Times Quick Cryptic No 1759 by Pedro

78 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1759 by Pedro”

1. Just about as tough as can be, while still allowing me to finish. Everything was fair; just none of my ideas were right.
2. 16 minutes. Very hard.
3. …substantial difficulty, for me, anyway. I had to stop to parse malleable and rancorous, just to make sure they were right, but even with all those crossing letters I struggled a bit. Getting tell me about it early on was a big breakthrough – if only I could have got umbrella stand, but that was my LOI.
4. Only four on the first pass and then tough to the end for an all green finish in 20m. I had to solve from what fitted and then see why it might be right so I made use of quite a few of the hints today, including: ASCETIC, ROMCOM, BARCELONA and COSTUME DRAMA. It worked the other way with the unknown LARIAT but not before I stared at the clue for a long time. Trouble all over the grid but especially in the SW. Special mention to 8a where I didn’t separate ‘very’ from ‘close to home’ and so was trying to justify ‘local’ for ages (which made COVET very hard).
5. Oh dear. Just managed to finish under an hour.
   I knew it was a toughie (Friday) when I had a quick skim through to pick out the easy ones and got to the last with nothing!
   Couldn’t have got ROMCOM without the crossers but suspected MC somewhere.
   LOI. LARIAT.
   Always struggle with the clues with missing letters and this was no exception.
   Put in EWE (East West East) before realising it was EYE. Lots of clever surfaces leading to an enjoyable but very challenging solve.
   Thank you Pedro and John for the deconstruction. Have a good weekend.
6. At the moment stone cold last of the all correct finishers but as Jeremy says all fair and above board. Hopefully that’s sharpened the mind for the Friday 15×15. Thank you John for the blog, it wasn’t just the SW corner that held me up, all four managed it. Thanks Pedro.
7. For those of a certain age ROMCOM is ‘a romantic comedy’.
   As it was a Friday I was held up on the late train for 15 minutes.

   FOI 17ac EYE

   LOI 1dn COVET! due to local/focal problems.

   COD 5dn UMBRELLA STAND – as Joe Bloggs notes some long cluing hereabouts I prefer a touch of brevity.

   WOD 15dn ROMCOM

   I don’t really think of BARCELONA as a port, but it is!

   This puzzle will sort out ‘the men from the boys’ and the ‘dames from the damsels’!

   Edited at 2020-12-04 08:24 am (UTC)

8. Agree that clues are much too long to unravel. This is supposed to be QUICK cryptic.
9. 20 minutes and some tough going. I should have got MALLEABLE earlier than I did, fortunately, COUNTRY MUSIC and the two long down answers occurred to me quite early in proceedings, otherwise I would have been slower. Thanks Pedro and John.
10. Could not get started on this one. Just too difficult for a Quick Cryptic. This setter should not be used for this level of crossword. You should give people a chance.
11. FOI: 17a EYE
    LOI: 7d ATTEND

    30 Minute Mark: 6 answered
    60 Minute Mark: 13 answered

    Total Answered: 13 of 24

    I really did struggle with this one, with some minutes passing before I managed to get FOI.

    3d TELL ME ABOUT IT came to me when I said to myself, “this is a difficult one”, and then I immediately responded with “tell me about it!”. Light bulb moment!

    I also wasted a lot of time on 22a when I was trying to think of the titles of historical plays.

    So, a little disappointed with my efforts here, but I admit to feeling a little better about my efforts when I saw some of the more intelligent than me regulars here (I’m looking at you, therotter 😛 ) stating they found it tough going.

    1. I think you mean practiced rather then intelligent PW. I’ve never been knowingly described as intelligent before!
       1. Get used to it!
          Meldrew
       2. Perhaps, but it’s you I aim to be as good as.
    2. Well, you should ask yourself why you didn’t get the ones you didn’t get. If you know the word, and you know the words that make up the wordplay, what stopped you?
       1. What stopped me is very oblique clues like 5d. Eventually biffed but, despite the blog, still not clear how it works.
12. … so very pleased with my 16 minute finish, doubly so as I DNF his last two offerings. And even more chuffed when I see some of the times and comments from much more experienced solvers than me. I have thought for a few days that we are on a run of generally more difficult puzzles (the comments suggest I am not alone in this), so I checked the numbers. My long term average solve time is about 12m 30s, but for the last fortnight it has been 14m 50s.

