Times Quick Cryptic No 1263 by Pedro

Author   TheRotterPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A few bits of slightly chewy parsing from Pedro this morning, together with a couple of foreign or adopted words / phrases, but nothing too taxing on the GK front.  I completed this, fully parsed in 16 minutes, one over my target.  How did you all do?

My only disappointment was with the clue for 16d, which barely fitted the description of ‘cryptic’, but there were plenty of other good clues and excellent surfaces to make up for that one lapse (IMHO).

I spotted a possible but improbable NINA in the 8th row, possibly referring to the English comedian Kenneth Horne, who died 50 years ago next month.  Put it together with the answer to 5d, and it could also be referring to his very popular BBC Radio series, ‘Round the Horne’, but I’m sure that’s just a fancy

Whilst on the subject of tenuous connections, with Papa turning up yesterday, and Oscar today, the phonetic alphabet is certainly getting a workout.  Will we see Romeo or Juliet turning up tomorrow I wonder?

Thanks to Pedro for this, and let me be the last to say Happy New Year to you all.

Across
1  Newspaper articles about church gaining wealth after poverty (4-2-6)
RAGS-TO-RICHES – RAG (newspaper) followed by STORIES (articles) inside which (about) is CH{urch}. 
8  Lady’s first to participate in improving hair treatment (7)
CURLING – L{ady} (first gives first letter) inside (participating in) CURING (improving).
9 Bike was blue (5)
MOPED – Double definition, the first a small or lightweight motorcycle, the second meaning ‘was listless or depressed’ – was blue.
10 Ill-suited to sleep during unspecified item (5)
INAPT – NAP (to sleep) inside (during) IT (unspecified item)
11  End points in spell in capital of Italy (7)
TERMINI – TERM (spell, as in period of time) followed by IN (in) and (capital of) I{taly}.  Did you know that Terminus was the name of the Roman God of boundaries?
12 Visitor reckoned to be heard (5)
GUEST – Homophone – sounds like (to be heard) ‘guessed’ (reckoned)
14  Establish railway or factory (7)
FOUNDRY – FOUND (establish) and RY (railway).  A FOUNDRY is a factory or place where founding is carried out.
15  Nothing tender about explosion of mine?  Agreed (2,3,4)
OF ONE MIND – O (nothing) followed by FOND (tender) containing (around) an anagram (explosion) of [MINE].  To be ‘of one mind’ is to be in accord or agreement.
17  Fish from Arctic slipping line (3)
COD – CO{l}D – dropping (slipping) L{ine} from COLD (arctic).  Arctic as an adjective can mean extremely cold, as in ‘arctic conditions’ – how it felt here yesterday.
19  Disappointed, apparently seeking veterinary assistance (4,2,1,6)
SICK AS A PARROT – Cryptic definition.  To be as SICK AS A PARROT means, informally, to be extremely disappointed, whereas to be as sick as a dog means to vomit profusely and unrestrainedly.  I was sick as a parrot at Leicester City’s FA Cup tie result on Sunday as I was driving back from Edinburgh, but managed to stop short of being as sick as a dog!
21  Mesh not entirely heated (6)
GRILLE – GRILLE{d} (heated, not entirely – missing the last letter)
22  Out of practice, but reliable (just missing start) (5)
RUSTY – {t}RUSTY (just missing start)

Down
1 Mounting attraction in the nursery (7-5)
ROCKING-HORSE – Cryptic definition, with ‘mounting’ providing the key part of the clue.
2  Relevant European supporting specific European (7)
GERMANE – GERMAN (specific European) supported by E{uropean}.
3  Dickensian hero in plot development (5)
TWIST – Double definition, the first Oliver (Dickensian hero) and the second referring to a plot twist.
4  Clever to avoid book?  Correct (5)
RIGHT – {b}RIGHT (clever, avoiding B{ook})
5  Don’t stay out for visit (4,5)
COME ROUND – Another double definition, the first referring to the action of waking up or recovering consciousness from a faint or trance (don’t stay out) and the second the more recognisable synonym for a visit.  I suspect that some of our newbies may not see the DD.
6  Rewrite of scripted prose shows team spirit (6,2,5)
ESPRIT DE CORPS – Straightforward anagram (rewrite) of [SCRIPTED PROSE], except that we are looking for an adopted French term that may confuse some for a second or two.
7  Curious character upset party before I’d upset heartless Tory (6)
ODDITY – DO (party) reversed (upset) and followed by ID (I’d) reversed (upset) and T{or}Y (heartless).
13  Part of foot one fractured in the end (3-4)
TOE-NAIL – Anagram of (fractured) [ONE] inside TAIL (the end).
14 Ship’s destiny, to carry arrangement of sails (7)
FRIGATE – FATE (destiny) containing (to carry) RIG (arrangement of sails).
16  O for someone on the radio to get a Hollywood award (5)
OSCAR – OSCAR is the code word given to denote the letter O in the phonetic alphabet or in international radio communication (i.e. when spelling out letters on the radio).  I’m not sure that this even counts as a cryptic clue, unless it is a week double definition!
18 Song of amateur construction, inwardly dry (5)
DITTY – DIY (of amateur construction – Do It Yourself) containing (inwardly) TT (tee-total, or dry)
20  Song provided by duo without piano (3)
AIR – {p}AIR (duo without P{iano}) for our second consecutive clue with ‘song’ as the definition.

