Times Quick Cryptic No 1589 by Pedro

Author   JohninterredPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Hello everyone. I hope you are all staying safe. This is going to be a very odd Easter weekend with my elder daughter stranded alone in Portsmouth while the rest of us are at home. As for crosswords for the weekend, we’re off to a good start here. I found today’s a little tricky with very few answers going in at first look, finishing in 6:24, my slowest time of the week. There are lots of fine surfaces and interesting bits of wordplay to enjoy. I liked  8A, 14A and 16D but 21A was my favourite for its reference to the joys of social distancing. Thank you Pedro! How did you all get on? And what did you like (or not) among the clues? [Edit: Sorry Pedro. It appears we have GR (Golden Raspberry) nomination for 8D. I did wonder whether it would be a widely-enough known word to be considered GK for a QC].

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

Across
1 Torture device, hence squad must bring in doctor (10)
THUMBSCREW – THUS (hence) CREW (squad) outside [must bring in] MB (doctor).
8 Arcade game supplying a great time after a lot of beer (7)
PINBALL – BALL (a great time) [after] all but the last letter of [a lot of] PINt (beer).
9 Letter and article presented with show of gratitude (5)
THETA – THE (article) TA (show of gratitude).
10 Returned funds for circuit (4)
LOOP – POOL (funds) [returned] -> LOOP.
11 Continuing sunny at heart, with no money invested (8)
UNBROKEN – sUNNy [at heart] with BROKE (with no money) inside [invested]
13 Approach satisfied head of department initially (6)
METHOD – MET (satisfied) Head Of Department [initially].
14 King, at the end of the day, is a chess piece (6)
KNIGHT – K (King) NIGHT (at the end of the day). Neat surface.
17 Part of swordsman’s kit shows evidence of damage by poet (8)
SCABBARD – SCAB (evidence of damage) BARD (poet).
19 Queen is appropriate in disregarding Times (4)
ANNE – Not our current one. ANNEx (appropriate) without [disregarding] the X (Times).
21 Work out alone — very into that (5)
SOLVE – SOLE (alone) with V (very) inside [into that]. A reminder to exercise social distancing fanatically.
22 Choosing the best extract from novel — it is marvellous (7)
ELITISM – Hidden in [extract from] novEL IT IS Marvellous.
23 Minor way these will get represented in newspaper (10)
BROADSHEET – B ROAD (minor way) (these)* [represented].
Down
2 Haunt? Go and haunt wildly (7)
HANGOUT – (go haunt)* [wildly]. I’m not sure why it took me a while to see the answer to this anagram.
3 Crazy to consume English alcoholic drink (4)
MEAD – MAD (crazy) outside [to consume] E (English). Not a favourite tipple of mine.
4 Saying nothing is kept up over period of religious observance (6)
SILENT – IS [kept up], this is a down clue -> SI, [over] LENT (period of religious observance).
5 Leaving job, being shy (8)
RETIRING – Double definition.
6 Loss at sea with not taking care? Not half (5)
WRECK – W (with) RECKless (not taking care) [not half]. That’s a little tricky for a QC, I think.
7 Conventional source of water and power involving river (10)
MAINSTREAM – MAIN (source of water) STEAM (power) [involving] R (river).
8 Simple changes in historic document with multiple texts (10)
PALIMPSEST – (simple)* [changes] [in] PAST (historic). I knew the word, but had forgotten they were normally written on multiple times.
12 Hat, gloomy in colour — the reverse of golden (8)
SOMBRERO – SOMBRE (gloomy in colour) OR (golden) [the reverse of] -> RO.
15 Real information leading a Parisienne to embrace one (7)
GENUINE – GEN (information) UNE (feminine french a; a Parisienne) outside [to embrace] I (one).
16 Demon securing King’s mate (6)
FRIEND – FIEND (demon) outside [securing] R (Rex; king). Another chess-related clue like 14A, the demon in question being a Sicilian Dragon, perhaps?
18 Daughter engaged in excuse, mostly dreamt up on the spot (2-3)
AD-LIB – D (daughter) inside [engaged in] ALIBi (excuse) [mostly].
20 Lavish religious instruction supplied by church (4)
RICH – RI (religious instruction) CH (church).

