the entire puzzle in your head strikes me as just making life hard for yourself.
        1. You don’t need to be convinced! You can see that there are plenty of solvers who are getting stuck and need different ideas. This is one of them. You don’t have to use it.

          Also, your characterizations (“memorizing the entire puzzle”, “solving blind”) are extreme and not at all a reflection of what looking through the Across and Down clues is meant to accomplish. It’s not for you — point taken!

          There is no “key”. There are many keys, and different people at different stages of development need different advice to help them grow. As you can see, some people say, “Never look at the long ones first”, and others say, “Starting with the long ones can be helpful”. Even expert solvers have different approaches.

          If your key works for you, then I’m glad for that, and I’m glad for you to contribute your viewpoint because it’s guaranteed to be helpful to someone here, maybe even many people! But there is no question that other people’s viewpoints can also be helpful, and I’m sorry you’re not willing to acknowledge that.

  27. I doff my cap to you Jeremy, an amazing blog.

    I flew through this and completed the grid in under 8 minutes (pb territory) but then spent a couple of minutes trying to work out how on earth an actor could be a tree. Eventually I gave up and pressed submit with my fingers crossed after 9.42.
    I seem to randomly switch between attempting clues in order, which appeals to my OCD tendencies and cluster solving which seems to be a bit quicker/more efficient.

  28. …from yonks ago. I took 12 minutes working in the “cluster mode”. I know it was one of the easiest qcs in ages, but I wonder if warming up on the previous qc which I hadn’t had time for yesterday got my brain working. After all yesterday’s took me over half an hour!

    COD 16a as it reminded me of learning Latin, a language very fussy about its cases (and conjugations too).

    LOI Tree Frog which I dithered over because I couldn’t quite parse it. Thanks for the explanation. MM

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