Times Quick Cryptic No 1742 by Bob and Margaret

38 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1742 by Bob and Margaret”

1. 52m22s. FOI 1a. LOI 2d. Seeing Margaret’s name anagrammed in the credits, I thought that our friendly neighbourhood Lord of the Abyss of Hallucinations might be exerting an influence. Thanks to Bob, Margaret and Jeremy. Oh, and thanks for the glossary. BTW, I have seen “MER” a couple of times in comments. What is the meaning, please?
   1. I specifically do not use such TLAs because of their PTO. I believe MER = minor eyebrow raise; that is, a clue or definition of (slightly) questionable accuracy.

      I also believe there’s a glossary of these things somewhere. Maybe SCH?

      1. PTO = propensity to obfuscate
         SCH = someone can help
      2. The Glossary is under ‘Links’ towards the top of the blog, RH – as viewed on a PC anyway. The layout can vary depending on the device being used.
         1. The glossary has a slight error – for the DBE entry, it states that an impala is a deer. An impala is not a deer, it’s an antelope (antlers v horn and so on). Sorry to nitpick, but it might as well be correct!
            I don’t know who looks after the glossary, so perhaps someone who does can pass this on.
2. 7 minutes. I nearly faltered on my LOI, the random name at 9ac, but the checkers were helpful as they forced the second letter to be a vowel with ‘I’ as the only viable option.
3. I agree the RHS was pretty gentle but struggled on the left and in the SW in particular, finally crossing the line in a a little over 20m. Not helped by not spotting that REGAINED was an anagram, if I’d done that sooner I’ve might have been on to TROUBLE (change in Moscow – couldn’t make Perestroika fit in a seven letter clue), OCTAGON and ERRED rather quicker. Held up by MOLEST too, where the ‘in’ fooled me into wanting to insert MO rather than starting with it. That only finally fell when I saw ‘useless’ was an anagram indicator. I’m not the only one to find this hard – almost half the early leaderboard have a wonky letter! Well played Bob and Margaret, I was misdirected all over the place – and the clueing was fair so I didn’t even object to the garden stuff I’d never heard of being the answer.
4. Well, I beg to differ, Jeremy. I think you may find that this is a puzzle that divides opinion. I found this a strangely unsettling QC. I certainly began by flying smoothly but my wings gradually iced up and I slowly fell to earth in nearly 25 mins. Why? A different mindset from the usual setters?
   When I look back on the across clues, I have little to argue about – my fault that I was slow with STRATOSPHERIC (doh) and also with MOLEST and LIAM. I had a problem with EXHALE (mainly because I had biffed ‘TIP’ for CUE at 15d based on P for potter with ‘IT’ ignoring the lack of an indicator to reverse it). I was much too slow with the anagrams 3d & 6d (anagrams are normally my strong point) and with ERRED. I’ve never encountered LIANA before so this was a serious holdup and my LOI (especially since I had preferred LLAMA). I liked OCTAGON and thought that TROUBLE was brilliant – my COD. Thanks to B&M (we bought our house from another Bob and Margaret decades ago) for a challenging outing and to Jeremy for a clear blog. John M.

   Edited at 2020-11-11 09:16 am (UTC)

5. … as the long anagrams at 12A, 3D and 6D refused to yield quickly. Result was a 13 minute solve. A definite horticultural tinge to the puzzle too, which also played to my weak suit – I have vaguely heard of Lianas and Gardenias, but could not tell you what they look like, and I don’t think I have ever met Acanthi as the plural of Acanthus before at all!

   But a good puzzle with some nice clues; and in the nature of good puzzles, when one does finally find the answer to a chewy clue, one says “oh yes of course, why could I not see that”? COD for me 10A Patois: getting that not only brought a smile but also unlocked 3D Optional Extra and 2D Liana, my two LOIs.

   Many thanks to Jeremy for the blog
   Cedric

   1. Incidentally I think Bob & Margaret represent the 20th different setter we have seen just since the start of July, with (if my records are correct) no less than 8 of them posting no more than 2 puzzles and five indeed (Des, Juno, Alfie, Jalna and Bob & Margaret today) showing just the single entry in that time.
6. Was on for a good time before spending way too long on OPTONAL EXTRA/MOLEST/ABET. So I saw ABE, but was tempted by ABLE, and also had MO in the middle for a word like ALMOST. Eventually backtracked.

   Never occurred to me that LLAMA would not be 2d, since its just the kind of misdirection setters love. And surely a “mall” is a word for a spike in climbing, mining, artillery, heraldry or some other discipline.

   And three obscure plants (Liana, Acanthi and Gardenia) seems a bit tough.

