Times Quick Cryptic No 1559 by Des – Ménage à trois?

Author   JohninterredPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I got off to a flying start with this, with the first 3 across clues, but then I discovered it was no picnic. I was pleased to get 3 of the 4 words around the outside quickly which gave me plenty of checkers for the other clues. Nothing too horse-scaring, I think, with no obscure words or arcane general knowledge. For what it’s worth, it took me 5:33, which is just about my average time. Who are Helen, Jack and the reckless Violet, I wondered? COD to the 15D trilogy. Thanks Des. How did everyone else get on?

[Edit: Given the other early times, It would appear I was fully on Des’s wavelength with this, so don’t be discouraged if you found it harder than I did. I’m astounded to see I was faster than Verlaine!]

P.S. Oh. By the way. Excuse the self-indulgence… A bit of a milestone for me today – it’s my first day of retirement. And yesterday, my wonderful (now) ex-colleagues, by way of a leaving present, presented me with a framed version of this crossword that they had compiled! No. I haven’t tried to solve it yet, but it looks quite tricky.

Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, deletions and [] other indicators.

Across
1 Amazing blender ICI manufactured (10)
INCREDIBLE – (blender ICI)* [manufactured]. Hmm. A bit of poetic licence from our setter here.  ICI was  a manufacturer of chemicals. I don’t remember the company producing kitchen appliances!
8 Artificial piece: damn amazing, some reflected (3-4)
MAN-MADE – Reverse hidden [some reflected] in piecE DAMN AMazing.
9 Man has nearly forty days to find girl (5)
HELEN – HE (man) and most of the letters of [nearly] LENt (forty days).
10 Queen Catherine somewhat stuck up, arrogant (4)
PARR – Hidden  [somewhat] in stuck uP ARRogant. The last of Henry VIII’s six wives, as we all know?

Public domain.
11 Reg’s team rearranged home fixture (3,5)
GAS METER – (reg’s team)* [rearranged]. On a Monday morning? Reg the gas-fitter, perhaps. Whoever. It all makes work for the working man to do.
13 Use yours truly, backing stratagem (6)
EMPLOY – ME (yours truly) [backing] -> EM, PLOY (stratagem).
14 Short opening move by a foreign state (6)
GAMBIA – GAMBIt [short] (opening move) [by] A. A gambit (from ancient Italian gambetto, meaning “to trip”) is a move in the opening of a chess game that offers a piece (usually a pawn) to be captured with the hope of achieving an advantageous position.
17 Theatre company within month: it’s worn out (8)
DECREPIT – REP (theatre company) [within] DEC (December; month) IT.
19 Very little élan (4)
DASH – Double definition.
21 Rich fellow’s finally given a shilling (5)
NABOB – Last letter of [finally] giveN, A BOB (a shilling), gives us this wealthy man.
22 Shoot a female bishop in duel, retreating (7)
LEAFBUD – A F (female) B (bishop) [in] DUEL [retreating] -> LEUD. An entertaining surface…. and tricky wordplay.
23 Custodians putting clutch again in vehicles (10)
CARETAKERS – RETAKE (clutch again) [in] CARS (vehicles).
Down
2 Like some paint floating in pond across river (7)
NONDRIP – [floating] (in pond)* [across] R (river). Paint in a pond? Somebody should be prosecuted!
3 Between right and left, each is genuine (4)
REAL – EA (each) [between] R (right) and L (left).
4 Radio presenter’s formal jacket spoken of (6)
DEEJAY – Sounds like [spoken of] DJ (dinner jacket; formal jacket).
5 Czech bachelor languishing in a home (8)
BOHEMIAN – B (bachelor) [languishing] (in a home)*. The mark of a good clue is that it can give the solver multiple ways to unravel the wordplay, only one of which is right. Here, for example, you might be tempted to find a B (bachelor) and a word for “languishing” inside a word for “home”. Or you could just do as I did having the B to start already, and see the answer then verify it with the wordplay.
6 Brilliant display of yarn wound around cape (5)
ECLAT – TALE (yarn) reversed [wound] -> ELAT, [around] C (cape).
7 Made inroads in French, taught to handle grammar, finally (10)
ENCROACHED – EN (in, in French) COACHED (taught) outside [to handle] grammaR [finally].
8 Politician going round a Berkshire town, following plan (3-7)
MAP-READING – MP (politician) [going round] A, READING (Berkshire town).
12 In the end, run over to collect honour: it precedes Oscar (8)
NOVEMBER – [In the end] ruN, OVER outside [to collect] MBE (honour). Oscar, in the NATO phonetic alphabet, stands for O, which comes after November for N.
15 One divulging secrets in three books about the French queen (7)
BLABBER – B B B (three B for books) [about] LA (the, in French) ER (our queen).
16 Girl to live recklessly (6)
VIOLET – (to live)* [recklessly].
18 Copper pen in form of box? (5)
CUBIC – CU (Copper) BIC (make of pen), with a “?” to denote we have a definition by example.
20 Hoist flag (4)
JACK – Conforming to fellow blogger The Rotter’s rule that a clue of two words is nearly always a double definition.

