Times Quick Cryptic No 1343 by Pedro

Author   TheRotterPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I really enjoyed this puzzle by Pedro, taking just over 13 minutes, so no walk in the park, but with quite a few smiley moments and some clever clue construction.  When I saw Qs and Xs appear in the grid, I wondered if we were in for a rare pangram, but we ended up four letters short.  I think I have to give CoD to 16d for the smiles it generated, but my WoD is LISSOME.

Thanks Pedro.  To everyone else, please let me know how you got on.

Across
1  Take in selected news items? (6)
DIGEST – Double definition, the first to take in gradually, the second a periodical abstract of news.  My first thought was INGEST, but parsing it properly wasn’t possible, so a rethink was required.
5  Favouring appropriate trading success (6)
PROFIT – PRO (favouring) and FIT (appropriate).  PROFIT is the only real measure of trading success ultimately, although there is a growing body of humanity that think it should be otherwise!
8 Score at snooker with difficulty – uneven surface? (7)
POTHOLE – POT (score at snooker) and HOLE (difficulty).
10  Limits to comedian embracing depressed funny man (5)
CLOWN – C{omedia}N (limits to, i.e. first and last letters) containing (embracing) LOW (depressed).  CLOWNs are not always funny, particularly to a Coulrophobic.
11  System of morals? This runs short in the City (5)
ETHIC – THI{s} (runs short, i.e. drops the last letter) inside EC (the City (of London) from the post codes there).  EC for City is often used in Crosswordland, so file it away for use later.
12 Certain to return, enthralled by friend reading (7)
PERUSAL – SURE (certain) reversed (to return) inside (enthralled by) PAL (friend).  I was at first unsure about the legitimacy of PERUSAL for READING, but as a noun in both cases it works fine.
13  Model stumbling – damage after twisting – a scene that’s overwrought (9)
MELODRAMA – Anagram (stumbling) of [MODEL] followed by MAR (damage) reversed (tumbling) and A (a).
17  Liberal is a little flexible (7)
LISSOME – L{iberal} and IS (is) and SOME (a little).  To be LISSOME (I am not!) one is lithe, nimble and / or flexible.
19  An American writer or two (5)
TWAIN – Double definition, but actually the same thing!  Mark Twain invented his pen name from a riverboat term meaning two fathoms (12 feet).  Mark = measure, and TWAIN = two.  His real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens.
20  Support a couple (5)
BRACE – Another double definition, the first here being a support (for teeth?) and the second as in a brace of grouse.  Brace meaning a pair is most often heard when referring to shot game, although I have been known to order a couple of shots of whisky by asking for a brace.  Two clues alongside each other giving three definitions for ‘two’ and one for support – interesting!
21  Alcoholic drink quite abused by the French (7)
TEQUILA – Anagram (abused) of [QUITE] followed by LA (the in French)
22  Set about reversing small scope for manoeuvre (6)
LEEWAY – LAY (set) surrounding (about) WEE (small) reversed (reversing).  As well as meaning drift to leeward, LEEWAY also means room to manoeuvre.
23  This writer is enthralled by revolutionary year? Correct (6)
REMEDY – ME (this writer) is enthralled by (is inside) RED (revolutionary) and followed by Y{ear}.  To correct a fault is to REMEDY it.