   COD RIDES UP, for a clever &Lit.

   1. I did the same with LLAMA for similar reasons – I had never heard of the plant. Your approach to MOLEST mirrored mine, too. Nice to know someone else also found this QC tougher than Jeremy. John
7. Just about right for me. Had to think a bit on the left hand side but got there. No problem with the plants but the tropical vine Liana was POI. FOI Mattered. Liked Jerks, Trouble, Side, Optional Extra.

   Oh dear, just seen I missed out Molest, so a careless DNF. But feel happy all the same.

   Thanks all, as ever.

8. Once I got started with CLEO I made pretty quick progress. I knew all the plants for once and thought the hidden acanthi easy to spot, especially if you have any checkers ( same for gardenia).
   My LOI was LIAM. COD to LAIRD. Time: 09:02.
   David
9. Always a bold bit of blogging to say “this one’s a piece of cake”!

   No cake for me but no hard cheese either: as usual, some flew in, some made me suck my pencil and frown. OPTIONAL EXTRA jumped off the page but STRATOSPHERIC needed all the checkers. Thank goodness ACANTHI was a hidden.

   FOI CLEO, LOI MOLEST, COD JEROBOAM (who doesn’t love an Old Testament king?), time 8:20 for an estimated 2K and a Good Day.

   Thanks Jeremy and Bob and Margaret and Rita and Sue.

   Templar

   1. Thanks for the reminder of that film…”I thought I were great…”

      At least I hope that’s what you were referring to!

      1. It was!
10. Not too easy for me either, taking me to 17 minutes and over-target completion. MOLEST was LOI after initially looking for MO inside a four letter word for ‘case’. I only got there in the end after spotting OPTIONAL EXTRA which took an age to come to me. MARGARET is MARAGRET in the iPad edition – I assume that’s just a typo, and what so_it_went is referring to above. I don’t think I have come across them before either blogging or solving. Thanks to them anyway, and to Jeremy for the blog.
11. I made hard work of this, not helped by struggling on all the long clues and a strange inability to spot anagrams e.g. 21a and 4a. For some reason I was convinced that the second word of 6d was going to be TABLES so spent some time trying to work out what the first part could be before deciding to come back once I had some checkers. I also fell into the trap of wanting to put MO into the middle of 16a, which ended up being my LOI.
    Despite my struggles I enjoyed the puzzle whilst realising that I need to improve my biblical knowledge. Finished in 13.17, COD to PUS
    Thanks to Jeremy
12. I completed most of the grid within my target 10 minutes although LIANA was an unknown wholly reliant on the word play. Ditto PATOIS. I then spent 5 minutes looking at 16a MOLEST and despite numerous alphabet trawls I couldn’t get to the answer. Hopefully that will be the last time I get caught out by MO for modus operandi. Thanks Bob, Margaret and Jeremy.
13. A steady solve for me, starting with CLEO and finishing with MOLEST. 8:55. Thanks Bob and Margaret and Jeremy.
14. Generally enjoyed it thanks setter(s) and blogger. The plants were mainly accessible through the clueing, but the frequency of them reminded me of the Sunday Express GK which my mother in law liked to do but which I never enjoyed. (full of obscure Latin names for unheard of plants)
15. I was feeling fairly satisfied with myself that I’d completed this in 20 mins – but fell into the Llama trap. I’ve said many times before, as I couldn’t directly parse it I should have known better, but thought the “Al” might have something to do with Aluminium. I don’t garden, so have zero knowledge on plants/shrubs, and only ever get the answers if they’re hidden clues or it looks like there’s an “ia” on the end, so perhaps I can take solace in that.

    I don’t recall seeing Bob and Margaret before, but all I could think of was some 70’s type British children’s cartoon with a dog and cat and their everyday adventures, perhaps in the vein of Rhubarb and Custard and such like.

    Anyway, the rest of the puzzle I enjoyed, although I didn’t think it was that straightforward. Both 3dn “Optional Extras” and 16ac “Molest” took longer than they should and I wasn’t too convinced by 21ac “Regained”. 4ac “Jeroboam” was a fingers crossed moment that I had the vowels in the right place.

    FOI – 1ac “Cleo”
    LOI – 16ac “Molest”
    COD – 13dn “Trouble”

    Thanks as usual.

