Times Quick Cryptic No 1209 by Teazel

Author   JohninterredPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A very relatively gentle offering from Teazel that should provide encouragement to our less-experienced solvers, and maybe result in PBs for some.[Edit: It would appear I’ve underestimated the difficulty and 1D has been troublesome for some]. I was held up only by uncertainty at the ending of 11a. I got a bit worried by 1 and 3 down that we were in for a bit of a saucy time, but that was the end of it. I enjoyed being reminded of the bikini at 18a, but COD goes to the simple 6d for the straightforward introduction to the semi-&lit type of clue. 22a may generate a MER (minor eyebrow raise) from some, but there was really very little to frighten the horses. Just over 5 minutes for me, despite 11a, as a result. Thanks Teazel! How did you all like it?
P.S. I post this in advance of heading to York today for the fifteensquared Sloggers and Betters event. Hoping to see some of you there.

Definitions underlined in italics, (ABC)* indicating anagram of ABC, {} deletions and [] other indicators.

Across
3 Abolish a tiny piece (5)
SCRAP – Double definition. It made me think there must be the potential for a triple definition. “Stop a bit of a fight”, perhaps?. No, John, leave the setting to the setters!
7 Express disappointment over feeble set of books (6)
LAMENT – LAME (feeble) NT (New Testament = set of books). Sigh. Not an attitude to bible-reading that would have gone down well in my Sunday School.
8 Cheat? On board, he goes straight (4)
ROOK – Rank and file double definition, second cryptic for the chess piece.
9 Tiny diet’s awful sameness (8)
IDENTITY – (Tiny diet)* [awful]. And an awful sort of fraud that I hope never to experience.
10 Youngster going to a Caribbean republic (4)
CUBA – CUB (youngster) A. Have a cigar if you got this right.
11 Mail functioning, after being cut (4-9)
POST-OPERATIVE – POST (Mail) OPERATIVE (functioning). I had post-operating for a while, which didn’t help with 14d. Doh.
15 Rest disagreed with editing magazine (7,6)
READERS DIGEST – (Rest disagreed)* [with editing]. Founded in 1922 and still going strong, with a current slogan of “Life Well Shared“.
16 Clumsy actor on front of stage not genuine (4)
SHAM – [front of] S{tage} HAM (clumsy actor). Sham actor? A tautology, surely?
18 After dance, Dorothy finds spot on dress (5,3)
POLKA DOT – POLKA (dance) DOT (common abbreviation for Dorothy). Anyone else remember the bikini of that ilk?
20 Space around this heath (4)
MOOR – The space is ROOM. Turn it around to get your heath. As in Ilkley, perhaps?
21 Observing absence of sound from bell? (6)
NOTING – I smiled at this one. If there is no sound from a bell you would hear NO TING.
22 King needs a place for bust (5)
KAPUT – K (King) A PUT (a place). A slightly deceptive surface as we have to turn the noun (place) into a verb (put) and a noun (bust) into an adjective. Some people frown at these things, but I consider it fair game. What do you think?

Down
1 Pornography that’s buried under motorway? (8)
HARDCORE – Double definition, second mildly cryptic. Steady on!
2 Empty-sounding vessel in body (4)
VEIN – Today’s homophone clue… sounds like VAIN (empty).
3 She takes off for club, perhaps (8)
STRIPPER – Cryptic definition. Dear me. The downs are getting a bit racy today.
4 Polish unknown stone (4)
RUBY – RUB (polish) Y (unknown, as in a term in an algebraic equation). And an erstwhile local blogger friend of mine.
5 Great pic broadcast: what it cost? (5,3)
PRICE TAG – (Great pic)* [broadcast]. Mine cost nothing.
6 Tom Thumb’s last resting place? (4)
TOMB – TOM {Thum}B (last letter). A semi-&lit clue, where the whole clue could be read as the definition, but not all of it is wordplay. Neat.
12 Wrongly timed lifeboat coming to shore line (8)
TIDEMARK – (timed)* [wrongly] ARK (Noah’s lifeboat). Lifeboat? I like it.
13 Suggestive of handout to put into money for flat, say (8)
REDOLENT – DOLE (handout) [put into] RENT (money for flat, say). A favourite word of mine. Almost onomatopoeiac.
14 WW2 bombs are important for peer (8)
VISCOUNT –  The WW2 bombs are V1s, also known as buzz bombs or doodlebugs. Use the roman numeral to get VIS and add COUNT (are important). My LOI due to my mistake at 11a.
17 Bird-call that is very funny (4)
HOOT – Double definition. If you thought this blog was funny you might call it a HOOT. Hmm. Maybe not. But there’s always next time. I live in hope.
18 Quiet salesman’s homework (4)
PREP – P (piano = quiet) REP (salesman). I’ve not had to do this since the 1970s.. and I don’t miss it.
19 Affectedly aesthetic, heading away from party (4)
ARTY – Take the heading off, as instructed – {p}ARTY. In my schoolday circles generally combined with “Farty” to register additional oppobrium.

