Times Quick Cryptic No 1393 by Orpheus

Author   rolytolyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Gentle enough puzzle, perhaps, but that didn’t stop me incorrectly guessing the girl at 24ac and giving 6d less than a minute’s consideration before giving up and sticking in the only remotely plausible answer that came to mind. In my defence, I’m rusty and still musty from a holiday, so I’m calling this 8-minute mess-up a success. Which it was, in comparison to yesterday’s QC DNF, done just before this in around twice the time – so for that I give Orpheus my thanks, and of course also to the Rotter for kindly filling in for me last week.

Across
7 Singer’s unhappy attempt to cross river (8)
BLUEBIRD – BLUE (unhappy) BID (attempt) to cross R (river)
8 A strange perennial plant (4)
ARUM – A RUM (a strange). Reminded me of the titan arum, which is indeed a strange plant, but whose proper name provides a vastly better description.
9 Collided with back of enormous goods vehicle (6)
STRUCK – S (“back” of enormouS) TRUCK (goods vehicle)
10 Member overcome by English youth leader’s lament (5)
ELEGY – LEG (member) overcome by E(nglish) and Y (Youth “leader”)
11 Knight accommodated in fashionable lodging-place (3)
INN – N (knight in chess) accommodated in IN (fashionable)
12 Source of bananas, a blessing for a monkey (6)
BABOON – B (“source” of Bananas) A BOON (a blessing)
14 He painted first of infants captured by giant (6)
TITIAN – I (“first” of Infants) captured by TITAN (giant)
16 County with appeal for basic accommodation (6)
BEDSIT – BEDS. (Bedfordshire/county) with IT (appeal)
18 Fanatic read dictionary? Not all of it! (6)
ADDICT – not all of the letters of reAD DICTionary
19 Ineptly act a son of Noah (3)
HAM – double definition
20 Wee drink before a stage production, perhaps (5)
DRAMA – DRAM (wee drink) before A
21 Dismiss party protecting Northern Ireland (6)
BANISH – BASH (party) protecting NI (Northern Ireland)
23 Edible part of grain for breakfast, say? (4)
MEAL – double definition. The first derives from the same sense as mill(ing); the second originally meant a particular time or occasion.
24 Charge girl for herbaceous plant (8)
COSTMARY – COST (charge) MARY (girl). I looked at the checkers and could only see “cashmere”, and then couldn’t get “costmira” out of my head. It seems to be a well-known, aromatic herb that was widely used medicinally and to flavour ale (so also called alecost).

Down
1 Corpulent ship’s officer embracing large fellow lodger (8)
FLATMATE – FAT (corpulent) MATE (ship’s officer) embracing L(arge)
2 Boyfriend’s part of East London, we hear (4)
BEAU – “we hear” the same as BOW (part of East London)
3 Bird in grass is kingfisher (6)
SISKIN – “in” the letters of grasS IS KINgfisher. A finch type creature that I’d also never heard of but the clue was helpful.
4 Arrival of notice archdeacon originally typed (6)
ADVENT – AD (advert/notice) VEN (venerable/archdeacon) T (“originally” Typed)
5 Capable 1950s youth keeping a fast (8)
TALENTED – TED (1950s youth) keeps A LENT (a fast)
6 Crucial-sounding place for handling ship’s cargo (4)
QUAY – sounds like KEY (crucial). So, _U_Y? Well, if a port can have a “duty-free”, then surely it has a lesser-known but much more important-sounding place called a “duty” hidden away somewhere. Yeah whatever.
13 Barrier damaged best coal (8)
OBSTACLE – anagram (damaged) of BEST COAL
15 Man finally delving into poor Tracey’s lineage (8)
ANCESTRY – N (maN, “finally”) delving into an anagram (poor) of TRACEY’S
17 Roofing material in yonder church (6)
THATCH – THAT (yonder) CH(urch)
18 Waylay a doctor with American husband (6)
AMBUSH – A MB (a doctor) with US (american) H(usband)
20 Grass sent up for ruminants (4)
DEER – REED (grass) sent up/reversed
22 Celebrity giving eastern servant a rise (4)
NAME – E(astern) MAN (servant) given a rise/reversed

30 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1393 by Orpheus”

  1. This took me ages, and now I don’t see why. Nothing in particular stands out as difficult, although I’d never heard of LOI COSTMARY (I, too, could only see CASHMERE). 9:21.
  2. I completed this in 8 minutes apart from the totally unknown COSTMARY which is making its first appearance in any Times puzzle in the TftT era, although it has been mentioned in dispatches on two occasions (by johnintterred in a Jumbo and by dorsetjimbo in a Mephisto) when the answer in question was its alternative name ‘alecost’. I’m not sure that a QC is the most suitable place for an obscure word such as this to be making its debut!

