Times Quick Cryptic No 1648 by Trelawney

42 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1648 by Trelawney”

1. …as I came in at 8:02, a good time for me. I was helped by the chestnut clues for astern, supporter, inferno, theft, and sleek. However, I didn’t find discus so easy, had to think about underpass, and didn’t at first believe internet cafe.
   1. Didn’t we have discus yesterday?
2. … today which equals my PB, so happy with that. Favourite clue 17a INTERNET CAFE, which made me smile, even though I’d racked my brain for at least a minute trying think of a surfing resort which fitted the anagram. 4d NOODLE? Really?
   Thank you Trelawney. A satisfying start to the day.

   ps – rolytoly re your dilemma in Madrid, if ever you’re stuck abroad again looking for WiFi, a branch of MacDonald’s is always a very safe bet. Free fast internet, (and their coffee is quite palatable too!)

   Edited at 2020-07-02 04:47 am (UTC)

3. 8 minutes with time lost having written the wrong part of the CRS referenced at 20ac i.e. PLATE instead of CHINA. UNDERPASS sorted that out eventually. NHO NOODLE as ‘improvise’.
4. Quick times keep coming this week, all green in under 12 again. LOI was NOODLE entered without total confidence but also held up by SLEEK where I could see what was going on but couldn’t bring the veg to mind even though I ate some last night. PYROMANIA fell quite late as did TROUBLEMAKER both raised a smile as they yielded. Spotted INTERNET almost immediately but wanted SITE or PAGE even wondered if INTERNET FACE could be a thing before the relic from history came to mind. Seven on the first pass of acrosses.
5. 8 mins, last 2 were discuss and sue.

   I know noodle from noodling on the guitar, e.g whilst watching tv.

   COD internet cafe.

6. Yes it must have been easy. 14:17 speeded through this one but got stuck at the end with noodle. Nothing to stretch my brain over the weekend. Never mind.
7. 14:56 so relatively easy, but by no means the easiest, even this week, as this was nearly 5 mins slower than my time for yesterday. Like rolytoly I wasn’t aware that NOODLE was a term for “improvise”, but nothing else would fit. Disappointingly ended up taking around 3 mins getting DISCUS even though it’s been seen so recently. SUE seems like a chestnut but I didn’t see it until I had both checkers.

   FOI: ska
   LOI: sue
   COD: troublemaker

8. 6 minutes and change, which is pretty much as fast as I get and is a sub-Kevin and so this is a Red Letter Day! Woo-hoo! Lovely puzzle – it may have been on the easy end of the spectrum but I thought it was beautifully constructed.
   Agonised over CHINA or PLATE, guessed right. Got stuck only on DIET and DISCUS; would have been my first sub-5 without those.

   FOI PYROMANIA, LOI DISCUS, COD SUPPORTER

   Thanks Trelawney and roly.

   Templar

   Edited at 2020-07-02 07:56 am (UTC)

9. Very enjoyable. COD INTERNET CAFE
   Couldn’t solve NOODLE, nho the word in that context.
   Thanks Trelawny and roly.
   Diana
10. Yes, like rotter I did not find it quite as easy as some. Finished in the SW with DISCUS and SUE, neither of which came immediately to mind. I liked INTERNET CAFE and I smiled at LET RIP and SUPPORTER. Just over 14 mins so within target. Intrigued by Templar’s comment, I checked the online stats and I’m well within 2K for the third day in a row so that is pleasing. Nice puzzle. Thanks both. John M.

    Edited at 2020-07-02 08:37 am (UTC)

11. Definitely one of the more straightforward ones but enjoyable so thanks setter and blogger. I had to check that noodle was valid. For me maybe it is slightly more commonly used to refer to a twerp and that would have been kinder once I had n-o— and the mention of food it had to be the answer.
12. No problems today. Pink Floyd used to noodle; David Gilmour said so.
    FOI SKA; LOI SUE. Time 07:37.
    COD to Internet Cafe, the only one which held me up for any length of time.
    Enjoyable puzzle at the easier end. David
13. As Flashman except for noodling on the guitar. Noodle was a guess. COD most definitely INTERNET CAFE as it had me racking my brain for surf beaches. Thanks Roly and Trelawney.
14. 13 minutes and 1 second here, so not quite as easy as for some. Roly, you have a small error in your blog at 16d, the LE is from ‘extremely LargE’, not LeT as written. Like others, I was trying to invent a surfing destination from the anagrist in 17a until the penny dropped. Nice puzzle, thanks both.
15. Bang on 20 mins today – which is a bit odd as I thought this was much easier than yesterday.