16. Well, well, well! Fascinating to see how people did on this one. I guess I had it pegged wrong. I didn’t feel I had a particularly good time on this one, mind you, going by my usual solving time. It’s just that the wordplay indication seems to be very, very bare and straightforward, perhaps with one or two exceptions. But, maybe I got it wrong. Or maybe the vocabulary was harder? I learned LIANA as one of my first US crossword words, 20-ish years ago. (Along with ELAN, ECLAT, and others.)
17. I agree with those who found it less easy than Jeremy makes out. I had all except 3dn and 16ac in 16 mins – a reasonable time for me. I then stared at these last two for a full 6 minutes before realising that 3dn was an anagram. Completing that made it clear that my attempts (and those of quite a few others by the looks of it) to put MO in the middle of a four letter word for case to solve 16ac were wrong. Once I had realised this MOLEST fell almost immediately. I knew the plants, although I don’t remember seeing the plural of acanthus before. Nice puzzle – thanks to Bob and Margaret and to Jeremy for the blog.

    FOI – 1ac CLEO
    LOI – 16ac MOLEST
    COD – 2dn LIANA

18. Struggled a bit with this, and thought 23mins was going to look slow again, but I see others found this difficult as well. Started briskly enough with 1ac/2d, but left 4ac until later, which on reflection was a mistake, as it wasn’t that difficult as far as anagrams go. That made Balance Sheets and Jerks my last pair, after a long pause and alphabet trawl for 16ac Molest. CoD to 5d Rides Up, a nose ahead of Jerks. Invariant

    On edit: Today’s 15×15 is reasonably friendly, with just a couple of ‘trust the cryptic’ answers.

    Edited at 2020-11-11 07:10 pm (UTC)

19. It took me a while to get into this one and I struggled with the plants but there were some enjoyable clues along the way including MATTERED, PATOIS and MOLEST.
    I enjoyed working out the long anagrams which certainly helped to provide some much-needed checkers.
    My COD goes to SONATA which I thought was very cleverly clued and raised a smile.
    Thanks to Bob and Margaret for a 19-minute workout and also to Jeremy for his blog and helpful glossary.
20. but no beast. 6:20. Pleased that two of the plants were hiddens, and I know LIANA, as that’s what Tarzan swung from.
    1. I knew I’d known Liana since days of yore. Tarzan, of course !
21. Zipped through most of this, then struggled with MOLEST to finish it.
22. But it was still fun and only took me an additional 6 minutes so I am still pleased and rate this a Good Day.

    I knew LIANA straight away because I am going through books of old QC puzzles and, by chance, I came across this same climbing plant yesterday. The clue, from 2015, was “Climber needing a pin to go up” which is nearly identical to today’s. With JEROBOAM, it was obvious what the answer had to be but I only knew this word as a measurement of champagne bottle (through hearsay, not experience, I hastily add!). I came a cropper on 17 across, though, EXHALE, because, as soon as I saw the clue, I bunged in “expire” , reasoning that stopping expiration would definitely make you “no longer healthy”. Eek. Anyway, 6 down, BALANCE SHEETS soon put paid to that. I very much liked 15 down, CUE – I think that’s really clever.
    Thanks. Jeremy, for the great blog, and thanks, too, to Bob and Margaret. (Coincidentally, the names of my parents – thus, I immediately felt on-side).

    Edited at 2020-11-11 01:24 pm (UTC)

23. A game of two halves for me, as the saying goes. I was rattling along quite nicely, slowed down considerably (two of the long anagrams seemed to take forever) and finally failed at MOLEST even though I have watched enough detective series to know what an MO is.
    Good challenge setter.
    PlayUpPompey
24. ….that nobody has connected 10D with 8A. I enjoyed this, and 5D made me laugh.

    FOI CLEO
    LOI CUE
    COD RIDES UP
    TIME 3:39

    1. Can you enlighten us on the connection?
25. I’d not come across Patois before and Liana hadn’t stuck in the brain cells – thanks to the contributor above for the Tarzan mention – I really must remember this – so I put in Llama.
    Otherwise 21 minutes of intrigue and head-scratching! Took ages to get Stratospheric.
    Much to enjoy.
    Yesterday’s was a cricketing Nina which was spotted late in the day FYI. At test as well.
    But thanks all for today. Lessons learnt (I hope)
    John George
26. Did this late as I was working today and was a bit disappointed not to get under 20 minutes as I motored through quite a lot of it. Ended up with 20:31, but I now see that’s pretty respectable. One of those occasions that I think I might actually be getting better at this. LOI MOLEST, CsOD to PATOIS and ABET. Thanks Jeremy and B&M
27. If b and m do more I for one hope they get over their gardening obsession
28. We enjoyed the challenge of this tough puzzle which took us 24 minutes to finish. We completed the majority of the grid quite quickly but got bogged down in the SW corner. Thanks to Bob & Margaret.

    FOI: Cleo
    LOI: molest
    COD: optional extra

    Thanks to Jeremy for the blog.

Comments are closed.