Times Quick Cryptic No 1599 by Mara

Author   JohninterredPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

A lovely quickie from Mara today, mostly quite straightforward, I thought, although the SE corner held me up a little. It wouldn’t surprise me, though, if others didn’t find it very easy as one or two clues (e.g. 1A, 21A and 24A) are, in retrospect, maybe a little tricky. I loved the combination of 3D and 13D and that our setter didn’t cross-reference the clues, which must have been tempting. I also liked the sneaky definition at 24A. 22D and 15D were my last two in as I finished under my target time at 4:48. COD, I think, to 21A. Thanks Mara! How did you all get on?

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

Across
8 Decide to tackle this puzzle again? (7)
RESOLVE – If you do the puzzle you solve it… so to do so again is to RE-SOLVE.
9 Mature writer on middle of trip (5)
RIPEN –  PEN (writer) after [on] [middle of] tRIp.
10 Author, fleet of foot (5)
SWIFT – Double definition. The author being Jonathan Swift. I hadn’t realised Gulliver’s Travel was published nearly 300 years ago.

PD-Art
11 Look at plaiting dreads with minimum of skill (7)
ADDRESS – [plaiting] (dreads)* with first letter of [minimum of] Skill.
12 Barge in open site travelling round river (9)
INTERPOSE – (open site)* [travelling] [round] R (river).
14 Whistler really experiencing freedom, first of all (3)
REF – first letters of Really Experiencing Freedom [first of all].
16 Joke that may backfire just the same? (3)
GAG – “backfire just the same” says we are looking for a palindrome and either of the checkers would do to give help if needed.
18 Diamond, perhaps? It is real, surprisingly, set around ring (9)
SOLITAIRE – “Perhaps” because other gems could be set on their own. (it is real)* [surprisingly] outside [set around] O (ring).
21 Arguably a kangaroo rat (7)
BOUNDER – Neat surface. “Arguably” here indicating a definition by example. A kangaroo could be a BOUNDER as could a rat (think cad). And a kangaroo rat too, for that matter!

Image in Public domain.
22 Pip covers head of timid horse (5)
STEED – SEED (pip) [covers] first letter of [head of] Timid.
23 Element damaging organ (5)
ARGON – We had this element in the QC I blogged 4 weeks ago. Anagram of [damaging] (organ)*.
24 Batters terribly idle, yes? (7)
EYELIDS – (idle yes)* [terribly]. Well you can bat your EYELIDS, so they could be described as “batters”.
Down
1 Ironing needing immediate attention (8)
PRESSING – Double definition.
2 Help relative, in a way (6)
ASSIST – SIS (relative) [in] A ST (street; way).
3 Uninteresting accommodation (4)
FLAT – Double definition.
4 A pole manoeuvred round stern of hired boat (6)
PEDALO – (a pole)* [manoeuvred] [round] last letter of [stern of] hireD. Which reminds me… the punting season is upon is. Is it an allowed form of exercise under the current lockdown rules, I wonder?
5 Reading about peak in Tanzania, might that be steep? (8)
GRADIENT – (Reading)* about the first letter of [peak in] Tanzania.
6 Come across a soft fruit (6)
APPEAR – A P (piano; soft) PEAR (fruit). I had a bit of a MER (see our glossary) at this definition. Appear means come into view which isn’t the same thing to me as stumbling across something. [Edit: Thanks to Kevin and Anon… think of the phrase “This crossword may come accross as quite difficult to some.”]
7 Responsibility ours? (4)
ONUS – If it’s ours it is ON US.
13 Team put in tenant’s payment for occupant (8)
RESIDENT – Sitting neatly below the residence at 3D… SIDE (team) [put in] RENT (tenant’s payment… for a flat perhaps).
15 Fine breaking piece of crockery for savage (8)
FIENDISH – My LOI. (fine)* [breaking] DISH (piece of crockery). I tried using just F for fine at first.
17 Right in dirt, type of rock (6)
GRUNGE – R (right) [in] GUNGE (dirt).
19 Bigger beer round back of bar (6)
LARGER – LAGER (beer) [round] [back of] baR.
20 I live on Rhode Island and a European peninsula (6)
IBERIA – I BE (live) [on] R.I. (Rhode Island) [and] A.
21 Put up with huge beast (4)
BEAR – Double definition. Are bears huge? In comparison a kangaroo rat, I guess they are.
22 Search for Indian on the radio? (4)
SEEK – A “sounds like” clue [on the radio]. SEEK sounds like SIKH (Indian).