    This was another hard workout – the long anagrams did not come easily, and my LOI 13D Lariat needed a word search (the checkers L-R-A- did not give much away!). Not sure if I have ever heard the word before, so one to store away.

    Many thanks John for the blog, and I look forward to the latest Saturday Special. One small point; in 16A I think the anagram construction is OUR SCORN* around A, not AN.

    A good weekend to all
    Cedric

    1. Oops. Thanks. I’ll correct the blog.
13. After 30 mins I’ve got 6 clues. Either I’m being particularly stupid this morning or this is hard. Anyway, will carry on and see if I manage to finish it.
14. A typical Pedro QC – tough but with just enough imagination, style, difficulty, and downright oddness to keep me moving round and round the grid until it all fell into place, taking me a couple of seconds over 25 mins, all parsed.
    Not really a Quick Cryptic but a good puzzle for those with some experience. Very tough for newer solvers, I’m sure, and a bit dispiriting for a Friday.
    Too many good clues to list but (I started to list my favourites and just deleted them all because there were too many) – almost every one ‘a winner’. The only slight mis-step was ROMCOM; I agree with Horryd about the romantic comedy. Many thanks to Pedro for a superb but testing puzzle that was halfway to a 15×15 and to John for a focussed, helpful blog. John M.

    Edited at 2020-12-04 09:48 am (UTC)

15. I’m glad it wasn’t just me. I would have been pleased with 7.52. It must have taken most of that to put in my first entry – eye – no great achievement. But it did come together in about 20 in the end. I agree there was nothing particularly unfair so I think it’s a wavelength thing. Definitely tough though! Thanks Pedro and johninterred
16. If the Snitch applied to the quick puzzle I wager this would be dark red. Several of the clues would do well for the 15×15. Definitely not one for beginners. Barry J
17. Agree this was a tough challenge. My time was 21:17 with LOI ROMCOM. After FOI TAR very little of this came easily but it was all fair in the end-if you had the crossword experience. Very little GK needed, only Barcelona, although I was looking for a Shakespeare play at 22a to begin with.
    COD to COUNTRY MUSIC. David
18. Considering I was about to give up after 30 minutes, I persevered and nearly completed it. 19ac “Ascetic” and consequently 20dn “Coo” became the stumbling blocks, but that was after an hours toiling.

    I agree that, in hindsight, there was nothing really unfair, but I couldn’t really call it a quick cryptic. The main problem for me was that I was instantly waylaid by biffing 1dn as “Inlet” (after 10ac “Tar” was my FOI). This just completely screwed up any answers for 1ac and 8ac and sent me into a general tizz for the rest of the grid.

    Pedro is good at misdirection and sent me off all over the places: book genres for 1ac, “crabs” for 19ac, “nose” for 9ac etc etc. Liked 12dn “Barcelona” and 5dn “Umbrella Stand”, but DNK 13dn “Lariat”.

    A tough end to the week, and to be honest I can’t say I massively enjoyed it.

    FOI – 10ac “Tar”
    LOI – dnf
    COD – 5dn “Umbrella Stand”

    Thanks as usual.

    1. “… to be honest I can’t say I massively enjoyed it.”

       I find this a surprising but not uncommon sentiment on this site and I think it must be due to the emphasis it places on timings. But if you ignore that aspect and just consider that you solved a tougher (for its class) than usual crossword that was chock full of lovely clues, doesn’t that count for something?

       I personally get far more enjoyment and satisfaction from solving a puzzle like this than I ever do when the majority of answers are write-ins. There again, I’m not really bothered about how long it takes me – or anyone else for that matter – as long as I get there eventually.

       1. Completely agree. Why spend time on a puzzle with write-in answers? These were good, fun, clues, although as I often find, my brain took time to tune-in to the setter’s wavelength. Taking a long break in the middle helped, too, with the brain subconsciously turning pre-break posers into post-break simples.
          1. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the clues – I really do – but, as some have already said, it’s supposed to be a “quick” crossword.

             Like many, I usually have a time limit (30 to 45 mins) – not because I’m obsessed with improving my time (although I am trying to get better), but because I literally cannot spend all day doing them at my leisure as I have other things I have to do.