47 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1589 by Pedro”

  1. A bit sluggish today. Biffed PINBALL, PALIMPSEST, UNBROKEN, AD-LIB, parsed post-submission. A couple of MERs: TA is an expression of gratitude, and saying “Ta” is a show of gratitude; but is TA a show of gratitude? And ELITISM isn’t ‘choosing the best’. 6:58.
  2. Took something over half an hour, so normal service resumed after a few (relatively) quick finishes. Slow start with nothing in till KNIGHT, and slow finish, not seeing ANNE, MAINSTREAM or WRECK for a long time. Pleased with myself for getting PALIMPSEST straightaway. COD the topical SILENT.
    1. Much like Jack and Lord V. this was a struggle esp. 8dn PALIMPSEST, my LOI. I was 16 minutes on the case.

      FOI 1ac THUMBSCREW the torture was to follow

      COD 19ac ANNE but…

      WOD 8dn PALIMPSEST unfortunately!

      Not Pedro’s finest methink.

    2. I like the idea of a silent Easter weekend, but I don’t think I’m going to get one.
  3. A technical DNF here. I completed all but PALIMPSEST in 10 minutes and thought about the clue for a further 6 during which, like vinyl1, I considered POLY- as a possible starting point. I even eventually considered: anagram [changes] of SIMPLE inside PAST (historic) but was unable to see any solution based on that parsing that looked anything like a real word so I abandoned the thought.

    I don’t often say I think a word doesn’t belong in a QC but I do say it today. My comment on previous appearances of PALIMPSEST (all in 15x15s) is lifted directly from what I wrote on its last appearance in July 2018:

    “PALIMPSEST has come up three times before – December 2012, June 2105 and most recently in May 2018 in a Sunday puzzle – and on every occasion I wrote here that I didn’t know it. I seem to have no reference point to make it stick in my brain.” Plus ça change!

    Edited at 2020-04-10 06:31 am (UTC)

    1. I’m totally with you – even though some folk have obviously got it and will say it’s fair game. I’ve managed to live for getting on for 70 years without ever hearing or seeing the word until today. Too obscure for a quickie in my view. Otherwise I thought it was a good puzzle!
  4. 28 minutes, but a DNF with PALIMPSEST, like Jackkt and I suspect quite a few others. I saw the parsing, ‘past’ around an anagram of ‘simple’ and I had all the checkers but even if I had shuffled the letters correctly I wouldn’t have recognised it as a viable word. Unfair, I think. Apart from that, I seemed to do a lot of biffing, so not one of my favourites!

    Brian

    1. I did wonder whether PALIMPSEST would be a word a lot of people didn’t know. It seems to be the GR WOD.
  5. Just under 20 and all green thanks to a massive stroke of luck with PALIMPSEST whereby I forgot to reverse LOOP so I had a word starting POP for ages. When I finally got SOLVE and fixed LOOP the letters fitted a bit better. NHO it and don’t mind if don’t heard of it again. Downs more forgiving that acrosses with very little to show for the first pass but one of those solves where it looks like it’s impossible but slowly the clues yield. A good week in the QC, shames to finish on the lowlight of PALIMPSEST.
  6. I found that 90% write-in, 10% write-off. Crikey there were a few brutes in there. PALIMPSEST? In a QC? Seriously? Amazingly the word popped into my head unbidden once I had most of the checkers, but I had no idea what it meant (have now looked it up). I also forgot the “times can = X” trick so was totally baffled as to why it was ANNE, spending ages trying to fit a T or two into or around it to make it into a word. And then I stared at _A_N_T_E_M for a very, very long time … once THERM had entered my head it was hard to shift.

    FOI THUMBSCREW, LOI MAINSTREAM, COD SOLVE, all done in today’s popular time of 16 mins or 2.1K for a Not Very Good Friday. Thanks very much for the blog, John, and I hope your family is reunited soon. Thanks too to Pedro … I think …

    Templar

    1. I was back in Blighty last year for Easter, but this year no flights. So I won’t be seeing my daughter, two sons and grandchildren until Easter 2021. Thank the Lord for Face Time!
    2. Thanks. I fear lockdown will keep us apart for a few more weeks, but we have a WhatsApp video call with Laura every day.
  7. I went off like a rocket (relatively speaking!) but slowed in the SE. I was well within my target until my LOI 8d brought me to a halt. I just could not see PALIMPSEST. I knew the word but couldn’t have defined it to save my life. So, a dnf (a first for me). There were some very nice clues but 8d was a step too far for a QC and spoilt it for me. John M.

