Times Quick Cryptic No 1723 by Corelli

Author   TheRotterPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
An average difficulty QC on the Rotterometer, if not slightly easier than average, taking me 13 minutes to complete.  There are a couple of pieces of General Knowledge needed which may trip up any newbies (STOA and PETER for example) and some slightly unusual devices employed by our Setter, but I think today’s puzzle is a good example of the QC form.  Thanks Corelli.

My COD runner-up is 12d, but the award has to go to 3d for the lovely memories of Bill Maynard, who left us in 2018.

Across

1  Shrewd copper taking tips from trainee (4)
CUTE – CU (chemical symbol for copper) and T{raine}E (tips from = first and last letters).
3  Discordant noises after start of Society meeting (7)
SESSION – Anagram (discordant) of [NOISES] and S{ociety} (start of).
8  Back in Dolgellau, Susannah’s no different from normal (2,5)
AS USUAL – Reverse hidden (back in) in {dolgel}LAU, SUSA{nnah}.  It might sound made up, but Dolgellau is actually a small town in Gwynedd, north west Wales.
9 Manuscript found on lectern in Oxford, originally (5)
FOLIO – First letters of (originally) Found On Lectern In Oxford.
10  Conclusion to clash, indeed, that’s cut and dried! (3)
HAY – {clas}H (conclusion, last letter) and AY (indeed).
11  Tiny child with a large sum (5)
TOTAL – TOT (tiny child) with A and L{arge}
13  Not entirely honest, eg grabbing savings (4-3)
NEST-EGG – Hidden inside (not entirely) {ho}NEST, EG G{rabbing}.
15  They favour youth, eg, as it’s fantastic (7)
AGEISTS – Anagram (fantastic) of [EG, AS IT’S].
17  No turning back: determined to make start (5)
ONSET – NO reversed (turning back) to give ON, and SET (determined).
18  Teams up every so often to produce large flyer?  No! (3)
EMU – Alternate letters (every so often) of {t}E{a}M{s} U{p}.  An EMU is an example of a large bird (flyer), that doesn’t fly.
21  Ghostly European appearing by lake (5)
EERIE – E{uropean} and ERIE (one of the Great Lakes).
22  Tenant going round back of house to get in again (2-5)
RE-ENTER – RENTER (tenant) containing (going round) back of {hous}E (last letter).
23  Unemployed CID officers meeting American press chief (7)
DISUSED – DIS (Detective Inspectors, CID officers) and US (American) and ED{itor} (press chief).
24  Polish end of button in blue (4)
SAND – SAD (blue) containing end of {butto}N.  To SAND as with sand-paper is to polish.

Down

1  American spies graduate teetotaller with a long Italian loaf (8)
CIABATTA – CIA (American spies) with BA (graduate) TT (teetotaller) and A (a).
2  EU right to upset firm (4)
TRUE – EU and RT (right) all reversed (upset).  I wondered about equating TRUE with firm, but synonyms of TRUE include straight and constant, so I guess it is OK.
3  Man from south, newly relocated (6)
SELWYN – Anagram (relocated) of S{outh} and [NEWLY].  Made me smile in memory of SELWYN FROGGITT, ITV sitcom hero from the seventies played by the late lamented Bill Maynard – magic!
4  Peter on tree overlooking river’s very secure (4,2,6)
SAFE AS HOUSES – SAFE (Peter, it’s a slang term for a safe and one worth remembering in Crosswordland) on ASH (tree) and OUSE’S (river’s), to give SAFE AS HOUSES.
5  Sloth scattered linseeds (8)
IDLENESS – Anagram (scattered) of [LINSEEDS].
6  Twelve numbers back to back (4)
NOON – NO (number) alongside another one, reversed (back to back).
7  Lack of sympathy for defective state of Old Testament? (12)
RUTHLESSNESS – A defective Old Testament might lack the book of RUTH and be in a state of RUTHLESSNESS.
12  Hitchcock film in three equal parts about English bishop (3,5)
THE BIRDS – Three equal parts would be THIRDS.  Put these around E{nglish} and B{ishop} for the answer.
14  Did mass, that’s also understood (8)
GATHERED – double definition.
16  Large amount of water studied, we hear, hit the roof? (3,3)
SEE RED – Double homophone (we hear), sounds like SEA (large amount of water) and READ (studied).
19  Directed to consume whiskey?  That’s obscene! (4)
LEWD – LED (directed) ‘consuming’ W{hiskey} – phonetic alphabet)
20  Tailless furry creature seen in colonnade (4)
STOA – STOA{t} (furry creature without last letter – tailless).  A STOA is a portico or covered colonnade, and well worth remembering for crosswords.