    I hesitated initially over “Noodle” and “Internet Cafe”, but I’ve seen these come up before so luckily they popped into my head at the right moment.

    FOI – 1dn “Prig”
    LOI – 17ac “Internet Cafe”
    COD – 24ac “Supporter” (if only we could!)

    Thanks as usual.

    PS. I was convinced the last four letters should be “Cove” – thankfully the clue was an obvious anagram.

    Edited at 2020-07-02 09:40 am (UTC)

16. I was feeling rather smug at having completed back to back QCs in 5 minutes for the first time, until the dreaded pink square appeared for SLEAK, so a DNF for me today. Like others my biggest hold up was with INTERNET CAFE, where I was trying to think of Cornish resorts and it gets my COD.
    Thanks to roly.
17. For me, this was the easiest puzzle for ages. It took me just under 15 minutes to complete, all parsed except for the improvisation reading of NOODLE which I’d never heard of. Lots to like here including the surgical parsing of TROUBLEMAKER and AUTOMATIC. I also enjoyed the misleading definition in 17 across, INTERNET CAFE. Like many here, I was searching for a surfer’s paradise of golden sands and big waves. Thanks Rolytoly for the blog and thanks, too, to Trelawney.
18. Another pleasant offering from Trelawney, with some extra enjoyment to be had from the parsing. Discus(s) may well have come up recently, but that didn’t stop me from just missing out on a sub 20 wondering what was going on with 15d/23ac. 17ac Internet Cafe was another time waster, before I gave up on exotic beach locations. I also see I was not alone in never having come across Noodle/improvise, but I can forgive the odd tease given the overall standard. CoD to the nice build up in 5d, Automatic. Thanks to Trelawney – and Roly for the entertaining blog. Invariant
19. Definitely the most straightforward puzzle for me today, so another ego booster — maybe I’m just getting better!
    Even got 17A. quickly (too much laptop time, clearly)
    Only mistake was confusing ‘pyromancy’ for ‘pyromania’ in 1A. It was written in the flames…
20. It may have been that I was listening to the radio while solving, but I didn’t find this as easy as some of you, only just scraping in under my target time. PRIG was my FOI, followed by INFERNO, which as anonymous pointed out should be INFERNOO:) I liked INTERNET CAFE, and my LOI was DISCUS. 9:58. Thanks Trelawney and Roly.
21. But I was so excited I forgot to go back and guess SKA and THEFT. Did guess NOODLE.
    Good fun to have such an easy puzzle for a change, even though it was technically FTF (forgot to finish)

    Have been to an unlikely internet cafe in the foothills of Kanchenjunga, by the way. Literally at the end of the road.

    Thanks as ever

22. I was hoping for a crack at my pb when I saw Trelawney was the setter, but although I was faster than my average at 25:04, it certainly wasn’t as easy as some. I only had about 5 or 6 down after going through all the across clues, although the difference between this and one that is more difficult is that I could see what was going on in most of the clues and felt that with a bit more thought (or a few checkers) the answers would come. And so they did. Strangely DISCUS was one of the last ones I got, despite getting it straight away in the previous puzzle when it was clued as a “field event” rather than a “piece of sports equipment”. LOI was 11d after it clicked that it was an anagram. COD to 1a. Thanks to Trelawney and Rolytoly.
23. For 8 across it would have been better to have nitrous oxide, which does have the chemical formula NO. Nitric oxide is NO2.
    1. I thought Nitric Oxide was NO. Nitrous Oxide is N2O.
       1. Correct, James. Anonymous has his formulae confused, as does the contributor who liked his post.
          And NO2 is nitrogen dioxide.

          Edited at 2020-07-02 08:43 pm (UTC)

24. ….LET RIP. In common with the clue today it was LOI. 11th. 11 is my lucky number, but not in that instance.