    Anyway, having ruled out ‘cashmere’ and ‘cashmary’ (although I was happy with the MARY bit) I then did an alphabet trawl on C?S? and eventually settled on COST as the most likely fit. This all took an additional 5 minutes so my solving time goes down as 13 minutes with target missed.

  3. I would describe this as brutal rather than gentle. An unknown plant but guessable if you’re lucky, plus another plant and birds and monkeys and a county ( Ireland or England?) all added up to a long solve for me.18:42 in the end but I did think I might not finish at one point.
    I thought QUAY was difficult and LOI was BEDSIT where I was trying to fit SA into KENT at first. Now for some breakfast.
    David
  4. Hang out the flags and put another chocolate fondant on the table, mother, for at 9:06 today is that rarest of all days, a Sub-Kevin!! Even if I got there with a blatant first time guess at COSTMARY (seriously, Orpheus? In a QC? With checkers that would have allowed you to put cashmere?)

    FOI ARUM, LOI BLUEBIRD, COD FLATMATE which made me chuckle.

    By the way, who knew that a baboon is a monkey and not an ape? I didn’t.

    Thanks Orpheus and Roly.

    Templar

    1. The general rule of thumb for apes vs monkeys is the presence of a tail. Apes don’t have them and monkeys do, with the exception of the barbary macaque, which is sometimes known as the barbary ape, presumably for this reason. The other way is just to remember that the only living apes are gibbons, orang utans, gorillas, chimpanzees and bonabos. And us of course.
  5. Mostly straightforward apart from my LOI, COSTMARY, where I dithered over COST or CASH having settled on MARY fairly quickly. 9:25. Thanks Orpheus and Roly.

    Edited at 2019-07-11 07:51 am (UTC)

  6. 7.27 so not too bad. I saw COSTMARY early and while I considered but dismissed cash, did wonder whether there might be a different girl’s name besides Mary. 5d took time too, I forget TED so biffed on basis it contained LENT. LOI Bluebird, was looking for an old famous person….

    NeilC

  7. I’m with David on this one. The unknown COSTMARY was my LOI but my problems all stemmed from the NW corner. The dearth of checkers cost me many minutes. I needed the K of the well hidden SISKIN to get me going. 20 minutes plus change!

    Edited at 2019-07-11 08:26 am (UTC)

  8. An interesting mix of easy and quite challenging clues for me. I beat my 2K target by a couple of minutes but thought I was quicker than that. MY LOI was COSTMARY – I had cost early on but had never heard of this plant. I liked BEDSIT and BANISH but my COD is TALENTED. Thanks to both. John M.
  9. I got a bit lucky today. I am originally a Bedfordshire man so 16 was in quickly but otherwise the top left corner was a struggle. Never heard of Costmary. I guessed Beau even though its more 19th century than 2019. I wouldn’t have got Siskin if I hadn’t got the k. Generally good stuff though – thanks!
  10. ….who knew COSTMARY (thus I didn’t try to biff rosemary). I’d agree, though, that it’s a bit of a stiffy for a QC.

    Had to come back to my LOI, but no problems otherwise.

    FOI ARUM
    LOI QUAY
    COD BABOON (liked the neatly hidden SISKIN too !)
    TIME 3:47

