Times Quick Cryptic No 1268 by Howzat

Author   rolytolyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I’m feeling about as slow today as johninterred is feeling quick, but I’d still say this was tricky enough – I threw in the towel around the twenty minute mark and clicked on the the answer to 21ac. Unable to see any wordplay, I should probably have realised it had to be a cryptic definition, but as it was I was miles off. Tough but tasty bits elsewhere: I’m thinking the well hidden anagram at 10 ac, the lovely reversal at 11ac, 9ac as well, and generally very pleasing fusions like Morecambe bay and black and blue. Top notch puzzle – many thanks to Howzat!

Across
1 They could get all mates fired at sea? (5,8)
FLEET ADMIRALS – anagram (at sea) of ALL MATES FIRED, with the definition referring to the ability of an admiral to fire an underling. I had “first admirals” for a bit because my inability to count letters was allied with an ability to make up ranks in the navy.
8 Some drool over sexy Romeo and Juliet, say (6)
LOVERS – “some” of the letters of drooL OVER Sexy
9 A gin’s knocked back in old Greek city (6)
SPARTA – A gin is a trap, so knock back/reverse A TRAP’s. “Gin” has a number of now obsolete meanings along the lines of skill/craftiness, from the same root in French as “ingenious” and indeed “engine”, long before engine came to (primarily) mean machine. The OED compares “engine” with “malengine”, an attractive noun for deceipt/fraud/guile. So with “guile”, it looks like engine and malengine meet full circle.
10 Here’s a dog — keep out! (4)
PEKE -anagram (out) of KEEP. Very nice!
11 Under pressure, fools around (8)
STRESSED – Desserts (fools), around = reverse it. Like it!
12 Faced a 50 lead, perhaps (5)
METAL -Met (faced) a L (50). And again, but I think I’ll stop gushing now.
13 Money needed for cornets? (5)
BRASS -Double definition
15 Encroaching navvies I suspect (8)
INVASIVE – Anagram (suspect) of I NAVVIES
17 Italian citizen leaving front of Morecambe bay (4)
ROAN -ROMAN (italian citizen), ditch the M (front of Morecambe). Roan/bay being the colour of animal fur.
19 Talk fast in poker (6)
JABBER – Double definition. I nearly convinced myself that a “gabber” was a poker of some sort.
20 Primate to call Father on return (6)
APEMAN – NAME (call) PA (father) return/reverse.
21 Spots complaint associated with kindergarten? (6,7)
GERMAN MEASLES – Cryptic definition, nice enough, beat me! Pun on spies/spots, and “kindergarten” does also allude to things Teutonic.

Down
2 Free toilets close to home (5)
LOOSE – LOOS (toilets) E (closing letter of homE)
3 Beginning to slip off harshest mountain (7)
EVEREST – SEVEREST (harshest), with the beginning letter slipping off. Edit: Kevin has a better parsing below.
4 No credit given to stupid, pompous type? (3)
ASS – Another letter removal: CR = credit, deduct it from CRASS (stupid)
5 I’m taken up with the Queen in black and blue (9)
MISERABLE –  MI (I’M “taken up”/reversed) with ER (the queen) inside SABLE (black).
6 Ways to come from Greek island mentioned (5)
ROADS – Sounds like (mentioned) RHODES
7 Mail from landlords? (7)
LETTERS – double defintion
11 Sister working to inspire senior to keep going (7,2)
SOLDIER ON – SR. (sister) ON (working) to inspire/has inhaled OLDER (senior). Edit: as silverwaver spotted below, it’s OLDIE for senior, not OLDER.
12 Order fruit after a lot reduced (7)
MANDATE -DATE (fruit) after MANY (a lot), reduced = dock the last letter.
14 Items subject to inflation? Bread is, surprisingly (3,4)
AIR BEDS – anagram (surprisingly) of BREAD IS. Missed this when solving, but yet another very nice clue.
16 Almost completely worthless collection of recordings (5)
ALBUM – almost/most of the letters of ALL (completely); BUM (worthless)
18 Saw US lawyer in advancing years (5)
ADAGE – saw/axiom/maxim/adage – DA (District Attorney/ US Lawyer) in AGE (advancing years)
20 A church service (3)
ACE – A CE (Church of England), service as in tennis. Very neat.

