Times Quick Cryptic No 1222 by Wurm

Author   plusjeremyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

A nice puzzle with fine wordplay, mostly solved in ten minutes. But then I spent the next five trying to figure out 10 Across, 19 Across, and 24 Across, all of which I had in fact solved, but which seemed to involve words I did not know. In the end, I guessed the wrong answer for 19 Across, so a DNF for me.

Across

3 East African 17 on the move (8)
ERITREAN – RETAINER (“17”, across) anagrammed (“on the move”)
7 Writer, alternatively, with supply of ink? (6)
ORWELL – OR (“alternatively”) + (“with”) WELL (“supply of ink”, for example)
8 Islands against return to trade (8)
ANTILLES – ANTI (“against”) + reversal of (“return to”) SELL (“trade”)
9 Starts on the straight approach — right [for] leader (4)
TSAR – first letters of (“starts on”) THE STRAIGHT APPROACH RIGHT (“the straight approach right”)
10 Routine / when male animals do it? (3)
RUT – double definition
I did not know that ‘rut’ refers to the time of year when male animals are sexually active, which kept me from putting this in immediately. Sorta like a male ‘heat’.
11 Verbal attack [from] small girl with a large family (8)
DIATRIBE – DI (“small girl”) + (“with”) A (“a”) + TRIBE (“large family”)
Good wordplay here, since neither ‘small’ nor ‘large’ refer to the standard wordplay S and L, respectively. What’s more, ‘small’ refers to the size of the answer, while ‘large’ is part of the definition.
13 Love god, cockney hero, succeeds ultimately (4)
EROS – losing the H (“cockney”), HERO (“hero”) + SUCCEEDS (“succeeds”) reduced to its last letter (“ultimately”)
15 Tea refreshed when taken with fine cheese (4)
FETA – TEA (“tea”) anagrammed (“refreshed”), next to (“when taken with”) F (“fine”)
17 Someone who keeps / long-time servant (8)
RETAINER – double definition
19 Pair ending up with one letter from abroad (3)
PHI – P&H (“pair”) + (“ending up with”) I (“one”)
This one got me. I knew it was PHI or PSI, and I went with PSI, since PS is an abbreviation I knew and PH was not. But it turned out the answer is PHI, and after ten minutes of Googling and checking dictionaries, this explanation is the best I can come up with. If PH = ‘postage and handling’ is indeed correct, then the clue uses the definition (“letter from abroad”) to help tell the reader which ‘pair’ we’re talking about. But couldn’t PS be a ‘pair in a letter’, too? Weird clue. I must be missing something.
22 Swimmer [in] ocean and lake (4)
SEAL – SEA (“ocean”) + (“and”) L (“lake”)
23 Trader planned to keep Roman Catholic happy at first (8)
MERCHANT – MEANT (“planned”) outside (“to keep”) RC (“Roman Catholic”) + HAPPY (“happy”) reduced to its first letter (“at first”)
24 Please — that’s to be cooked as kipper! (6)
ASLEEP – PLEASE (“please”) anagrammed (“that’s to be cooked”)
To kip is to nap or sleep. Did not know this, so the answer was a headscratcher.
25 Frenchman about in dull vegetation (8)
GREENERY – RENE (“Frenchman”) reversed (“about”) inside (“in”) GREY (“dull”)

Down

1 Pinter, strangely, to accept one’s original (8)
PRISTINE – PINTER (“pinter”) anagrammed (“strangely”) outside (“to accept”) I’S (“one’s”)
2 Search around, I hesitate to say, in worry (6)
FERRET – ER (“I hesitate to say”) inside (“in”) FRET (“worry”)
Good wordplay.
3 Northern beer served up [in] energy and style (4)
ELAN – N (“northern”) + ALE (“beer”) reversed (“served up”)
‘Elan’ was one of the first “crossword words” I learned, from US puzzles. (‘Eclat’ was the other.)
4 Concern, [in] Bury, set for redevelopment (8)
INTEREST – INTER (“bury”) + SET (“set”) anagrammed (“for redevelopment”)
More good wordplay.
5 Bishop appears topless [in] link (6)
RELATE – PRELATE (“bishop”) without the first letter (“appears topless”)
6 Response from congregation almost put right (4)
AMEN – nearly all the letters of (“almost”) AMEND (“put right”)
12 Bug, furious, keeps slowing down (8)
IRRITATE – IRATE (“furious”) outside (“keeps”) RIT. (“slowing down”)
‘Rit.’ is an abbreviation for ‘ritardando’, in music.
14 Poet read novel [and] worked (8)
OPERATED – POET READ (“poet read”) anagrammed (“novel”)
16 Native American horse stopping quickly (6)
APACHE – H (“horse”) in (“stopping”) APACE (“quickly”)
18 Stalin’s ultimatum contains abuse (6)
INSULT – STALIN’S ULTIMATUM (“Stalin’s ultimatum”) has the answer inside (“contains”)
20 Stick close to concierge in block (4)
BEAR – last letter of (“close to”) CONCIERGE (“concierge”) inside (“in”) BAR (“block”)
As in ‘bear left/right’. Tough definition, but easy wordplay.
21 Postpone / visit (4)
STAY – double definition
As in ‘stay of execution’, for example.