Down
1         Smart to sample book, including pages lifted (6)
DAPPER – READ (to sample book) containing PP (pages) and then reversed (lifted in a down clue).
2  See fellow ignoring new topics – wise (3,3,7)
GET THE MESSAGE – GE{n}T (fellow ignoring N{ew}) THEMES (topics) and SAGE (wise).  Although quite convoluted parsing, this is a nice simple clue – to GET THE MESSAGE is to SEE the point.
3  Society of current importance, stripped of power, but not complaining (7)
STOICAL – S{ociety} and TO{p}ICAL (of current importance, stripped of P{ower}).
5  Fast driver, expert in Rolls Royce initially (5)
RACER – ACE (expert) in R{olls} R{oyce} (initially).
6  Melange of April’s seafood?  It’s in your dreams (5,8)
FOOL’S PARADISE – Anagram (melange) of [APRIL’S SEAFOOD].  A FOOL’S PARADISE is a state of happiness based on ficticious hopes or expectations, according to my Chambers.
7  Complication no good in story (6)
TANGLE – N{o} G{ood} inside TALE.
9  Index Pete devised as means to an end (9)
EXPEDIENT – Anagram (devised) of [INDEX PETE].
14  Historic item? Not in favour and quite dismissing it (7)
ANTIQUE – ANTI (not in favour) and QU{it}E (QUITE dismissing it).
15  Poorly written blog almost all of international relevance (6)
GLOBAL –  Anagram (poorly written) of [BLOG] and AL{l} (almost all).  I trust that Pedro isn’t referring to this entry when talking about a poorly written blog!
16  Very favoured by clan not wanting the Italian notoriety (6)
INFAMY – IN (very favoured) and (by) FAM{il}Y (clan, not wanting IL (the in Italian)).  Reminds me of Kenneth Williams as Julius Caesar in Carry On Cleo – “Infamy, Infamy – they’ve all got it infamy!”
18  Old piano – time for some work by Mozart? (5)
OPERA – O{ld} P{iano} and ERA (time).  The question mark is because not all OPERAs are by Mozart.

29 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1343 by Pedro”

  1. Biffed 2d, did the involved parsing post-submission. I demi-biffed 6d, trusting (but not verifying) that ‘April’s seafood’ had what it took. I needed the checkers for 8ac, as I know nothing about snooker. Didn’t we just have BRACE in a 15×15? 5:38. (I found today’s 15×15 pretty easy, too, worth having a shot at; but I managed to overlook a typo that cost me 2 errors. I am not a happy camper today.)
  2. The RH went in easily enough apart from 13ac which started on the LH, and 9 down the middle of the grid. But LH I struggled with almost every clue and ended up requiring 21 minutes – only my second over 15 this year and my first over 20 since 14th December last. Unlike others who have commented here so far, I also struggled with the 15×15 so I wouldn’t go there expecting a walk in the proverbial park.

    Edited at 2019-05-02 05:33 am (UTC)

  3. This felt tricky from the off but I ended up finishing in 14:50 with LOI Dapper.
    Often it was not quite clear to me what the definition was (2d a good example) so I toured around the grid trying to find easier clues.
    I decided to take the time to write out the fodder for 6d, an obvious anagram. This paid off as it led to a fast finish.
    A tough but fair QC. David
  4. I enjoyed this too – thanks. I found the right hand side much more straightforward. Can’t agree that that 2d ( get the message) was simple. it is indeed convoluted – n for new fair enough but t for topic is thin, and the answer itself is not that obvious. Along with 1d I thought this was 15 x15 stuff but I do realise you need a few of these here and there.
    1. I’m not sure what you mean by ‘t for topic is thin’. The parsing is GEnT THE MES SAGE, with THEMES a perfectly acceptable synonym for ‘topics’.
    2. The second T makes up the first letter of Themes meaning topics. T does not stand for topics
  5. Like Jack I had a long struggle with the left side after completing the right in fair time, and like Jack it’s my worst time in ages at 5.5 Kevins – no spreadsheet log but I know that that’s off the scale!

    I thought that that was too tough for a QC and didn’t actually enjoy it very much – too many clues requiring convoluted parsing (though I thought TWAIN very neat). Thanks for the untangling, Rotter.

    Templar

  6. I really struggled to get anywhere in the NW and moved on, eventually getting a start in the NE and working my way clockwise back to the NW.RACER was my FOI and STOICAL my last. A proper workout! 11:47. Thanks Pedro and Rotter.
  7. I have never been so far off a setter’s wavelength. Like others, I managed most of the RHS (but INFAMY and REMEDY gave me trouble). I struggled painfully with the rest. I won’t re-live my difficulties but will just say that this was decidedly not a Quick Cryptic puzzle. Quite a proportion of it was much more suited to a 15sq. Too clever by half for a QC IMHO, Pedro. P’raps it is just me having a bad day…… Many thanks to Rotter for his helpful blog. John M.
  8. I just couldn’t get started in the NW corner so ended up skipping around the grid looking for write ins which were few and far between. I completed most of the grid in about 8 minutes including a biff of 2d GET THE MESSAGE but then the last few answers took another 6 minutes. My downfalls were 16d INFAMY, 1a DIGEST, 1d DAPPER, 3d STOICAL and LOI 22a LEEWAY.