45 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1268 by Howzat”

  1. I took it as S–the beginning to ‘slip’–off SEVEREST. Not that it matters much.
    1. I suppose it doesn’t matter too much, but it’s much the better way to parse it! Thanks – will edit the blog.
  2. Nothing particularly problematic, although ASS for ‘pompous type’ struck me as off the mark; there are pompous asses, of course, but the set of all asses is rather larger than the set of pompous ones. (Although I suppose one could qualify all pompous people as asses.) ‘Stupid’ as the definition of CRASS also bothered me a bit, although I see that ODE has ‘showing no intelligence or sensitivity’ (I would have said just ‘sensitivity’). Liked the neatness of PEKE. 6:53.
  3. Back over 20 minutes today (22.31 in fact). Lots and lots of that in the SE, struggled with MANDATE, JABBER and ALBUM but LOI was PEKE, staring at _E_E for an age. Thought German measles was unparsed but it seems I’d unraveled all there was to unravel but really didn’t parse STRESSED or SPARTA. Tough today. Thanks for the blog which I needed even more than usual this morning.
    1. Yes, that must be the correct parsing of 11D, otherwise there is no explanation for the presence of the “i”.
    2. Thanks – well spotted, I’m perhaps a little bit short in the tooth for a senior moment, but that’s what it was. Will correct the blog.
  5. 14 minutes, so a bit on the slow side for me. Like mendesest above I spent time looking for more in the GERMAN MEASLES clue than there was to find – unless we’ve all missed it!

    Edited at 2019-01-17 07:16 am (UTC)

    1. I took it to be a double definition, spots / complaint; a distinction without much of a difference, I suppose.
  6. My mind must be half asleep this morning, I only managed half a dozen before giving up.

    Diana

  8. Like roly, I thought this was a terrific puzzle with lots to enjoy and admire. Both the cunningly concealed anagram for PEKE and the backwards “desserts” for STRESSED were really superb clues, I thought. Well played Howzat!

    Roly, as silverwaver has pointed out, there’s an error in the blog at 11dn – your parsing makes the R do double duty (being used both in SR and also in OLDER). (This is all ex post for me – I couldn’t parse it properly at all and thought there was an anagram of “senior” involved! So you did better than I did.) Many thanks for the blog.

    Two and a whisker Kevins today, a Good Day.

    Templar

    PS on edit – did anyone else put “dough” at first for 13ac, on the basis that the cornets were the pastry horns? I did

    Edited at 2019-01-17 08:58 am (UTC)

  9. Some tricky stuff from Howzat today. After 23 minutes I had to break off with two left -10a and 17a. I had Peke in unparsed. On my return I got both almost immediately.
    As Kindergarten is a German word, 21a went straight in. Lots of good clues to slow one down:I liked Air Beds and Sparta and Peke.
    Perhaps the bay and the roan did scare the horses?
    David
    1. I would say that is a semi-&lit clue, as ‘all mates fired at sea’ is the wordplay element. In an &lit clue, the entire clue is the definition as well as the wordplay, while in a semi-&lit clue, the entire clue is the definition but only a part of the clue is the wordplay.

      Edited at 2019-01-17 10:02 am (UTC)

  11. Funnily enough I got 21a straight away but I’ve been doing well on the main puzzles this week and I found a lot of this quickie trickier!
  12. A very clever, off-beat puzzle but am I the only one who word argue that this is not a quick cryptic? Many of the clues would not have geen out of place in the 15×15. Like Flashman, I was in the upper 30s (my longest ever time). I was pleased to get there in the end and kicked myself that, having biffed PEKE as my LOI, I finally saw the anagram (doh). I think a number of newer solvers may be disheartened by this puzzle but there is much pleasure to be gained if you can keep your patience. I hope this is a one-off as a QC and that Howzat will continue contorting his impressive mind setting ‘main’ cryptics. Thanks for the helpful blog, Roly. John M.

    Edited at 2019-01-17 10:18 am (UTC)

    1. Quite agree. Great puzzle but took much longer than usual – 28.45. STRESSED was very clever, as was PEKE, just to pick out a couple from a bunch. LOI the pair of MANDATE and METAL, both requiring light bulb moments.
  13. My second trip of the week to the SCC completing this one in 24.35. Having said that I thought it was an excellent puzzle with 11a just pipping 10a for my CoD. I had major penny drop moments, followed by a chuckle, with both of them when I finally saw how the clues worked. They were also my last two in.
    Thanks for the blog
  14. 23 years man and boy in the Royal Navy, and never heard of FLEET ADMIRAL, so that threw me until all the checkers in place. I had spotted it early, but discounted it until there was no alternative. It isn’t in Chambers and is a USN position I discovered post solve, so I feel somewhat comforted by my ignorance.

    As others have said, this was a cracker of a QC. I don’t have a time due to three major interruptions whilst solving, but I suspect upwards of 20 minutes. I would say to disheartened newbies, if you can crack this, you are ready to play with the bigger boys in the 15 x 15. Maybe not Times competition material just yet, but this was a real challenge IMHO.

    Thanks Roly for your usual excellent blog, and to Howzat for a lovely start to the day.

  15. ….GERMAN MEASLES quickly, but thought the clue belonged in a 15×15 puzzle – SOLDIER ON was another, and I biffed it, breaking it down after completion.