45 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1599 by Mara”

  1. Pretty straightforward, although I did biff FIENDISH, having first, like John, tried F for ‘fine’. (I also wasted some time thinking of a peak in Tanzania besides Kilimanjaro.) I had a similar MER at APPEAR; but eg ‘He comes across as arrogant’ seems to work. Liked EYELIDS. 5:49.

    Edited at 2020-04-24 12:47 am (UTC)

  2. 9 minutes. Delayed at LOI 4dn thinking clue said ‘s t e m of hired’ = h instead of ‘s t e r n’ = d.
    1. I don’t suppose you will be the only one today. I’ve been bumt by that so many times I look at every m or rn with suspicion.
  3. with slightly under 7 minutes. And PEDALOS yet abounding.

    FOI 8ac RESOLVE

    LOI 17dn GRUNGE – The Sound of Seattle

    COD 24ac EYELIDS

    WOD 17dn GRUNGE I suppose which is a bit 2dn

    Re-5dn ‘Even if life is presently an uphill struggle, at least try lookin’ GRADIENT.’ – – Always look on the bright-side of life…… earworm set for the day!

    Edited at 2020-04-24 04:18 am (UTC)

  4. All green in 13. Six on the first pass of the acrosses which is slightly better than my usual five before doing better on the downs. Always fun to see how a few letters makes it all become clear. LOI was BOUNDER where an alphabet trawl led to a big smile – knew ‘kangaroo rat’ would need to be separated but still couldn’t make my brain do it with EYELIDS the SLOI – had all the info, just wanted to put the Y further into the word and shove the second E between the I and the S. Made things hard earlier by whacking in GARAGE even though GAAGE is clearly nonsense – odd decision.

    Edited at 2020-04-24 06:03 am (UTC)

  5. I thought you batted your eyelashes not your eyelids, but hey ho, what do I know!!??
        1. Ummm … surely the expression “didn’t bat an eyelid” shows that vezzy doesn’t have much of a point?
  6. That was fun and an excellent start to a Friday. I romped through it with EYELIDS and BOUNDER both making me chuckle. I also thought that GRUNGE was a good clue, although was slightly surprised that The Times is as musically up to date as the 1990’s. Finished in 7.46 with LOI GRADIENT and a MER at APPEAR.
    Thanks to jonhinterred.
  7. Not as quick as it seemed for me. Most when in fairly smoothly but I found the SE a bit tough. I finished with FIENDISH IBERIA, and EYELIDS (which came to me earlier and was rejected because it was a poor definition IMHO). 2 Mins over target again but well within 3K so that has to be an OK Friday. Not vintage Mara for me but thanks to both. John M.
  8. Under 13 mins, but was stuck on pressing and swift for a few minutes.

    COD grunge.

  9. My eldest son told me to expect some quick times today because he’d finished it much faster than he usually does. Then he revealed he’d had some help from his mother.

    Anyway, I found this relatively straightforward but well up to scratch, with Mara making my little grey cells do more press ups than they fancied. Did anyone else put GARAGE at 17dn and then sit staring at it wondering how it could be right? And then drift off into a reverie about how a brand of rock could have ended up being called “garage”? Eventually it was all done and dusted in about 1.7K for a Very Good Day.

    FOI RESOLVE, LOI BOUNDER, COD EYELIDS (really neat).

    Many thanks Mara and to John for an entertaining blog.

    Templar

    Edited at 2020-04-24 08:48 am (UTC)

  10. …for me today. Took ages trying every combo of letter for 24A even with all checkers in place before the scales fell from my eyes. 6D had bunged in APPEAL ( assuming “soft” apple + a) which also held up the SE corner. A slow but complete Friday and enjoyable overall.
  11. Just outside the top of my target range at 16 minutes, but fun to do. RESOLVE and PRESSING were FTI, giving a good start. I liked the batters and ONUS. Thanks all.
  12. A reasonably straightforward solve today, getting most of the words from the first run through, but still ended up taking 35:59. Was slightly held up by 17d and LOI 21a but it felt a lot faster than that. COD to 24a.
  13. I think 6D APPEAR in this sense means to seem like as in “he does the cryptic crossword to appear / come across clever”
  14. I was doing so well. I skirted around 4d and 12a and was expecting a very quick time and then froze. Like jackkt I read 4d as stem of hired and debated the meaning of stem with either h or r as the candidates. Neither fitted with ‘intervene’ (clearly not parsed) at 12a. Belatedly I spotted the anagram of INTERPOSE and LOI 4d (my COD) went in. I also enjoyed the cluing for EYELIDS and GRUNGE. Thanks Mara and John. 8:33
  15. ….so doing the 15×15 first is not the key to a speedier QC.