       2. Perhaps some solvers have other demands on their time. Too many tricky ‘quick’ cryptic crosswords in a week can be a little dispiriting and this week seems to have had more than it’s fair share. Yes, I enjoy solving tougher clues but can also say that I rarely attempt the 15×15 except at the weekends because I would have to set aside upwards of an hour to do it justice.
       3. I’m the same, anon, I switch off the timer, work out all the clues and enjoy the challenge.
19. DNF on ROMCOM and ATTEND. A lot of hard yakka today. Looking forward to Phil tomorrow!

    Thanks Pedro and John.

    Templar

20. When I saw Pedro’s name at the top of the puzzle, I thought I might need to employ the spare neuron, and I was right! ICE and TAR were my first 2 in. TELL ME ABOUT IT was a big help, but UMBRELLA STAND didn’t arrive until COSTUME DRAMA gave me the last crosser for STAND. That allowed me to get my penultimate, AMBIENT, and I went back to 1d, where a new take on 8a let me see VOCAL instead of LOCAL and finally see COVET. A tough challenge indeed! 17:53. Thanks Pedro and John.
21. Found this very hard going. Got stuck in SE and SW corners. 34.14, well above my target of 20 . In the end had to guess quite a few. Found it hard for a QC, but enjoyed it, and hey, good practice. Well done Pedro and thanks for the explanations John, makes it all worthwhile ( I think ?)
22. Too hard and DNF. LARIAT, COOL, ASCETIC, ROMCOM, ICE not solved. This is beyond Quick Cryptic level.
23. Finished in one fell swoop. Must have been on the right wavelength for a change.
    FOI TELL ME ABOUT IT

    Liked Country Music, Vocal, Umbrella Stand. Lurid was clever.

    Lots of biffing as usual. Romcom was write in but I didn’t stop to parse. LOsI Ambient and Attend.

    Maybe I am improving at last, thanks to the bloggers. One thing that helped was the lack of obscure vocabulary.

    Edited at 2020-12-04 12:50 pm (UTC)

    1. I’m impressed that Ascetic is not obscure for you! I will try and use it today in an EMail.
       1. My GK is weak on science, economics and maths. Then there are some obscure-to-me sports and games.
          Horses for courses today ( which I do know about!)
          1. Quite agree. Give me science, art and maths. If it’s about horses, unless the question relates to the number of legs or the answer is The Derby, I haven’t a clue.
             Can’t say I found it easy going (a racing term?) as I had a lot of refusals and was generally unseated.
24. There’s no stupidity factor – this is very tough !
25. ….and took me 40% over my target time. Perhaps too tricky for a QC, it felt like a shrunken 15×15. However, it was beautifully clued, and, for those newbies who aspire to greater things, taking time to analyse John’s blog can only help them to progress.

    FOI TAR
    LOI BARCELONA
    COD UMBRELLA STAND
    TIME 7:04

    1. Hi Phil, thank you so much for an excellent crossword. We really enjoyed it – some great clues!
26. I got eye and extra and my first go through. After looking at the clues for another 20 minutes I gave up. Really unsuitable for a QC and does not give starters any chance at all. NOT FUN
    1. I think some of the comments from newer solvers above make the point that, despite this being a hard AC, there can be fun from trying, getting a few, and then learning from other posters and from the blog.
       None of us sailed through the QC early on (and some of us haven’t done so for most of this week) but the pleasure that comes from gradually improving and having more and more ‘penny drop’ moments does build with time.
       The big difference with this QC is the explanations, support and mutual comfort that comes from the bloggers and from fellow posters. They always help to keep things in perspective even though some of the speed merchants do annoy one sometimes with their off-hand, self-deprecating remarks….🙄
       It is a good and varied community.
       Keep at it. I did and am glad. John
       1. I broadly agree, but I think Anon’s post shows there is a point where it can be seriously off putting to make no progress with a quick cryptic. He/she might not return to fight another day if this was their first attempt. By all means designate Friday, say, as the difficult day and provide a halfway house puzzle for those wanting to step up to the 15×15, but flag it up in advance. Invariant
          1. I hear what you say about ‘off-putting’ puzzles but beg to differ on the way of dealing with them.
             We have seen this week that some QCs that many regular solvers have found difficult have been a doddle for a few other regular solvers (i.e. not the racers who always find the QC easy). It can depend on mood, being on the right wavelength, time of day and many other factors apart from experience. It has been interesting over the months and years how many new (and initially slow and frustrated) solvers have soldiered on and are now beating some of us hands down.
             I don’t believe that the variation in difficulty can be quantified for such a diverse group as ours.
             With that in mind, ‘flagging up’ a difficult puzzle would be the source of yet more argument on how ‘difficult’ it was. More importantly, seeing the statement ‘This puzzle is a difficult QC’ before solving would put off many and certainly risk being self-fulfilling.
             Part of dealing with crosswords is learning to deal with the ups and downs and looking for the pleasure of solving/part solving a puzzle and not just in being focussed simply on time taken (even though most of us do make a point of mentioning this!). John M