35 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1209 by Teazel”

  2. I may be an outlier, but I didn’t find this at all gentle. Finally gave up at 1d, and looked it up. Too cunning for me.

    As slogans go, ‘Life well shared’ seems about as clunky as they come. Where’s Salman Rushdie when you need him?

  3. probably the easiest of the week! very unusual for Friday!
    I’m never up there with the < 10 mins crowd, but this was chalked off in c. 20 mins which is a good run for me!
    LOI 1d.
    COD kaput!
    thanks to blogger, setter and all who contribute.
    Carl
  4. Another outlier here making it three-in-a-row from experienced solvers, and two of them bloggers! I also struggled a bit with 1dn but fortunately knew both meanings, but my real problem was 7ac which refused to come to mind. After 5 minutes of staring at it as my LOI I resorted to an alphabet trawl before eventually coming up with the answer. 20 minutes in all – my worst time since Oran’s NI football-themed NINA back in July.

    Edited at 2018-10-26 04:56 am (UTC)

  5. Could have been under ten minutes today but I failed to notice 19d and it was blank as I pressed submit, so a few seconds lost frantically not confirming and then solving and resubmitting. I think I may have been quicker on paper in what now seems to be being alluded to as a golden age of simpler QCs but this was certainly my fastest on the computer. Second last one it was 15a – I had “pages” as the second word based on the checking g and s and carelessness and that held me up.
  6. I am another who was held up by 1d and also by having the wrong ending to 11a and hence struggling with 14d. Other than that it all slipped in quite quickly so I still finished within my 20 min target at 18 mins.
  7. DNF. Another one who had to reveal 1d HARDCORE. The rest of the QC was completed in about 13 mins but with a struggle to get on Teazel’s wavelength. Like John I had 11a as Post Operating which I then changed to Post Operation which also did not help. I biffed 3d as STRIPPER as I couldn’t see any wordplay and from the blog I see this is just a cryptic definition. COD to 12d TIDEMARK.

    Edited at 2018-10-26 09:04 am (UTC)

  8. I did this in 10:34, just over my target, with HARDCORE my LOI after writing it out on paper. Unfortunately, when I entered VISCOUNT, I actually typed VISCOUNS. Bother! I found the NW quite a struggle and had to leave it until I’d completed the rest of the puzzle. I was quite surprised when I submitted at just over my target. Am also off to York this evening and looking forward to meeting old friends and new faces. Thanks Teazel and John.
  9. Well well – for once I am faster than the Big Boys. I tried the new (to me) idea of looking at all the acrosses and then all the downs. I don’t if that was the reason or if I just clicked with the puzzle but I was quickly looking at just a handful of clues in the NW. HARDCORE was a forehead-slapping moment when it arrived and gets COD from me. The one that really held me up was VEIN, with innumerable alphabet trawls needed grrr.

    Very enjoyable puzzle, thanks Teazel, and thanks for the blog John. I’m now going to click on your link to see what you’re up to!

    Templar

    1. I also tried all the across clues first (as intimated in a recent blog) and felt my time was much slower than I’d expected! I think this technique may work well on easier puzzles, but I agree this was mid to hardish. All done in 12 minutes though with NW proving trickiest. Thanks all
  10. I had STRIP for3a. Fits the clue (almost) as well as SCRAP. Couldn’t get HAHA out of my mind for 27d so also missed out on MOOR and DNF
  12. Not sure why the blogger thought this was a gentle offering. I thought it pretty difficult. I guess when you are really good at crosswords as the bloggers must be, it is very difficult to guage difficulty.
    1. Sorry. I went on the fact i finished this in about 3/4 of my average time, despite a mistake that held me up. Sometimes I just get lucky with being on the eavekength and having the required GK. E.g. today 1D was a write-in as i see so much of that roadbuilding material every time i head up the A14 from Cambridge.

      Edited at 2018-10-26 05:47 pm (UTC)

