Times Quick Cryptic No 1552 by Tracy

33 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1552 by Tracy”

1. …but I still got stuck with ‘doll’, since I couldn’t parse it, only seeing the one L from lake. I nearly put in ‘spurring’, but thought better of it after looking more closely at the cryptic.

   When they asked my uncle what he did for a living, he used to say he was a bottle washer in a chemistry lab. He had a doctorate and a top secret security clearance, but he never gave a hint at what his work actually involved.

2. Under 6 minutes for me, which is about as fast as it gets. I even managed to enter it without any typos for a change.
3. All but 20dn done within 8 minutes but then my brain froze and I had to do an alphabet trawl for the two unchecked letters. Toy dog, indeed! After all these years I shouldn’t need reminding to lift and separate.

   I waited for the final checker at 9ac as I couldn’t decide between BLUE and BLEW and I’m not sure the clue is clear either way as to which is the soundalike.

   No problem with 3ac as there’s a very common expression ‘chief cook and bottle-washer’ meaning a person who is required to carry out both vital and menial tasks.

   Edited at 2020-02-19 07:22 am (UTC)

   1. I also thought (but only afterwards) that 9A had the potential to be ambiguous because of the use of two commas. The first one could be deemed superfluous, and if it were there without the second one then “blew” would be indicated. Or am I nit-picking ?
      1. I usually work on the principal that it’s best to ignore punctuation in clues as it’s as likely to mislead as to be of any assistance but I found that hard to do with this one.

         As written, I felt it was impossible to choose between BLUE and BLEW until the second checker was in place, and the same would apply if there were no punctuation at all.

         In my opinion,

         Spent freely reportedly, being depressed (4) = BLUE

         and

         Spent freely, reportedly being depressed (4) = BLEW

         1. For me personally, the word ‘being’ disambiguates it.
4. All but two done in under 20 minutes – lightning for me – but had to ponder for some minutes before I got FEAT and DOLL. Sometimes I feel like I’m nearly getting the hang of this.
   1. I bet you got 14dn straight away!
5. I’ve never seen “surreptitious” as an anagram indicator before so puzzled over the parsing of that one, even though the answer was a write-in. I also puzzled over the parsing of DOCK, since the “tail” seemed to be doing double duty at first and I couldn’t see why you’d call cod “food fish” given that almost all fish are food! (Sorry Nemo.) And at first I put POOL for 20dn (“toy dog briefly” = first three letters of poodle, followed by L for left, gives you “lake”). But it never felt quite right and the penny dropped in the end. Done and dusted in 1 Jeremy for a Good Day.

   FOI & COD VOODOO, LOI FEAT

   Thanks Jeremy and Tracy

   Templar

   Edited at 2020-02-19 08:50 am (UTC)

6. A good puzzle. I needed to jump around the grid again and my last few were short – ROOM (doh!), HEEL, DOCK, and DOLL (where I shared Templar’s uncertainties). I particularly liked VOODOO, GRAPHICS, DOGSBODY, and IN SPADES. In the absence of K, I’ll give my time as a little over 1.5 Jeremys. I’m happy with that. Many thanks to Tracy and to Jeremy. John M.

   Edited at 2020-02-19 09:39 am (UTC)

7. Technically DNF as I could not see 23a. Up until then I’d been doing well (for me) at 24 mins. Ah well!
8. Not a bad morning for weather here, so dog walk first; would exercise and fresh air improve my performance?
   Perhaps it did as I finished in 08:27 which looks respectable.
   FOI was HOE, LOI was ROOM. COD to HOODWINK. A slight hold-up on DOLL; and had the wrong meaning of Lounge for a while.
   David
9. At the lower end of my target range in just under 11 minutes, which I’m happy with after a string of longer solves. FOI DOGSBODY, LOI OPERETTA (only because it was the last clue I read after a mostly top to bottom solve), COD to 18 or 20 down, and WOD to AT HOME, as I intend an at home kind of day for myself. Thanks Jeremy and Tracy.
10. held me up as I was initially looking for Iolanthe or similar. 14dn OPERETTA was my POI LOI 13ac ROOM.

    Time 8.30 mins

    FOI 3ac DOGSBODY

    COD 2dn VOODOO – do you do voodoo!?

    WOD 23ac HOODWINK

11. I agree that POOL looks tempting at 20d – I’d have finished in just over 5 minutes if I’d submitted after biffing that, as everything else went in straightaway. However I didn’t like it , so eventually found the right answer around the 10-minute mark.
12. ….pool. I very nearly did, and I suspect Verlaine may actually have done so, as he’s down today’s rankings with an error.