    Edited at 2019-05-02 09:48 am (UTC)

  9. ….to struggle with this, although I must confess to biffing GET THE MESSAGE (thanks Rotter).

    A rare day when I was quicker than Verlaine – I cherish these moments.

    FOI DIGEST
    LOI GLOBAL
    COD LISSOME
    TIME 3:11

    1. Not the easiest to come back to after a few days away. Alternatively, I’m still in holiday mode. Either way, this took me the best part of 40 mins, with Digest/Dapper my last pair by a long way. Invariant

      Sorry, Phil, that was supposed to be a new post.

      Edited at 2019-05-02 10:36 am (UTC)

  10. Glad it wasn’t just me who found this frustratingly difficult.DNF.Thanks for blog Better luck next time.
  11. 21 minutes. No problems.

    Last few Leeway, twain, infamy and loi remedy.

    Found the 15×15 hard today.

    Csod tequila, twain and remedy.

  13. I found this tricky and had to give up on 16d, 19a and23a but I should have got Twain- clever. I tried to get an anagram of year and me for 23a. I filled in the rest but slowed myself down by thinking 2d might be cut the mustard. Thank you for the blog.
  14. Time measured in hours today. A rare solve on paper meant I put it down and came back to it – when the remaining few finally fell: DIGEST, DAPPER, LEEWAY, REMEDY and INFAMY. Tough but satisfying in the end.
  15. I found this quite tricky with a Dnf. I feel that over the last couple of weeks the QC,s have become pretty difficult. The setters need to take some care they don’t turn off newcomers who may not necessarily comment, and certainly are not finishing these puzzles in the times reported by more seasoned solvers, if finishing at all.

    I certainly have felt it very tough going over the last 10 puzzles or so.

    As always grateful to the bloggers who give us some understanding on how to solve these puzzles.

    Tim

  16. I don’t seem to have had as hard a time as some but parts of it did feel decidedly tricky. I was left at the end with REMEDY/INFAMY and the 1s. Picking DIGEST over INGEST finally allowed me to see DAPPER. Finished in 12.36.
    Thanks for the blog
  17. I agree some of this was hard but about 50% write-ins to start with gave some useful checkers. Biffing the harder ones worked except for 2d GOT rather than GET…but now I know why. Also failed to fully parse 23a, 13a, 15d so ‘the rotter’s’ blog has been very helpful once again – live and learn. FOI 4a LOI1d COD 19a. A decent workout by Pedro over about 45 minutes!
  18. Could not do left hand side. A miserable DNF, just not on Pedro’s wavelength here.
  19. 28 minutes today in two sittings but very enjoyable nonetheless. As with most others it was the NW which took the time. I never did manage to parse 2d so thanks, Rotter, for explaining it all so clearly. I enjoyed learning a few things from your blog too. I don’t believe I had come across Coulrophobia before. MM
    FOI PROFIT
    LOI POTHOLE
    COD TEQUILA
  20. Another very difficult (for me) QC today in what I have found to be a difficult week. Getting a bit despondent after previously feeling I was making good progress and finishing more often than not, albeit very slowly compared with most of the times mentioned. Found LHS today extremely difficult and gave up in the end.
  21. With only four words in, I gave up! So it was a relief to find I was in good company. But no hard feelings. RB
  22. DNF with eight clues remaining and hard sledding to get what we did. Just not on the same hymn sheet as the setter. Next one is another day!
    Tim (not that Tim)
  23. Tough, but did enjoy many of the clues once I had worked them out. COD could be REMEDY or LISSOME. Completed the right hand side first, like many others the top left took longer. LOI was LEEWAY. I do think this and a few other clues were a bit too hard for QC, but I guess it is all part of our training …. .

Comments are closed.