57 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1723 by Corelli”

  1. NHO the Welsh town, of course, but these names are never made up, to the best of my knowledge. Biffed 12d (Hitchcock, THE X), didn’t bother to parse it until after submitting. 5:31.
  2. Got almost all the acrosses on the first pass, then started plopping in down answers without a moment’s thought. And yet, I took a full minute longer today than yesterday. Lost my time on SAFE AS HOUSES (never heard of it, but fortunately the wordplay could get me home), RUTHLESSNESS (was trying to prove MUSHLESSNESS), and the DIS of DISUSED (I can never remember these police-related acronyms).

    Still, the fast time (by my standards) suggests that this was an easier puzzle than most.

    Edited at 2020-10-15 12:50 am (UTC)

  3. All green in 14 but not without a fair slice of luck. The hints were certainly needed today as I couldn’t parse GATHERED, got it from ‘understood’ but I don’t think I’d have got to it from ‘did mass’. Confused by EERIE because that’s how I thought the lake was spelled, so the clue didn’t make much sense to me – must get Huron to stick in my mind so I know the names of the Great Lakes and I’ll try to remember STOA which is where a large part of today’s luck was needed as I didn’t know it was a colonnade but once I finally got SAND it magically appeared. I had previously wondered if ‘Otte’ might be the right answer – perhaps the shape of that animal helped me get to the right one. Also held up by LEWD so it was the four letter words in the south that caused most problems. Mild panic began to set in when I thought I was going to need to know some Italian bread but once those spies went in it turned out to be easy-peasy. Good one, Corelli and thanks to Rotter for explaining the answers.

    Edited at 2020-10-15 05:47 am (UTC)

    1. A standard mnemonic, for what little it’s worth, is HOMES: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior.
  4. A puzzle by Corelli is always welcome as he sets for us so rarely, this being only his 21st puzzle since his first appearance in March 2014.

    Five of those 21 have been Nina’s or themed puzzles including the last three – #1448 Hamlet, #1514 Little Dorrit, and #1666 the Great Fire of London – so I was half expecting something special today, but if it’s there I couldn’t find it. However this is still an excellent example of a QC that I didn’t find difficult, and I completed the grid in 7 minutes.

    Edited at 2020-10-15 06:13 am (UTC)

      3. Well spotted Anon. I did my usual quick scan for a theme or Nina after solving last night, but this message (or directive if we drop the I as a random letter) passed me by. Is there anything else there?
  5. Struggled to parse RUTHLESSNESS but no trouble with Dolgellau (prounced Dollgechly!) having grown up in N Wales in a place name starting with LL. NHO STOA so must remember that.
    I suspect there is something going on with all the double letters used in this puzzle but can’t see what it is. Any ideas?

    Just had another look.
    Every word with a double letter crosses another word with the same double letter.
    Not a coincidence I am sure, but is there more hidden?
    Ruthlessness has 4x S and crosses 2x 2S.

    Edited at 2020-10-15 06:24 am (UTC)

  6. Did anyone here do the Cryptic Quintagram (821) this morning?

    I don’t get CLUE 2, is it a mistake?

    2. Poisonous fly briefly circles beast of burden (5)
    TOXIC – I guessed right – but how?
    OX – obvious for beast of burden
    TIC(K)? not a fly, an arachnid – no wings!! So have I parsed this wrongly?

    2. I don’t know if many of our contributors do the Cryptic Quintagram but it’s a fair bet that some do so we really shouldn’t be discussing answers to the current puzzle here.
        1. We don’t have a dedicated forum, Alexander. I don’t set policy here (that’s down to Jonathan – Vinyl1) but I imagine there would be no objection to raising queries in this forum the following day. There may be no problem with your original posting but I was just pointing out that others may not be very happy to have answers revealed to puzzles they haven’t got round to looking at yet.
    3. A TICK can also be:
      any of certain insects of the dipterous family Hippoboscidae that are ectoparasitic on horses, cattle, sheep etc
  7. Average time for me these days at 11:32. Held up by EERIE, STOA and RUTHLESSNESS, even though there’s been a similar ruthless clue I remember a few weeks ago.
  9. Another one just inside the 20 minute target.

    Held up by STOA, which I DNK, was trying various letter combinations before hitting stoat.

    Ruthless again?

    COD 1D, for a clue that I constructed methodically before coming to the end of the clue, ecco, CIABATTA appeared.

    And thanks, Rotter, for recalling Mr Froggit, rather than some Oxford college or something. Already too much Oxbridge in these blogs: there’s been a rant on this on the 15×15 xwd blog, which featured MAGDALEN at 1D yesterday.