33 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1263 by Pedro”

  1. Nothing to scare the proverbials, although I needed some checkers to come up with MOPED and OF ONE MIND. I didn’t know the meaning of SICK AS A PARROT; it still seems like an odd simile. I hesitated to put in OSCAR, it seemed too obvious. 5:45.

    1. Your comment prompted me to look it up in Brewer’s who advise that it came to prominence in the 1970s when it was regarded as the stock response of a footballer or team manager after losing a match. However it adds that a work by the Restoration playwright Aphra Behn in 1682 contained this line: Lord, madam you are as melancholy as a sick parrot.

      On the puzzle: 8 minutes. No problems.

      Edited at 2019-01-10 04:59 am (UTC)

  2. HNY to you too Rotter. I started this one with INAPT and GUEST which then gave me our nursery steed, then TWISTed my way back to 3d before finding some ESPRIT DE CORPS, and soon found myself filling in my LOI, GRILLE at 7:31. An enjoyable puzzle. Thanks Pedro and Rotter.
  3. My first time under 20 minutes although I could not parse termini. Oscar was OK for me but the comment is a bit week Rotter?

    Edited at 2019-01-10 06:24 am (UTC)

  4. I was very slow to get going today;woke up too early.
    FOI was 20d. Then I found this quite tricky. LOI was Grille. I too paused over Oscar. Nothing too hard in retrospect. I liked Germane.19:45.
    David
  5. I’m obviously out of sorts today, I found this to be the hardest puzzle in memory. Never parsed cod, ditty, inapt or of one mind and needed all the checkers for rocking horse, which was my last one in, more than 30 minutes after starting. Even then I’d managed to enter TOE NAUL, so didn’t even get a full green grid as a slight consolation. I had hoped to come here and find others had struggled – oh dear.
  6. Slow 31 minutes. Last few were rags, twist, germane, and loi curling, I blame it on the cold, of the illness not arctic type.

    Cod moped.
    Thanks

  7. Neither easy nor slow for me, coming in at 22 mins. I thought at the start that it was going to be really hard as I couldn’t seem to answer any of the clues but once I got going with a few checkers the long clues dropped in and then it was a steady solve.
  8. I’m with Mendesest on this one – I found it the most difficult for weeks, with NO across answers first time through. I finally finished (somehow) in 45 minutes, with only Ditty unparsed. It may be one of those wavelength things as I can’t blame it on a hangover today.
    After five consecutive puzzles completed in well under my 30 minute target I was thinking of reducing it to 20, but now I think I’ll wait and see!

    Brian

  9. I found this one interesting. I woke up early and had a look at it before I got up. Like some others I got no across clues at all, and I gave up after 6d and decided to go back to sleep.
    Started again when I got on the bus with 7d, which I got immediately, and it was a steady solve after that. Finished by Piazzale Michelangiolo, so about 12 mins. I don’t know how to explain this – perhaps I just was not awake enough, or perhaps I needed 7d to get me started. Anyway, for me at least, it turned from being the most difficult for a long time into something straightforward. Thanks to Pedro and Rotter.

    Edited at 2019-01-10 09:16 am (UTC)

  10. 25 mins for me, I definitely found it towards the harder end of the QC. TerminiCome RoundOf One Mind held me up somewhat and there were a couple in there that I hadn’t parsed properly.

    I agree with Rotter regarding Oscar but I enjoyed the rest – particularly Oddity which was my COD.

    Thanks to both Pedro (for leaving me scratching my head) and Rotter (for explaining the couple that I didn’tcouldn’t parse).

    Edited at 2019-01-10 09:32 am (UTC)

  11. Quite a roller coaster – from the easy clues spattered about the grid to some chewy ones. Not a smooth solve – frankly my progress was very jumpy. Slow middle and quick finish but 19.37 overall so still in the SCC. Answers like OSCAR, COME ROUND, and FRIGATE came to mind immediately but I played safe and just put in the checkers before taking the time to parse/understand them later. I liked DITTY but my COD is MOPED. Thanks Pedro and Rotter. John M.