    I always think the most difficult clues to break are four letter solutions where the the consonants are unchecked, so PEKE wasn’t ideal for any inexperienced solvers. I well remember a Championship puzzle at the Leeds final in the 80’s where -E-L caused many of us to partake of a long “alpha trawl” before arriving at ZEAL.

    FOI LOVERS
    LOI INVASIVE
    COD ALBUM
    TIME 4:42

  16. I gave up after 40 minutes with four left and another four or five biffed without parsing. There were simply too many difficult or obscure clues for me, and I expect a lot of the ‘QC only’ solvers.

    Brian

    Edited at 2019-01-17 11:17 am (UTC)

  17. This was quite tricky for a QC, I think. Finally crossed the line in 12:33, which is outside my target. The parsing of 11d completely passed me by. Thanks to Howzat and Roly.

    Adrian

  18. 30 mins today for a good brain workout. I’ve been doing these puzzles now for a number of years but I don’t think I have come across ‘inspire’ in the sense it is used in 11d before. I’ve probably not been paying attention. Thanks as always for the blog which helps so much in clarifying such things.
  19. ….is pretty accessible for those who got through this puzzle, and fancy a slightly trickier challenge. I got through it in less than 8 minutes, and it’s an enjoyable offering, with just a little general knowledge required.
  20. A solid, without being spectacular, week continues – a shade over 5 minutes on this, which felt more like a smaller main cryptic than a true QC.

    And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as long as it’s done in moderation (let’s face it, we all know we’re in for a good old-fashioned Friday thrashing in the 15×15 tomorrow).

    LOI was 1a – as a (most of the time) iPad solver, anagrams are done in my head, and this one took a while to sink (pun slightly intended) in.

    Edited at 2019-01-17 12:13 pm (UTC)

    1. I agree with Mike on this one. A Quick Crossword is simply one on a smaller grid (13×13) with some (but not all) more generous clueing. My 15×15 average is around 25 mins, my QC average is around 5 mins – that’s the difference.
  21. I couldn’t make sense of 13ac till a careful look revealed that the definition wasn’t COMETS, my display not separating the lower case r & n.

    Edited at 2019-01-17 12:27 pm (UTC)

  22. Found this tough, although at 40mins or so (much of that spent on PEKE – doh!) not the worst I have come across. My start was so bad, I decided to work from the bottom up. FLEET ADMIRAL is not a UK rank (ADMIRAL OF THE FLEET is), but it had to be. GERMAN MEASLES I read simply as an illness associated with young children. If it is more subtle than that I missed it. Missed the reversal in STRESSED (neat).
    All in all, a challenging and enjoyable workout.
    PlayUpPompey
  23. After a very, very slow start with my FOI 13a BRASS I found I was invariably solving the QC with definitions that fitted the few checkers I had and parsing or semi parsing belatedly. 1a FLEET ADMIRALS was an anagram requiring all checkers in place before I could see it and 19a, my LOI, JABBER needed an alphabet trawl after first trying to justify gabble, babble and then gabber once the R checker was in place. I’m quite surprised I crossed the line with all correct in just over 13 mins, it felt much heavier going.
    2. See Silverwaver’s entry above – senior gives oldie as a synonym.

      Edited at 2019-01-17 01:39 pm (UTC)

  25. I see it is only Thursday today after all. Nice puzzle at the harder end if the QC spectrum. I was looking for more than there seems to be for GERMAN MEASLES than just a cryptic definition so hesitated on putting it in until I got the checkers. I thought MISERABLE was nice and ROAN a bit tricky for a QC. COD to my LOI, AIR BEDS. Thanks Howzat and rolytoly. 6:35
  26. I definitely found that tougher than usual, with SOLDIER ON in particular stretching me out to 21:02. Probably my worst ever time on a QC. Definitely off the wavelength. Thanks Howzat and Rolytoly.
  27. Hardest QC (for me) for a while. No time as a great many interruptions but suffice it to say it took ages. I’m not sure if there could ever be a definitive difficulty rating but I reckon most of this was on a par with the easier end of some of the 15×15 – although I’d expect perhaps 2 or 3 more obscure words in an ‘easy’ 15×15 (I hasten to add that I never find the 15×15 easy but its all relative…)

    Edited at 2019-01-17 04:03 pm (UTC)

  28. Good grief, that was hard – especially some of the parsings. I needed a second sitting to sort out the middle of the grid, and was eventually thankful just to stagger across the line, albeit with Gabber for 19ac. Monday’s 15×15 was easier, so I’m not surprised at some of the earlier comments. I had 5d as my CoD, but it was eventually overtaken by my loi 11ac, Stressed – I certainly was by that stage. My thanks to Roly for sterling work with the parsing. Invariant
  29. We agree with comments about the difficulty. Last ones in 11a and 11d. A real challenge taking 52m way above our target of 30m for average puzzle.
  30. We agree with comments about the difficulty. Last ones in 11a and 11d. A real challenge taking 52m way above our target of 30m for average puzzle.

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