  10. Back to more normal service after a couple of quick times, but feeling fairly pleased with myself after remembering the Peter/Safe meaning – as I’ve only ever known it in crosswords. STOA was vaguely familiar but I couldn’t have told you what it meant. I couldn’t (and still can’t) fully parse GATHERED – does ‘did mass’ have some kind of religious meaning or am I missing something far more obvious? Just had a thought may be it’s linked to amassing?
    Anyway enough rambling, finished in 11.48 with LOI SAND and my favourite being THE BIRDS.
    Thanks to Rotter
    1. I think that “did mass” is supposed to represent the perfect tense of “to gather” – it’s a rather archaic construction, if that’s right (“ye peasants did mass together upon ye heath”).
  11. I wasn’t as quick as yesterday but I still submitted in under 8 minutes. I have been through all five of the Times Quick Cryptic Crossword books so I have encountered Corelli, STOA and PETER before. My hold ups were AS USUAL and RUTHLESSNESS. I was born in North Wales and Dolgellau is familiar to me so I wasn’t alerted to the hidden. I was toying with the idea of using a U somehow with SUE. This was my penultimate solve after which I biffed RUTHLESSNESS from my limited knowledge of books in the bible. Thanks anon for pointing out the NINA and Rotter for the blog.

    Edited at 2020-10-15 09:06 am (UTC)

  12. Well done the Nina-spotting Anon. Made me chuckle! I also enjoyed the puzzle; a nice mix of devices. This son of a classicist had no trouble with STOA, having been dragged round endless Greek and Roman ruins in childhood.

    FOI CUTE, LOI GATHERED (“did mass”??), COD NEST-EGG because I always spot hiddens and yet this one completely fooled me, time 1.5K for a Very Good Day.

    Many thanks Captain Corelli and Rotter.

    Templar

  13. Another DNF for me I’m afraid. Most went it fairly quickly, but I was completely stumped by the SE. I thought the furry animal might be a stoat, but STOA seemed such an unlikely word that I dismissed it. I wasn’t helped by having no idea what a colonnade was (sounded like some sort of stew to me). I should have got SAND, but didn’t, and GATHERED passed me by too. “Did mass” seems a bit of an awkward phrase, but guess I still should have got it. Oh well, onwards and upwards (hopefully). Thanks Rotter and Corelli.
  14. Only held up by Stoa which I half remembered. Got Ruthlessness, rather witty. ‘Did mass‘ rather weird but biffed that one. Liked Ciabatta and Emu.
    Thanks all.
    (Belatedly realise I did not parse Safe as Houses, just immediately bunged it in.)

    Edited at 2020-10-15 11:21 am (UTC)

  15. I struggled a bit today; not on the wavelength. FOI AS USUAL. Needed all the checkers for SELWYN; I remember a politician of that name. Also very slow to get Ruthlessness although she’s appeared recently. LOI LEWD which needed several visits. 14:24 on the clock.
    Completely missed the clever nina. COD to Nest Egg. David
    1. Selwyn Lloyd. Conservative in the 50s and 60s. Held a number of ministerial posts and ended up as Speaker.
      PlayUpPompey
      1. Yes, I thought of him, too. However, John Selwyn Gummer also came to mind. Thankfully, his name was removed from my mind just as quickly.

        Edited at 2020-10-15 02:21 pm (UTC)

  16. I really enjoyed yesterday’s clever puzzle and feel just as positive about today’s. I didn’t spot the Nina – thanks, anon – and remain astonished that setters can create great clues as well as extra dimensions of coding.
    I finished today’s grid in 14 minutes with 24 across, SAND, as my LOI because I had forgotten that blue could mean sad. Slight MER at CUTE for shrewd (1930 films’ gangster slang? ) and perhaps too for TRUE for firm but of course both still work. I had no problem with STOA nor with Peter in SAFE AS HOUSES, because I’ve met both of them before in Crosswordland. I’m also fine with GATHERED in its religious context (as in “we are gathered here today to say goodbye to / celebrate the marriage of” etc).
    Lots of super clues here today but I especially liked CIABATTA, RUTHLESSNESS and THE BIRDS.
    Many thanks to blogger and setter today
  17. …but well within my target, at 12 minutes.
    I didn’t parse SEE RED and DNK STOA so thanks to Rotter for the explanations. I also had a MER at TRUE for firm but it couldn’t really have been anything else.
    Favourites included the reverse hidden AS USUAL and the cleverly clued AGEISTS and CIABATTA. My COD goes to SAFE AS HOUSES as I was pleased to remember the ‘safe’ meaning of Peter.
    Thanks to Corelli for another straightforward puzzle.
  18. Raced (subjectively) through all of this, bar 7d, in 16mins, and then agonised over ancient Mediterranean states/regions before finally turning to the other end of the clue. Even then Ruth needed an alphabet trawl despite her many recent appearances. So a comfortable sub-20 turned into a close run thing, but still a very enjoyable puzzle. CoD to the ‘well constructed’ 4d Safe as Houses. Invariant
    1. I’m not sure why Cryptic Crosswords should get the blame because popular slang adopts an odd connection for no apparent reason! The use of peter for safe dates from the 1600s, but was in common usage during the 20th Century.
      1. This drove me to Lexico to see if the origin was given; it wasn’t, but there are more meanings of “peter” as a noun than I had expected

        informal
        1 A man’s penis.