45 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1222 by Wurm”

  1. PHI is the two endings of uP witH + I one. Was my last one in too

    Otherwise easy-ish for a Wurm puzzle. Got off to a good start by using the E from ELAN to biff ERITREAN without needing 17

    Edited at 2018-11-14 01:03 am (UTC)

    1. Thanks for the parsing of PHI Lou. I biffed it, but had I thought of “psi” I would have been stumped. About 5 minutes, my first encounter with Wurm, and I enjoyed it.
  3. Struggled with this one, and being under the weather didn’t help. Nor did it help to have the first clue refer to another; I dislike cross-referencing clues in any case, but the first across? PRELATE struck me as a DBE, since although bishops are the typical prelates, they’re not the only ones. LOI was, natch, PHI, which took me forever to reach Lou’s reading. 9:09.

    Edited at 2018-11-14 01:50 am (UTC)

  4. 11:31, but with an unparsed and lucky PHI. A very tricky cue for a Quickie. Fortunately, PHI is (I think) more likely to come to mind first for most people rather than ‘psi’. Prototype theory and all that.
  5. After two consecutive targets met this was another miss for me, and in fact I went back into the red today with a 16 minute solve. I’d lost some time midway considering PHI or psi, BEAR or something else, STAY or stop?, but what really did for me was the group of islands at 8ac (ANTI????) and the intersecting decapitated Bishop.

    Wurm has set only 9 QCs having first appeared towards the end of June last year.

  6. Easier than the usual Wurm, which is as it should be for the QC, I suppose. Some very nice clues indeed.
  7. It took me a while to get onto this setter’s wavelength and I was solving short clues around the grid which had many words where the first letter was missing -this always increases difficulty I think.
    I was helped by getting 17a which led to Eritrean. I guessed Phi and came here for the parsing. My last two were Diatribe ( I guessed the random girl might be Di) and finally Irritate -I did not know the RIT part, so thanks for that explanation.
    Overall this was a pretty stiff challenge for a QC. It took me 23:38 but at least I managed to finish correctly -a close-run thing. David
  8. Forgot to say that in addition to ‘ritardando’ in musical notation ‘rit’ can also stand for ‘ritenuto’. Both mean ‘slowing down’ but the subtle difference is that the former is a gradual whereas the latter is immediate. There’s also ‘rall’ short for ‘rallentando’ which as far as I’m aware is exactly the same as ‘ritardando’.

    Edited at 2018-11-14 07:36 am (UTC)

    1. Just to be a grammatical stickler: ‘ritenuto’ is a past participle meaning ‘held (back)’. ‘Ritardando’ is a present progressive verb meaning ‘slowing’.
  9. Found this hard, so welcomed an unexpectedly early demand to make breakfasts – the break helped a few more fall. So got as close as I was going to in two sittings. Failed to spot the anagram at 24a and also made 25a hard by forgetting about Rene and then having got to that far got 19a. Didn’t get close to 19a, fell for misdirection, never thought of alphabets and bunged in PAI (pair ending up, which isn’t really cryptic and gives an answer that doesn’t seem to mean much but my half hour was well over, my coffee was cold and the rest of the day was calling!). Hoping to be in better form tomorrow (with Rene stored away).

    One bright spot – got to use F for fine, fulfilling Kevin’s prophecy from Monday that I’d need to remember that for future use – thanks Kevin.