  13. No accurate time for me this morning as I was disturbed mid-solve, but I would estimate between 14 and 18 minutes, so no walk in the park. 1d my LOI too and even with all of the checkers it took a while to reveal itself. Thanks Setter and Blogger.
  14. Really enjoyed this – lots of clues that raised a smile. Probably took 30 minutes – amazingly finding 1d easy – but took ages on Tomb – knowing it ended in B and thinking of crib and catb – and it was just tom with the B!!! Lament took similar time and sadly gave in to look up Viscount – having got the VIS start and all checkers.
    21a, 1d, 6d, and many others very good. My COD to 17d which I did find a hoot.
    Thanks all
    John George
  15. I agree with our blogger’s assessment having managed to finish in just under 12 minutes. FOI was Scrap.
    I was held up a bit by my last two: 1d and 14d. I got Hardcore thinking about what lies under the motorway. Then on to 14d: my first thought was the V2 and with one V already I began thinking of trying to fit in a second somewhere. I was not at all clear about the definition and also tried to fit in Lord,using the O. Eventually Viscount for peer occurred to me. Thanks to our blogger who reminds me that the V1 is the required bomb.
    Another enjoyable and ,I think, fair QC. David
  16. 1dn also my holdup – ‘motorway’ made me absolutely sure it started with M or MI – so over twice usual time.
  17. Obviously easy for some, difficult for others like me. There is something in wavelength you know.
    Graham
    1. Bad luck. And I agree. I was ckearly on it today, which nade me think ithers would find it straughtfirward too.
  18. Nice comment. We are lucky to have such amusing and educating bloggers. Why not sign up so you’re no longer anonymous?
  19. Great puzzle – we enjoyed it.

    Love this blog, we read it every day. Love the camaraderie!

    So, wish there was a QC on a Saturday and Sunday.

    A bientot

    Lynda & Ken

    1. Thanks from me and my fellow bloggers for the nice comment😊

      Edited at 2018-10-26 05:41 pm (UTC)

    2. Lynda and Ken – me, too! I really miss this QC on the weekend. And, ditto, I too, love the camaraderie of this group. Everyone is so positive and helpful and supportive.
  20. And, what’s more, I did actually finish it! I thought there were some crackers here, especially in the across clues e.g. 8, 18, 20 and 21! Super. I was fine with 1 down (LOI ) and 22 across. On the other hand, I wasn’t wild about “sameness ” for “identity ” in 9 across . I got 2 down because, initially, I thought “empty sounding” was telling me to “empty” the end of “vessel” which then rather neatly, if in rather unorthodox fashion, took me to “ve – – – – / in” ! Really nice puzzle. Thank you, Teazel, and thank you, John, for the blog.
    1. Funny you should mention that, Louisa, as I was going to say the same but forgot, however I just looked up ‘identity’ in SOED and found this as its first given meaning: 1 The quality or condition of being identical in every detail; absolute sameness; an instance or example of this. L16.

      I’ve never come across that before!

      Collins gives only two meanings, both of which I know and the second one seems to go against the one used in the puzzle:
      1. Your identity is who you are.
      2. The identity of a person or place is the characteristics they have that distinguish them from others.

      Chambers has similar to Collins, but adds another meaning which appears to explain what’s going on:

      4 now formal, the state of being exactly the same e.g. Having no identity of interests, the two sides cannot agree.

      Edited at 2018-10-26 05:24 pm (UTC)

      1. Interesting. I never consudered it might not be well known. I realise now i knew it from my mathematical teaining… Not tgat i can remember much about that!
      2. Hi, Jack. Thanks for looking it up and sharing what you found. I have to say, though, that’s a new meaning of “identity ” for me. These QCs increase my word power (isn’t that a feature of 15 across?) as well as my little grey cells!
  21. Most of this was relatively straightforward but the NW caused me all sorts of pain, some of it self-inflicted. I had one of my occasional brain implosions at 9a where I assumed the anagram fodder included the ‘s’ at the end of diet and never checked the number of letters in the answer and then I forgot about one of the ‘t’s’ so was staring at either IDENTISY or IDENSITY neither of which made any sense.
    I took a 10 minute break which cleared my head and my final four (1,2,7 and 9) fell into place.
    Solving time 18.41 (excluding the break).
    Thanks for the blog
  22. I found this b****y difficult. Probably my fault for waiting until Friday evening after a tough day and a glass of Quinta do Crasto. I look to the quick cryptic for a relaxing, (relatively) easy solve and to the main Cryptic for a bit of serious brain teasing. This was clever but too clever for a QC in my humble opinion. I look forward to the weekend crosswords for an easier time! I have to disagree profoundly with the blogger. John M.
    1. Thank-you for sharing that, John i am more than happy to be corrected.. But I solved the crossword without the benefit of the fine wine which enriched your experience, so it’s a little hard to compare. Just kidding. Mea culpa. I was wrong in saying it was easy. Maybe my training for next Saturday is having an effect!.

      Edited at 2018-10-27 06:09 am (UTC)

      1. Thanks for taking the trouble to reply, John. QC blogging can be such a difficult balance, I’m sure. One word and blighters like me jump on you. Not fair, especially in response to a good blog but I was not alone in being frustrated yesterday when my chance to finish the week on a high was cruelly dashed by ‘Teazer’! John M.
  24. No idea of time but fairly quick ignoring the multiple interruptions
    Incidentally PUT is a noun, there is a financial instrument called a put
    1. Thanks, Graham. You are right, of course, but i couldnt see that as a synonym for place,so i stand by my parsing.

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