    FOI PYROMANIA (Great album by Def Leppard)
    LOI LET RIP (I did while watching the race).
    COD SUPPORTER (I’ve no Porter in stock – must rectify)
    TIME 3:26

25. …after a few days of just inside twenty minutes I found this one hard, despite Trelawny’s reputation! Went much smoother when I returned, but 52:44 is back at the early days of my 15 month hobby. Great fun though: FOI – 6a; LOI – 13a; COD – 17a as I spent a very long time trying to create something REEF before a doh moment.
26. This kept me busy for just over 16 minutes and I was particularly amused by THEFT, TROUBLEMAKER and DEFIANT.
    I’m glad not to be alone in not knowing the ‘improvisation’ meaning of NOODLE but it was easy to guess.
    My LOI was UNDERPASS as I was slow to realise that this was an anagram.
    COD goes to INTERNET CAFE which I thought was brilliant.
    Thanks to Trelawney and Rolytoly.
27. We found it pretty straightforward but very enjoyable and we matched our PB of 8 minutes. Had never heard of noodle meaning improvisation but with the food reference in the clue I guessed it couldn’t be anything else. Thanks Trelawney.

    FOI: mar
    LOI: tide
    COD: supporter

    Thanks to Roly for the blog.

28. at least, for me anyway.So much so that, having checked solutions and comments on here for some time, I finally got around to working out a viable username and joining. No exact time but sub 15 minutes, which is well below my normal.Thanks to Roly for the blog and for the explanation of China in rhyming slang. Have known the expression “Me old china” for many years, but never knew its origins until now. As they say, never too old to learn!
    1. Unspammed. This is what sent it there, Matt: ‘anyway.So much’. If there’s no space between a full stop and the next letter Live Journal thinks you are posting a url and sets aside the posting for review by one of our administrators.
29. Not quite catching up with Templar but still A Very Good Day! As Vinyl says, there were a lot of chestnuts today – and for those of you who are newcomers, don’t worry – you will start to recognise them as the weeks go by!

    So although there were quite a lot of easy clues (for me), there was a lot to enjoy, and quite a few ticks by the clues today – PYROMANIA, NOODLE, and DEFIANT made me smile. Lke others, DISCUS took far too long.

    No problem with NOODLE as an improvisation – my husband frequently noodles around on his guitar when I’m watching some TV that he’s not interested in! I’d got it into my head that Andy Partridge (of XTC) did an album some years ago called ‘Fuzzy Noodles’ but it turns out it was ‘Fuzzy Warbles’! A similar concept, I’d say 😉

    FOI Ska
    LOI Discus
    COD Internet cafe
    Time about 7:30 (I do this on paper so unless I put the stopwatch on, I never have an exact time)

    Thanks Trelawney for an ego-boosting puzzle and Roly for an entertaining blog

30. … as I joined several others in struggling to complete the SW corner, with 15D Discus and 23A Sue my LOIs. Then I turn to Roly’s blog and see it is deemed Less Than Challenging – so maybe 13 minutes is simply my mark. I shall give up measuring myself in Kevins and start using Rotters as my comparison.

    I agree with the comment above on words reappearing – I have only been doing this crossword for about a year but I’m sure we have seen The FT = Theft before. Several times in fact.

    COD 1A Pyromania. Romania is indeed a very pretty country.

    Thanks to Roly for the blog
    Cedric

31. 7:34. I continue to improve now that I’m doing the puzzles online. This one felt slower than need be as I was “explaining” the clues to my four-year-old son who got so bored during my solve that he went to lay down on the couch.
32. Where do setters get their word lists from? We’ve had DISCUS two days running in the 13×13. It seems we often get the same word popping up in the 15×15 and 13×13 a day or two apart. I am just curious why, it seems to be quite the coincidence!
33. Nice to finish all correct, like others we did not know noodle in the improvise sense, so loi and trusting it was correct. Within our target but felt we were rather slow with some clues eg 17a, where we are sure we have seen the surfing definition before.
34. Liked the russian mint.

    Quick, though not lightning at 5:14.

35. Over 30 minutes for me, work gets in the way sometimes.
    Was I the only one looking for a vegetable starting with S and ending in K? Or a 4 letter word for scaly ending in K?
    It might be a Canadian thing, but until now I’ve only seen the Russian coin as a Ruble. Live and learn.
36. 21 minutes
    COD internet cafe
37. Methinks that wonderful man has been dozing recently. Yesterday we had malaria as the answer to fever. Malaria is a protozoan disease which may or may not be associated with a fever. There is neither a synonym nor a nodal relationship. Today we had nitric oxide which is definitely wrong!
38. Yeah easy
    Only 6 hours 😂

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