    That was the only clue to trouble me particularly, but I did find this trickier than usual from Tracy. I was a few seconds quicker than yesterday.

    FOI BLUE
    LOI ROOM
    COD STIRRING

13. Whizzed through at first, but struggled with fell meaning moor as to me it means hill or chop. Like hoodwink!
    Thanks for all the help.
14. I’m another solver who crossed the line in 11 minutes. My FOI was VOODOO. Initially I had BLEW for 9a until I solved 2d and like Templar had pool for 20d but poo was just too brief for poodle and pool as a lake was a bit of a stretch. My LOI was FEAT which required an alphabet trawl all the way to Z just in case I could come up with something better. Thanks Jeremy and Tracy.
15. Technically a DNF but an enjoyable workout nonetheless
16. My FOI was DAIS and I finished with OPERETTA. More or less a top to bottom solve with no particular hold ups. Liked STIRRING. 6:41. Thanks Tracy and Jeremy.
17. Like most people, thought this was fairly straightforward. Completed in around 20 mins – probably would have been quicker if I hadn’t had to do an alphabet trawl on 15ac “Feat”. Even then, I wasn’t totally sure I was right.

    Did have a query on “Inmate” = “Patient” – always thought the former related to prisoners, but maybe it’s both. Also wasn’t convinced that “Fell” = “Moor” – however in general parlance I’m guessing it’s acceptable.

    FOI – 7ac “Voodoo”
    LOI – 15ac “Feat”
    COD – 25ac “All Right” – it was cheeky.

    Thanks as usual.

    Edited at 2020-02-19 12:15 pm (UTC)

18. I had quite a few of the across answers in place after the first pass, but didn’t have much idea about the ones I missed, so I was relieved to find the down clues a bit easier. The crossers then helped me to fill in the rest of the grid relatively quickly. Held up a bit at the finish by 15ac, where the temptation to have *ent took some time to overcome. Feat finally came to mind after 18mins, which is good for Tracy. CoD to 25ac, All Right, for the smooth surface. Invariant
19. I finished in 43 minutes because I struggled with HEEL and ROOM and needed to accommodate the consumption of two oven fresh pains au chocolats.

    What did surprise me was RR for Bishop – I’ve had to Google it and can honestly say I’ve never come across its use as “Right Reverend” meaning Bishop before. Thanks for enlightening me.

    1. It’s worth remembering as it comes up occasionally and I think it may have been in the 15×15 within the past few days.
20. 5:40.
    DOGSBODY in first, GRAPHICS in last.

    No one else have a mer at IN SPADES defined as ‘extremely’? Didn’t hold me up, but they don’t seem analogous to me. No doubt someone with a dictionary will be along to teach me the error of my ways.

21. A good day at the office for me (not that I ever actually work in an office), coming home in 24:04, and not dozing off in the middle, despite having recently returned from a run. Thought I might have been on for a really good sub-20 time, but the SE corner held me up. LOI was 22a. When I got it I kind of knew intuitively it was right and that it was a synonym for the leaning type of list, but I can’t remember ever having come across heel meaning lean. I think I probably have in crosswordland though. COD to 13a for a lovely bit of misdirection.
    1. I learnt it many years ago when learning to sail a small dinghy. You had to lean out when the boat was heeling.
22. Scraped under 12 mins.

    LOI in spades
    Liked dais, and room, COD stirring.

23. Steady solve at 23m which is good for us . Thought 20d clever and a good lesson to read each word of the clue carefully.
24. … From me as I am on a touring holiday of Seville, Jerez and Cádiz. Weather is fab. Yesterday’s puzzle was fine apart from Marc’s Golden Raspberry. Enjoyed today’s crossword much more, especially the lovely 25 across. Hasta mañana. Thanks to Jeremy and Tracy.
25. I completely missed “hotel” in 18d and parsed it as a homophone “a tome” = “at home”. I was actually so bothered by “shown” as an indicator that I missed the fact I had ignored a word. Happily works just as well even if wrong!
26. A steady solve but, unlike many wiser heads here, I didn’t stop to reconsider POOL at 20d so a DNF for me. Disappointing but I was probably overdue one as it’s been a while. A tip of the cap to DOGSBODY.
    Thanks to Jeremy
27. I thought the worst when I was off to a slow start but generally all went in OK. Thanks for the blog – did not spot either Dias or Operetta anagrams.
    Biggest concern was Heel – dnk lean meaning.
    (LOI).
    Wod Dogsbody
    Thanks all
    John George

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