    FOI RESOLVE
    LOI BEAR
    COD SPEED
    TIME 0.67K

      1. Indeed – fat finger strikes again ! I solved the clue correctly on paper, then got it wrong both on the blog, and, annoyingly, when entering the puzzle online !
  16. I crossed the line after 10:37 only for the computer to tell me Unlucky. I had an unparsed INTERLOPE at 12a. I’d started quickly and wanted to see how fast I could go. In the end I was held up a bit by ADDRESS and GRADIENT.
    COD to EYELIDS.
    Nice puzzle. It pays to parse; must remember that. David
  17. Just under 20 mins which is quick for me. Took a punt on “Bounder” as I DNK the animal and didn’t get the parsing of 24ac until I read the above (Personally think it would have made more sense if it had said “Batted”).

    Some nice descriptions of first and last letters (Peak and Aft) – not sure they’re as common in the QC. Only other query was whether 17dn could be Garage (which I guess is more dance music) and for a moment Grime (which obviously doesn’t fit).

    FOI – 1dn “Pressing”
    LOI – 10ac “Swift”
    COD – 20dn “Iberia” which constructed Ikea like…

    Thanks as usual.

  18. … with all the across clues put in in order until the very last, 24A Eyelids. Alas the clean sweep will have to wait.

    Not too many problems thereafter – 15D Fiendish went straight in because for those of us who solve on paper, the QC is underneath the day’s Sudoku puzzles, one of which is often a “fiendish”. It’s a toss-up which takes me longer: today the QC clocked in at 13 minutes and the Sudoku at a bit less, so a “win” for Mara in making me think longer and harder!

    A nice puzzle to end the week; thanks to Mara and John for the blog, and a good weekend to all.

    Cedric

  19. Easy peasy at first but then made a silly mistake on ADDRESS so did not get Gradient.
    Hasta la vista.
  20. My concentration was obviously lacking today as a carelessly biffed INTERLOPE ruined my 8:15. I also did a brief detour though the GARAGE. Thanks Mara and John.
  21. Is it just me or isn’t 22d a bit dodgy as a clue?

    Edited at 2020-04-24 12:30 pm (UTC)

  22. Not A Great Day – I really struggled with GRADIENT and FIENDISH, completely missing the anagrams for some time, which held me up no end. Then I put in ONES instead of ONUS so all in all, not my best effort 😟

    FOI Pressing
    COD Eyelids
    DNF in 15 minutes with one wrong

    BTW What’s the opposite of Ninja Turtling? When I saw Whistler and had the letters RE, my first thought was REX! But I’m not entirely sure who he was – an artist? It’s just a name lurking in the back of my brain!

    1. I didn’t know of Rex Whistler, but I do now. Thanks! I might have thought of the artist James if it wasn’t a 3 letter answer.

      Edited at 2020-04-24 01:15 pm (UTC)

      1. I’ve just done a bit of googling – yes, a very talented all rounder who died too young. More to learn for my art appreciation group!
        1. was his opus magnum – he was a leading light of the Chelsea Arts Club, which I haunted for many years.
          1. I think that was James W, who John was referring to – altho Rex W undoubtedly had a mother too!
  23. We more or less completed the grid on the first run through. However, we completely failed to see the anagram in 12A which resulted in a technical DNF as we had entered interlope before correcting it.

    Nonetheless, a satisfactory end to a week of fun puzzles – thanks Mara.

    FOI: resolve
    LOI: interpose
    COD: eyelids (tickled Mrs Peel’s sense of humour)

    Thanks for the blog John.

    Edited at 2020-04-24 01:32 pm (UTC)

  24. I was more questioning the equating of Sikh with Indian – It is true that over 90% of Sikhs are Indians but even in India but it is only the 4th largest religion in India and there will be a good number of Sikhs who aren’t Indian and vice versa
  25. All seemed perfectly straightforward today, the only pause being to decide which way round to enter the homophone at 22dn. Got it right after a little thought, so a smooth end to the working week.

    FOI – 8ac resolve
    LOI – 4dn pedalo (not sure this really counts as a boat)
    COD – 24ac eyelids for the smooth surface

  26. Just outside the top of my target range at 16 minutes, but fun to do. RESOLVE and PRESSING were FTI, giving a good start. I liked the batters and ONUS. Thanks all.

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