48 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1559 by Des – Ménage à trois?”

  1. Maybe it was the enormous hotel breakfast, which is still weighing on, or in, me, but this was really slow going; almost 2 Kevins. I think DASH was my FOI, VIOLET of all things my LOI–just couldn’t see the anagrind for some reason. 11:29, a little less than half the time spent on the 15×15.
  2. I am really glad to have found this site.
    I have just started on my cryptic crosswords journey…. so when I have become completely stumped, I now have another resource to look at, and no doubt will result in me groaning “of course” as I chuckle and do an ‘implied face palm’

    Many thanks in advance
    Steve Mac.

    2. Like wise! This site is just brilliant for learning, I would be stuck in my progess without it.
  3. Just barely under 30 today for what was a bit of a slog. Only GAMBIA on the first pass, then joined by only REAL, DEEJAY and fortunately MAP-READING from downs. Fortunately because without those word-beginning checkers I’d have been in real trouble. Can’t agree with John, as a much less expert solver I found plenty to scare the horses here – and I’m afraid to say, not too much to enjoy. Next!
  4. I missed my 10 minute target by 1 minute, my third miss this week. ENCROACHED and GAMBIA were the ones that delayed me as I wanted to put GAMBIT at 14ac and wasted time trying to justify it, and as things turned out I needed the A-checker it supplied before I was able to think of ENCROACHED.

    Congrats on your retirement, John! Since I retired (9 years ago next month) I have wondered how I ever found time for work, and I hope it will be the same for you. The days seem to fly past.

    And speaking of which, Des caught my eye as setter today because he’s been around since QC#1 in March 2014 but in all that time has set only 19 puzzles. We last heard from him just a couple of weeks ago and I remembered writing a brief appreciation and welcoming his return – or so I thought, as on checking the date is was 28th November last year. Unbelievable!

    Edited at 2020-02-28 06:04 am (UTC)

  5. Maybe its a bit of Friday brain fade but I ground to a halt after a flying start. My big problem was entering BABBLER instead of BLABBER so I failed to get ENCROACHED until I paid attention to its parsing and worked back to discover my mistake. I didn’t think BABBLER was too unreasonable but there you go. I found ECLAT to be tough but my COD was DECREPIT. Time-wise, I was with vinyl and mendesest today but this was an enjoyable end to the week. Thanks to Des and John. John M.

    Edited at 2020-02-28 08:47 am (UTC)

  6. Dear John,

    I, like Steve from your earlier comments, am trying to learn the ropes and this site, and the explanations all contributors make is invaluable. I was struggling with 23ac today and you’ve put ‘retake inside cars’. That makes sense but what indicates that an R should be dropped?

    Just a query to see if I’ve missed something I can learn from, an oversight by the setter or a standard practice to sometimes use a letter for two parts of a solution?

    Thanks again for your efforts, they are very much appreciated.