  10. Well I was not on wavelength today. 8 mins yesterday and 28 mins today. I did about half the grid in about 5 mins and then spent a long period of time re-reading the remaining clues with no further solves. I eventually got going again and even correctly parsed PHI; a few checkers can make all the difference and finished in the SW corner with STAY, GREENERY (biffed) and LOI BEAR. WOD to DIATRIBE which was one of my early solves.

    Edited at 2018-11-14 08:35 am (UTC)

  11. On the stick / bear debate I think it works if you use “stick with it” vs “bear with it” when talking about persevering with something? Also got lucky with guessing PHI
    NeilC
  12. All of the SW was a very slow solve but then I was left in the NW with ferret then loi diatribe. 19 minutes. Dnk rit so thanks for that. Cod to the smile in 22ac – asleep = as kipper.
  13. Definitely on the tricky side. I parsed PHI like Lou. BEAR my LOI, which added over a minute to my solving time as I went round the alphabet once and then started again. A bit of a tricky definition. FERRET my COD. 7:53
  14. 23 minutes and a few seconds here, finding difficulty with the bug (DNK RIT) and FERRET (no excuse). I didn’t have a problem with PHI / PSI as I parsed it correctly, although I didn’t see it quickly. FOI was 17a, having been directed to it by 3a, and that quickly followed. Good puzzle, I hope tomorrow is easier when I am blogging. Thanks all.
  15. Under three Kevins so in theory a Good Day but I just don’t enjoy Wurm’s puzzles and today is another example. Mixed in with the neat wordplay picked out by Jeremy are the trademark iffy definitions (“bear” – I suppose you can square this, eg “I cannot bear Wurm’s puzzles” is close enough to “I cannot stick Wurm’s puzzles”, but it’s a stretch), obscurities (“rit”), cross-referred clues (a particular bugbear of mine since you either get two for the price of one or neither) and downright uncertainties (phi or psi? – I guessed right in the end but “pair ending” seemed such a clumsy device, when the clue would have worked neatly as “Ends up with”, that I was very unsure). Golden Raspberries all round from me.

    Thanks to Jeremy for the blog.

    Grumpy Templar.

    1. I’m fairly sure ‘ends up with’ would be a grammatical mistake. Anyone?

      Edited at 2018-11-14 12:03 pm (UTC)

      1. ‘Pair ends up with one letter from abroad’–what’s the grammatical problem? How would the clue work is another question, one that I’m not prepared to answer.
  16. More of a challenge today, taking me 11:58. I had to scoot around the grid trying to find certainties to give me crossing letters for the others. I parsed PHI as Lou did. I saw BEAR as abide or stick fairly quickly. ASLEEP, DIATRIBE and IRRITATE all added to the delay. I enjoyed the puzzle. A good workout. Thanks Wurm and Jeremy.
  17. Some very nice clues and some tricky ones that would not disgrace the 15×15. I was called outside in the middle to discuss building matters and, on top, managed a typo (ooereated!) so no time but I was on the slow side. The short clues are normally the easier ones but not with Wurm. I had no issue with Bear (I can’t bear Fred / I can’t stick Fred) but I half expected it to be wrong when I put it in.
    I especially liked Ferret, Antilles, Irritate, Asleep, Interest, and Greenery (which I biffed). Thanks to Wurm and Jeremy. John M.
  18. Having previously addressed the daily I found this very easy, though I was indeed interested by the discussion on PHI.

    The dilemma for the editor is that since these less ‘visible’ indications are common in the main puzzle, to what extent should they be unleashed on the QC? One for him, but some very good clues here, in an easier-than-expected Wurm.

    Edited at 2018-11-14 11:59 am (UTC)

    1. I for one welcome more subtle, disguised wordplay in the QC, rather than more obscure definitions. Wurm got me fair and square with this one.
  19. I biffed PSI rather than PHI. I rejected PH as to do with acidity. Should have thought about it more, but by then frankly I had had enough. Didn’t really enjoy this offering. I found the whole thing a bit of a grind. FOI RUT, LOI PRELATE (needed all the checkers for that). COD DIATRIBE. Nice surface and not a word that comes up often.
    PlayUpPompey
  20. Well, I spent nearly as long parsing those I had biffed as solving some of the clues. In the end I had to admit defeat with parsing 12d and stopped the clock at 37 mins. Wrum’s style certainly takes some getting used to, and I don’t think I am there yet, so this was quite a challenge, but nevertheless an enjoyable one. Invariant
  21. I had PHI for 19a but I couldn’t see how it worked. PSI seemed to make more sense, as it pairs PS (the ending of a letter) with I, so I changed it. A bit unfair to have the middle letter unchecked IMHO.