  11. I thought this was quite tricky in places, particularly the NW and the unknown plant, but I was also being a bit dozy e.g. forgetting that Knight was N not K or that Lent was a fast. Considering all of that I was pleasantly surprised to finish in 13.41, finishing with 7a with my favourite being BABOON for it’s surface reading. And all wrapped up in time for the start of the cricket.
    Thanks to roly.
  12. I had the sense this was quite hard, even as I was going along quite nicely and I was proud of myself for getting most of it done in about 15 minutes. I had never heard of costmary, but did not have any problem with considering cashmere as I didn’t think cash was synonymous with charge and still can’t think of a sentence where they could be used interchangeably. I did think the girl’s name might be Meri, but given Mary is more common and is used in rosemary, thankfully I plumped for that. I then took a while to see addict and bluebird and come up with rum for odd, but what really cost me – and I’m talking about half an hour here as I finished in 68:34 – was 5d. At first I couldn’t think of the word for a 1950s youth though I thought I would know it if I saw it, and then when I got addict, it came to me. Except with ted at the end I thought I was looking for a four letter word meaning capable with an extra a in it plus ted, to make a definition for fast. I just hope there are some other people out there who still sometimes take over an hour to do these, even after three years doing them.
    2. It might be my slapdash way of measuring things, but I’d say the time taken to get most of it done is a better yardstick of progress for a relative beginner than grinding it out to the bitter end. (I’ve been doing them for over 15 years, and would say I was easily still a relative beginner around half that time.) I reckon getting most of this puzzle done in 15 minutes after three years or so is pretty good going. The grinding it out to the end is a good workout – you won’t forget ’50s youth=Ted in a hurry – but the time taken to do so is neither here nor there. At least, so says the person who gave up and stuck in any old answer for the last two clues – I mightn’t have been far off 68:34 myself otherwise!
  13. My electronic Oxford Crossword Solver (or cheat device) gives both cashmere and Costmary when I entered c?s?m?r?
  15. Having struggled earlier this week, I feared I was losing my touch but I managed this today without using any extra aids. I have heard of costmary though I don’t know what it looks like but it was the NW corner that I filled in last. Thank you Orpheus for restoring my confidence!
  16. Even though 3dn SISKIN was my last in, I am shocked at the younger generation’s seeming lack of knowledge of British flora and fauna We used to learn it all from Brooke Bond tea cards and Wills’ ‘fag’ cards. There was even a set of African Birds* which is now very handy sixty years on! But at least the English cricketers are singing Jerusalem! (Green and Pleasant Land)

    FOI 10ac ELEGY (English Churchyard)

    LOI 3dn SISKIN (*halcyon daze)

    COD 24ac COSTMARY (Culpepper’s Balsam Herb)

    WOD 7ac BLUEBIRD (Everton Toffee)

    Time 9.15 minutes

    Edited at 2019-07-11 02:31 pm (UTC)

  17. Took me about 2hrs… but then I have been watching a rather interesting cricket match this afternoon at the same time. Might have been a bit quicker if a few more wickets had fallen, but I’ll settle for the two hours and the England win. I got the impression that the NW was definitely tricky with loi Bluebird and the hidden Siskin both causing problems. Costmary was a fingers crossed best guess that came good, but shouldn’t really have been in a QC. Invariant
  18. I cannot begin to understand how this could be described as gentle. I seriously thought I was doing the main crossword, that’s how tough I found it.

    I did not finish much to hard for me and I suspect any other novice.

    Tim

    1. Dear Anonymous, Think of getting through the crossword as simply learning a language. Most kids learn their basic language (French, German, Chinese etc etc) within three to four years. By the time they are teenagers they are even better. It takes time to conquer this particular art form: I started over 60 years ago and am becoming reasonably proficient. But one must copiously read all manner of ‘stuff’ including dictionaries! Travel is useful as is an interest in food, wine and much else. Persistence is key and a regular visit to this blog is an excellent way to get the hang of the basics – as long as you keep doing it, then the pennies will drop.

      ‘The Time Lords’ such as Verlaine & Co are very gifted, the rest of us enjoy the ride. It is not an exam!

      Edited at 2019-07-11 04:26 pm (UTC)

      1. Well said. As for the description of gentle, it was my third crossword in a row after a break of a couple of weeks, so my calibration might have been a bit off: the first was Wednesday’s 15×15, where I had a couple blank at the 45 minute mark; the second was Wednesday’s QC, which I gave up with a couple blank at the 15 mark; and the third was this, which I essentially gave up with two wrong at the 8 minute mark, so in that sense I found it comparatively gentle. Probably just that wavelength thing: I knew more of today’s GK (arcane flora and fauna notwithstanding), and was quicker to recognise familiar clue elements, than yesterday’s.
      2. Good points and I don’t despair. I regard it as learning and am improving. But I just believe the description a gentle offering was off base. At the end of the day it is all in the eyes of the solver I guess.

        Tim

  20. I cannot begin to understand how this could be described as gentle. I seriously thought I was doing the main crossword, that’s how tough I found it.

    I did not finish much to hard for me and I suspect any other novice.

    Tim

  21. Found this a challenge but finished it in about an hour and a half. Been doing these for three years now but still regard myself as a novice, Thanks to setter and blogger

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