    Regards
    Pete

    1. An R isn’t dropped, the answer has two: CA(RETAKE)RS 😉

      Edited at 2020-02-28 09:22 am (UTC)

  7. That crossword does look tricky John, if only because of the shortage of crossing letters.. that grid would never have got past The Times crossword editor! But congratulations on retiring .. you won’t regret it
    1. Thanks. I’m saving the crossword for the weekend. It is indeed a little unconventional, but no matter. It is a lovely and unique retirement present!
      1. Congratulations on your retirement, John. I think your colleagues might have been winding you up with that present though. Doesn’t look soluble to me.

        Edited at 2020-02-28 02:48 pm (UTC)

  8. I was left in the same trap. So a TKO after 15 rounds (of the second hand!). It has not been a great week either upstairs (15×15) or downstairs (QC).

    FOI 1ac INCREDIBLE that ICI are no longer with us.

    COD 11ac GAS METER

    WOD 6dn ECLAT

    ‘The Lockdown’ continues

      1. Dear Sir John, I was being somewhat sexist as I was presuming that LE and not LA was the French for ‘the’!
        French can be very ambiguous.
  9. Good to see you here Pete. Do keep visiting. Queries are always welcome, and I see Jerry has answered yours before I could! Sorry if my blog wasn’t clear enough.
  10. I sailed through the top half but couldn’t get a foothold on the lower half for ages. Got there in the end but it was an odd blend of a breeze and a grind 🙂 Happy retirement John!

    Edited at 2020-02-28 09:36 am (UTC)

  11. I seem to have bucked the trend here by finding this quite a bit easier than yesterday’s Joker and finishing in only a minute over a pre-decimal Kevin, which makes this an Excellent Day. It was definitely easier at the top than the bottom but as John says 3 out of 4 of the long external clues were relatively generous. If only I hadn’t fallen into the BABBLER trap at first like oldblighter … and I put CUBED at first as well, further gumming up the works. I did a proper biff at 4dn, never seen “languishing” used as an anagram indicator before and don’t really see how it works as one.

    FOI INCREDIBLE, LOI LEAFBUD (is that even a word? Sheesh already. It’s not in my Concise Oxford), COD NOVEMBER.

    Thanks Des and John (and congratulations on your retirement, John!).

    Templar

    Edited at 2020-02-28 10:32 am (UTC)

  12. Two puzzles today and two typos. Managed to notice that I’d put a J at the end of DEEJAY, and corrected it, but didn’t notice that I still had DEEDAY. Drat! Otherwise like a lot of you, I went over my target to 11:02. Took a while to see the hidden PARR even though I was looking for it. Thanks Des and John. Enjoy your retirement.
  13. Only managed half today. Oh dear. But thanks for the explanations. Must remember ‘rep’ in future.
    Why is dash very little?
    1. Perhaps as in Just a dash of milk in your tea, vicar?

      Edited at 2020-02-28 12:50 pm (UTC)

  14. … which I DNF, only to turn to the blog to find nearly everyone else enjoyed a quick finish! Today seemed just to flow and took around 7 minutes.

    Des seems to offer very fair clues which don’t require obscure knowledge or dubious trickery. Much enjoyed, with my COD 15D Blabber, if only for the fun of a word with 3 B’s.

    Thank you for your blog, John, and best wishes for your retirement. Will you post the solution to your crossword present in due course?

    Cedric

  15. 15 intriguing minutes enjoying the engineering work of piecing the parts of wordplay together. Loi nabob had to be dredged up from the depths.
  16. Found this tough. DNF because I had CUBED not CUBIC, but doubt whether I would have got CARETAKERS anyway without help. Worked out LEAFBUD but have never come across it before. Guessed ECLAT. Surely N is NOVEMBER in phonetic alphabet?
    1. N is November in the phonetic alphabet. The clue says it “precedes” Oscar ie. the letter before, which is “N”.
  17. I definitely think the first few clues gave a false sense of security. After whizzing through them I then ground to a halt and was way over my average. Deliberately done? I can well imagine the setter having a chuckle to himself if so.