    Edited at 2020-04-10 08:55 am (UTC)

  8. … but I did get palimpsest immediately. Vague memories of the Dead Sea Scrolls I think.
    Otherwise too difficult altogether for me.

    Diana

  9. From the Greek: palimpsestos – palin/again + psestos/ rubbed smooth.
    “A parchment from which earlier writing has been removed to clear it for new writing.”
  10. Most of this was relatively straightforward but 8d should have no place in a QC. Never heard of it and never want to see it again, and I say this despite having managed to work it out.
    A shame really because it was an otherwise enjoyable solve, with my COD going to PINBALL. Finished in 11.44.
    Thanks to johninterred for the blog
    1. So it is. I had forgotten that. I wonder which parsing the setter intended – yours or mine?
        1. I thought of pin meaning “lots of beer” rather than “short pin(t)”, either the aforementioned half a firkin or the popular abbreviation of polypin, a much loved small plastic cask of beer which helped parties go so well in my student days.

          Clever clue to have two parsings, both right!

          Cedric

  12. I thought I was going slow but the comments above have changed my mind. I ended with 8dn, like most others. I was lost but reckoned historic was ‘past’ so put that in then worked on the anagram of simple. It could only have been palimpsest or palempsist. The second one sound wrong as an ‘ist’ is someone who does something so, by good fortune, opted for the correct one. Hurrah! 1.5K in the end for this stern test.
  13. Pedro has another entry in the finals of the worst clue award, along with Izetti (EYOT xwd1578) and Pedro (twenty xwd1518).

    23 mins and all correct. But palimpsest was a guess at what looked the most likely assembly of letters.

    Anne unparsed.

    Apart from that some good clues: pinball, scabbard, solve, broadsheet, hangout. COD knight.

    Edited at 2020-04-10 09:51 am (UTC)

  14. A DNF in 12 mins. NHO of PALIMPSEST and although I reasoned the anagram of simple was part of the wordplay I couldn’t work it out. I started very slowly with 21a SOLVE as my FOI so I was surprised to have only 1 clue left at the 10 mins mark. Thanks Pedro and John and a Happy Easter to all.
  15. ….with the “too tough for a quickie” brigade today, even though I knew PALIMPSEST.

    I actually biffed three answers (THUMBSCREW, BROADSHEET, and my LOI ANNE). Generally one biff per month would be above average on a QC. All were quickly parsed afterwards.

    FOI THETA
    LOI ANNE
    COD PINBALL
    TIME 5:57 (0.85K)

  16. Did not get many at first, but managed it in the end with a bit of help with PALIMPSEST and guessing WRECK. A nice start to the Easter weekend.
  17. I started very slowly on this. MEAD was FOI and then I struggled a bit. But once I had a few letters it went quite smoothly. I got PALIMPSEST with just the initial P; it has come up before somewhere and it is such an unusual word that I remembered it from the definition.
    I was held up at the end by my fear that the unparsed WRECK was wrong and LOI was UNBROKEN, also not fully parsed. But got lucky today;all correct in 13:57.
    Tricky stuff from Pedro but I have time. David
  18. Really, really struggled today but got there in the end. (Took half the morning when I shd have been gardening). The word Palimpsest was at the back of my mind, but I didn’t know what it meant. Now I do, should it ever come up in conversation. I nearly always guess clues then parse them.
  19. I was another who fell at the last fence with the unknown Palimpsest – a double GR candidate if ever there was one. What a shame that Pedro had to include such a specialised word in what was otherwise a tough but fair puzzle – and that the Editor didn’t ask for a revision. CoD to 23ac, Broadsheet, which at least gave me a smile along the way. Invariant
  20. I found this puzzle quite tricky. I knew the word I was trying to remember at 8d, but couldn’t think of it until I had most of the crossing letters. I’ve seen it in a Jumbo Cryptic, where I looked it up, but still managed to get it wrong by putting a Y where the I should’ve been. HANGOUT and LOOP also held me up. Also held up by failing to parse ANNE, despite considering the correct parsing, I failed to equate Annex with Appropriate. Doh! 14:39. Thanks Pedro and John.
  21. Like many others, fell at the final hurdle with 8dn.