    Edited at 2018-11-14 01:47 pm (UTC)

  22. Interesting residual snobbery that obscure (to most human beings) specialist musical terms are apparently fair game, whereas, for instance, specialist terms from other areas of life (pure mathematics, IT, biology, etc, etc) are never used. Presumably, this is a reflection of the classical education had by the original setters and expected of their audience. The latter is no longer a reasonable expectation, of course, but the conventions persist, much to my irritation. Hmph.
    1. I don’t know about a classical education. To be fair I am a professional musician, but we learned music terms in music class in grade school in the US in the 80s. Just normal school. It’s sad to think that a basic musical education is now considered “specialist” or “classical” but you’re probably right. I wish it could be said that “rit” or “forte” or “clarinet” could just be considered “basic knowledge”.

      As for terms and people from other disciplines, I have to disagree. They come up all the time.

      1. Do they? I can’t recall any examples off the top of my head. Certainly it’s only musical notation that solvers are expected to be familiar with on a consistent basis. (The UK state education system does no longer, if it ever did, include musical notation, or indeed anything musically formal whatsoever.)
    2. I’m happy about Mozart, OK with piano and forte, but not comfortable with rit…as I imagine non-scientists would be with Newton, electron and GeV, respectively. 🙂
  23. I’m curious as to the discussion on phi for 19 across – I and a few nearby solvers had all agreed that “P” and “H” were the “pair ending up with“!
    1. I think the major difficulty with this clue is that ‘pair’ typically indicates adjacency – at least in my ‘schema’. In other words, the use here is perfectly reasonable and fair, but a number of solvers would be looking for two letters occurring together. Certainly bamboozled me!
  24. Easy for some but quite “uneasy” for others like me. Nice to read some of the parsing explained above. Thanks

    SRT

  25. I thought that some of today’s clues were fun (e.g. 7 down), others were very easy (e.g.13 across), a couple were rather hard (e.g. 20 down) while a few were downright irritating (e.g.1 down). I parsed “phi” just as Lou did but didn’t think it was much of a clue.I did not enjoy 20 down.Even though I answered it correctly, it’s definitely a GR from me. I’m not a fan either of the aforementioned 1 down, “pristine”. I could see this was an anagram of “pinter” but, even with the checkers in,I was at a loss to identify what the final answer was until I did an alphabet trawl. Re 12 down, like some others here, I had never heard of “rit” so, even though I got “irritate”, I wasn’t sure why it was right. I don’t mind the musical terms – they come up fairly often – but I’m regularly foxed by the cricket and golf references!Thanks as always,blogger and setter
  27. I found this difficult but I always seem to struggle with Wurm. I’m glad that I’m not familiar with PSI or 19 would have take me longer, although I did manage to parse it in the end, however I can’t say the same for 12d. My musical vocabulary has grown a huge amount since starting the QC but I’ll probably need to se rit a few more times before it sticks in the memory.
    Completed in 25.04 with LOI 12d
  28. Not on the wavelength and not even half completed before conceding.

    Eritrean
    Orwell
    Antilles
    Diatribe
    Phi
    Pristine
    Ferret (in the manner used)
    Rit

    All in one QC?

    Simply too much today
    Thanks all
    John George

  29. Completed successfully, but with some biffing, generally found this hard work and unpleasant. Is the parsing of phi correct? I have never seen postage and handling included as a phrase, let alone an abbreviation, and if I had I would assume it related to a package rather than a letter. Rather hope that Wurm sticks (or bears) in single digits.
    Pwliv
  30. I am not a whining newcomer (though I might have been once!) but I found this very very hard and some clues were 15×15-ish in my view. So my first DNF for a very long time which is disappointing (and annoying). There’s always tomorrow! Pexiter.
  31. Finished it, after spending quite a lot of the morning on it. Solved but couldn’t parse phi, irritate and apache. That last was my fault; the other two were, in my view, unfair. I’m glad the Wurm doesn’t turn up often. Too hard for me to much enjoy, despite some very clever clues.

    treesparrow

  32. Hopefully the editors will take note of some of the comments here and not invite this setter to contribute in the future. An unpleasant poorly clued effort.
    Thanks to the blogger who tried to make sense of it and mostly succeeded

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