    I thought this was on the hard side – either that or my brain wasn’t functioning properly post my Friday morning run – but there were some clever clues, well hidden anagrams and some knowledge that I did not possess.

    Tricky ones were 6dn “Eclat” and 21ac “Nabob” (DNK), 14ac “Gambia” (ended up being an alphabet trawl after initially biffing Canada), 15dn “Blabber” and 22ac “Leafbud” (clever wording).

    FOI – 1ac “Incredible”
    LOI – 2dn “Nondrip”
    COD – 12dn “November” – spent ages looking for an award that predated the Oscars. Duh!

    Thanks as usual.

  18. Which i dragged out to 14 mins, due to not getting DEEJAY until an alphabet trawl. I don’t like the wordification, it’s a D.J. be it a disc jockey or a dinner jacket. I appreciate that i might be in a minority of 1 though!

    Enjoy your retirement! I suppose I must be 20 long years away assuming no lottery win or inheritance from some as yet unknown wealthy benefactor!

  19. 3 Old Kevins or 1.5 New Kevins. Either way this was decidedly tricky. FOI INCREDIBLE and LOI JACK. I missed the hidden PARR and biffed it. COD NOVEMBER. Thanks John and Des.
  20. A very wet early dog walk today and then the puzzle on paper. That’s what retirement is for some people John- hope you enjoy yours.
    My FOI was INCREDIBLE and I started quickly but there were some difficulties en route. LEAFBUD was tricky; GAMBIA and BLABBER were late in and LOI was ECLAT after about 17 minutes; unparsed at first but I quickly worked it out.
    David
  21. This beginner ( who still hasn’t worked out how to login and thus remains unhappily anonymous!) found this one a bit of a struggle. I just seem to have days when the brain doesn’t work as well! One query – I am not sure that nondrip is one word, me thinks it should be hyphenated. Any thoughts?
    1. Don’t worry too much about not logging in, but it would be useful if you could write a username at the end when you post anonymously so we can get to know you.
  22. Congratulations on your retirement – hope you enjoy it as much as we’re enjoying ours.

    Great puzzle – with some tricky clues.

  23. I’ve been doing with QC since it started and thanks to you lot I typically finish in about 25 mins gently over a lunchtime pint. PB of 9 mins.
    Today’s was the hardest yet IMHO. Not a single across clue on first pass. Anyone else think the same? Johnny
  24. Yes, this was definitely tricky, despite the gift at 8d opening up the LHS of the grid. I thought the NE corner was particularly difficult, and only when I surprised myself by getting 6d Eclat did the answers start to fall into place. Even then, loi 7d Encroached took an extra few minutes, pushing me just north of 30. Off now to battle Round 3 of yesterday’s 15×15… Invariant
  25. Yes a tricky one. I got stuck at the end with -a-k. 57 varieties apparently and nothing immediately came to mind, because of course flag can have several meanings (usually iris in my experience).
  26. I seem to have bucked the trend in not finding this too tricky and had my first ever sub-kevin – a wonderful, if somewhat surprising, way to end the week. Getting 1a and 8d early on opened up the grid nicely and the rest followed steadily thereafter. I finished with 7d and 19a.
    Thanks John and enjoy your retirement.
  27. That’s ménage à trois.” Sans the accent, “a” is the third-person indicative tense of “have.”
    1. Thanks. So it is. Amended. Maybe I just cut and pasted the first word rather than the whole phrase.
  28. Leaf bud is two words, not one. This is the sort of thing that slows me down.
  29. I have come very late to cryptics, i am 76, and i found this crossword very difficult. I do find this site so helpful, even if it sometimes makes me feel very foolish!
    Thanks everyone
    Marion
    1. Hi Marion. Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment. Glad you find the site helpful. Do leave questions if there is anything I and my fellow bloggers don’t explain well enough. We were all new to cryptics once and it does get easier as you learn the tricks.
  30. Have to agree with earlier comment- an unenjoyable slog. Just my opinion. Now to solve the mystery of why I can’t register on this site.

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