        2 (Australian, New Zealand) A prison cell.

        3 A safe or trunk.

        Suddenly nurse ratchett’s message title “Peter Out” takes on a whole new dimension.

      2. Pêter is French for to crack.

        French safe-crackers entering London mansions took pride in breaking into the building and then a safe without tools or codes.
        They were known in the late nineteenth century, as Peter men.

        Peter could apply equally to a safe, or a prison cell, the latter: I was banged up in me Peter when it all went off.

  20. No particular holdups apart from my LOI, RUTHLESSNESS. Needed the checkers to remember STOA. FOI was CUTE. 8:33. Thanks Corelli and Rotter.
  21. by RUTHLESSNESS and GATHERED, which stretched me out to a sluggish (for me) 9:58.

    Also – did the puzzle on paper today, hoping for a lightning fast solve to enter into the crossword club leaderboard, and discovered that my handwriting has become even more appalling and actually makes it harder to solve! N’s, U’s and L’s are virtually indistinguishable…

  22. Curse of the final clue strikes again – as I just couldn’t get 14dn “Gathered”.

    Other than that – very enjoyable. Vaguely recall “peter” = safe, but there was enough in the clue to get it anyway. Liked 6dn “Noon”, 12dn “The Birds” and 16dn “See Red”. Initially not convinced about “disused” being unemployed, but the more I thought about it (as in “disused” building) the more I realised there was nothing wrong at all.

    FOI – 1ac “Cute”
    LOI – 14dn – dnf
    COD – 7dn “Ruthlessness”

    Thanks as usual

  23. ….than I did in solving the puzzle. And I still failed to spot it, despite seeing “the” and “lines”.

    Like bigjoemac I took a while to spot RUTHLESSNESS despite something similar having been seen quite recently.

    FOI CUTE
    LOI RUTHLESSNESS
    COD GATHERED
    TIME 3:57

  24. Finished it this morning before a day out. Straightforward but, once again, time rushed by and yet my time was 14.06. I had to check online to be sure about STOA and didn’t recognise peter/safe definition (although there is a distant memory of seeing it on a previous crossword). Another word beloved of setters that Joe Bloggs has never heard of. Thanks to both. John M.

    Edited at 2020-10-15 02:56 pm (UTC)

  25. Selwyn Lloyd was my “I remember him” too. I suspect one could have a fair stab at guessing people’s ages from who they thought of here!

    Cedric

  26. Slower than the last two days but still finished in a respectable (by my standards) 14 mins. Had met STOA and PETER before, so no problems there. Did not parse GATHERED and it seems a bit weak.

    FOI – 1ac CUTE
    LOI – 14dn GATHERED
    COD – 4dn SAFE AS HOUSES

  27. I’m starting to wonder whether a running theme is being started, wiyh Selwyn today after Magdalen yesterday, and previously Downing.
  28. … after yesterday’s super-fast run for a more normal 11 minutes, though for a Corelli that is not displeasing.

    I share the view that “Did mass” is not a wholly satisfactory phrase for gathered in 14D. It sounds forced and isn’t something one would naturally say. What’s wrong with “Collected, and understood” for an alternative clue? But apart from that, and a minor hesitation over Shrewd = cute in 1A, lots of very nice clues. The Peter = safe meaning I have met before, and the Stoa colonnade – but in both cases only in crosswordland!

    Many thanks to Rotter for the blog
    Cedric

  29. Who knows what tomorrow will bring! Any how, it didn’t seem like 17 minutes as we steadily progressed through the clues. Nothing too trying – just took us twice as long as yesterday to work out the answers. Thanks Corelli – we really enjoyed your puzzle.

    FOI: cute
    LOI: session
    COD: The Birds

    Thanks for the blog Rotter.

  30. When you sand wood you are not polishing it, you are preparing the surface to accept a polish which is then buffed
    1. I wondered about that, but then I looked in a dictionary: “VERB [WITH OBJECT] 1 Smooth or polish with sandpaper or a mechanical sander.”
    2. That worried me too. If I want to paint a shiny surface I sand it first to make it matt so the paint will adhere. Polishing follows sanding.
  31. Not just in crosswordland. In cops and robbers tv dramas the bank robbers always have a gang member who is the peterman, there to crack the safe – kap

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