    Overall, I thought this was fairly tricky. It didn’t help that I biffed in “Resigned” for 5dn which I thought could have worked. Once I sorted that out it was a steady 21ac in a clockwise direction with the majority of final clues in the West. However, it also took me an age to see 2dn and I didn’t realise Annex = appropriate. Is Sombre a gloomy colour or just gloomy?

    Nice to see the standard “thumbscrew” torture device at 1ac.

    FOI – 1ac “Thumbscrew”
    LOI – 8dn “Palimpsppssetsts….” or whatever it was
    COD – 23ac “Broadsheet”

    Thanks as usual.

  22. Too hard for me. Didn’t help that there’s no paper available from the local shop today so I had to do it on my phone.
    Anyway, I had to resort to copious use of aids and biffing. Have heard of palimpsest but not familiar with the full definition.

    Roll on Monday…

  23. About 12 minutes.
    I did know PALIMPSEST, though card=SIM didn’t come to mind quickly, so held up there. However UNBROKEN was LOI as I’d biffed RETICENT at 5d with a vague idea that Job was such.
  24. … in just under 20 minutes, so I join those considering that Pedro has given us a bit of a tough one here.

    And even that finish was with quite a few unparsed. Including LOI 19A Anne, which was the only possible answer but where I was completely at sea – not only did I forget that times can mean X as well as T, but I read “appropriate” as “suitable” not “acquire by force”. Two to store away in the rapidly growing list of Things It Is Useful To Know.

    Thanks to John for the blog and a good weekend to all – though what that means these days when we are most of us home 24/7 I am not entirely sure.

    Cedric

  25. PALIMSEST – in a QC? No hope. Otherwise a serious challenge, but much enjoyed.
    PlayUpPompey
  26. Why, it is a common word, down our way. I did think, as I popped it in, that it would probably cause much wailing and gnashing of teeth, and lo, so it came to pass!

    MAINSTREAM was the one that took me a while. 10:05, which is over par, but within an acceptable K range.

  27. Not a Good Day! I rarely find that I’m on Pedro’s wavelength and today was no exception. TBH I found this too much of a slog to be very enjoyable but I did finish it, albeit with some biffed or half-guessed – I’m looking at you palimpsest, pinball and Anne! Once I had the checkers for 8d something stirred at the back of my brain and out popped that strange word. I still couldn’t entirely remember the definition though 😟 I did like knight, solve and friend – nice surfaces.

    FOI Knight
    LOI Pinball
    COD Broadsheet
    Time 18 minutes – the worst for a while

    Still thanks Pedro for the work-out and John for the blog. Enjoy the weekend everyone – in whatever way you can. At least the sun is shining. Let’s hope we can all be with our families and friends again before too long.

  28. Chugged along very nicely until we came to a shuddering halt at 8D. I shall make it my quest to find a way to use “palimpsest” in conversation during the lockdown – but it may not be long enough 😂.

    Still, the sun is shining and we enjoyed the rest of the puzzle even though it was a DNF.

    FOI: thumbscrew
    LOI: solve
    COD: broadsheet

    Happy Easter everyone 🐣🐣🐣

  29. PALIMPSEST went in with a degree of anticipatory schadenfreude – you didn’t disappoint me. Notwithstanding, I do agree that it was a bit outre for a QC. Also very nice to get a half-mention at 3d. Pedro would undoubtedly claim that he’s never heard of me but I’m sure that would just be him being bashful.
    My thanks as ever to Pedro (new bestie!) and John.
    6’05”
  31. Words like palimpsest have no place in a crossword like this. A person of reasonable education should be able to do this crossword without recourse to works of reference. I’ll say no more.
    1. I edited my summary to leave a message for Pedro about it, should the setter drop by. But it is part of the reality of cryptic crossword solving that you will get words you don’t know and have to derive them from the wordplay and hope you got them right. There were at least 3 in today’s 15×15 that I had to cross my fingers for.

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