    Edited at 2019-01-10 09:50 am (UTC)

  12. 10.34 continuing a decent week for me. Hesitate to identify a general improvement given previous collapses, though. Liked MOPED.
    1. Good work yet again (look out Kevin!) and better work than me today. I shared oldblighter’s jumpy progress and ended up at 1 and a bit sonofjim’s (10:58).
  13. A slow start with only 2 across clues going in on the first pass. The downs proved easier, especially after 1a fell into place. I spent a couple of minutes staring at loi OF ONE MIND and failing miserably to come up with the parsing. Eventually pressed submit with my fingers crossed after 14.14. Whilst tender/fond might technically be synonyms of each other it feels like a bit of a stretch (to me anyway).
    Thanks for the blog
  14. Took me ages to get going but managed about 15 mins in the end. Re your problem with 16d – did you think that including ‘Hollywood’ was too generous?
    1. Hollywood certainly gives it away, but with both halves of the DD being so transparent, I just felt that it was too simple. Either side of the DD would be a reasonable clue in a Times Concise, and the only thing that makes this at all fit the description of a cryptic clue is that two perfectly workable clues are conjoined into a DD, one of the devices used in cryptics. In the early hours of this morning, it was facile enough to make me question my answer, and to write my comment. I did say ‘IMHO’, and alternate views are equally valid.
  15. ….is a fine clue – at least it was when I first encountered it some years ago, but it’s reappeared in various forms a few times since then, and to this old hand it’s a chesnut.

    My time on this was quick enough, but I can understand less experienced solvers finding it tricky. I was slow to spot a number of solutions (notably RAGS-TO-RICHES, and GERMANE), and lost a few seconds in parsing OF ONE MIND.

    Thanks to Pedro for a decent puzzle, and to The Rotter for his usual excellent blog.

    FOI MOPED
    LOI GERMANE
    COD TERMINI
    TIME 4:00

  16. Going by previous comments I must have been on the wavelength for this one, crossing the line at 7:49. An enjoyable puzzle, thanks to Pedro and Rotter.

    Adrian

  17. Probably one of my fastest completions ever at 8mins, so I was (pleasantly) surprised that others found it hard going. It’s amazing how sometimes you’re on the right wavelength; other days it’s a real struggle.
  18. Shot myself in the foot straight away today by biffing ‘climbing fram’ at 1d and not immediately noticing that it was a) wrong, and b) didn’t fit the enumeration or even the available lights. Penny dropped when none of the crossers would fit. Once I’d unravelled that one any chance of a really quick time had evaporated. 19a I was and no mistake.
    Many thanks to setter and blogger.
    5’10”
  19. Very straightforward. In fact it has been a very straightforward week so far (no doubt I shall regret saying that tomorrow). I thought the criticism of 16d was harsh. I agree it is a simple enough clue, but that does not mean it is not cryptic. “O for someone on the radio” needs to be correctly interpreted, which is surely what cryptic clues are all about?
    PlayUpPompey
  20. Horribly full train this morning and so I solved while listening to Karen from Accounts engage in a full character assassination of her boss, Steve. Steve, if you’re reading this, my advice would be to let Karen go, she’s never going to be happy working for you.

    Anyway, distracted as I was this took about 2.1 Kevins, a Decent Enough Day. RAGS TO RICHES went straight in but then the next few acrosses produced nothing at first pass so I decided it was a day for clustering and then progressed fairly smoothly, delayed by OF ONE MIND (couldn’t see FOND for ages) and ODDITY (did not realise that ODDITY can mean a strange person as well as a strange thing).

    I did not think OSCAR too weak but on the other hand I did think that ESPRIT DE CORPS was weak because of the use of the word “spirit” in the definition, which simply gave it away.

    Thanks to Pedro and Rotter.

    Templar

    1. I loved hearing about Karen’s (and presumably Steve’s) travails. My current work sees me insulated from this type of feud but your tale reminded me how insufferably dull offices can be with such matters a seemingly near-constant feature. Thanks!
    2. I’m another who found this difficult, especially loi Frigate, which to be honest is a perfectly fair clue. I also struggled with the ‘write-in’ at 1ac, so clearly not my best day and hence not too surprised that my time was over 35mins. Joint favourites today were 9ac, Moped, and 18d, Ditty. Invariant

      PS sorry Templar, clicked Reply rather than. Post

      Edited at 2019-01-10 01:10 pm (UTC)

  21. I’ll admit I biffed a few. With 5d COME ROUND I failed to see the double definition, 15a OF ONE MIND also biffed as I struggled to see FOND as a synonym of tender and 18d DITTY I parsed after completing the grid. I was slow to solve the anagram at 6d ESPRIT DE CORPS, tried and failed to parse 22a as rough rather than RUSTY and had to complete an alphabet trawl for my LOI 12a GUEST. So all in all I’m quite content with crossing the finish line at 13:50.
  22. Yes, I can be that precise as I solved online. I usually do it the old-fashioned way with paper and pen. I have only tried it this way once before, so I was very pleased to finish at all… especially as my husband kept interrupting with nuggets of news!! I usually rely on at least one hidden to make life easier, but this Pedro offering had none. I couldn’t fill in one across clue on the first pass and thought this would be a disaster, but as soon as I saw 1d (FOI) the answers started to flow. I missed my target 20 minutes, but feel satisfied despite that. I thought it was a superb QC and never object to an occasional gimme like OSCAR. COD MOPED – so succinct. LOI FRIGATE. Thanks Rotter for the excellent blog.
    I am sure I shall always remain a member of the SCC, but I still love the challenge despite that. MM

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