             Edited at 2020-12-04 03:26 pm (UTC)

             1. Yes and no. I entirely agree that it is sometimes difficult for an experienced solver to identify what a less experienced solver will struggle with in advance (though I noticed that Janla said that they and the Editor had recognised, in advance, that Wednesday’s puzzle was at the harder end of the spectrum…). However, it should be possible to design a halfway house puzzle that was deliberately harder than the standard QC: after all, the 15×15 is not just bigger, but the clues are a tad harder as well 🙂
                1. There’s a balance to be had I think between difficulty in solving (because of GK or the harder end of clueing) but making it accessible for people to complete within a reasonable time scale.

                   A lot of us if we had all day to think about it would probably get through the majority of QC’s (there’s always going to be some with the odd word(s) that we don’t know) – but because we all have different time frames to work within it can often cloud our judgment of a particular puzzle.

                   I mentioned the other day that I feel I can move onto something harder than the QC – but am not good enough (nor do I have the time) to do the big 15×15 every day.

                   As a result, I have started doing the Guardian main cryptic every now and then – mainly because I can probably complete about 75% of it rather than 25% of the Times. (It’s also free).

27. Just scraped in below 20 minutes, so in a satisfying hard-but-doable zone. It seemed to go steadily in a couple of laps. COD the particularly pleasing ATTEND. kap
28. Sheesh, that was a tough work out. Lots of clues involve replacing or dropping a letter. Those are hard to unpick.

    I really don’t like “without” to mean “include”. That’s just compilers being cruel, no-one in the real world uses “without” this way. The only examples ever quoted are “There is a Green hill” and two City churches. That clue was hard enough (especially as ‘ER’ and ‘AH’ are just as acceptable for hesitation.

    Pedro catching a few of the gullible, at 11 until they had too many letters.

    ASCETIC is a tough word with ‘Aesthetic’ being close, along with aesthete, ascete, caustic. At one point I was thinking that the ligature ‘AE’ (æ = Alt 0230 on my keyboard) might be needed. It seemed so hard today, that was a possibility.

    COD : YEARLY

    1. I admire getting the letter Æ out of your keyboard! I think it does still exist in English just about, eg mediæval or æon, but it would be an exceptionally brave setter (and editor) who included it in a grid.

       In Spanish the letter ‘LL’ is considered one letter (in most dictionaries it comes after and is separate from L) and I have seen crosswords which expect you to put LL into one cell. Interesting if it is a checker …

       Cedric

29. This is a first for me; the Quickie took longer than the 15×15 today! Around the 45 minute mark compared with 40 for the big one earlier today. I normally complete the Quickie in about 10 minutes, so definitely not on the right wavelength for this one. Normally do the Quickie in the evening after a glass or two of wine, so maybe that’s where I’ve gone wrong today……
30. So this week’s solving has been slow, quick, slow, quick, slow. FOI was TAR followed by MALLEABLE. Seemingly there were very few write ins….LLAMA, BARCELONA and EYE were mine. I also wrote in EXTRA but missed the hidden initially. MY LOI was ROMCOM. 16:16 and more than twice my solving time yesterday. Thanks John for the blog.
31. Not sure what’s going on at the moment, but two DNFs in the same week is very unusual. Struggled from the start with this, and even an early Tell Me About It didn’t open the flood gates, in fact the tap didn’t get past a dribble. Having finally seen off the NE corner (Ambient, Attend, Lurid), I ran out of steam in the SW with Romcom (should have got that), Coo (could have got that) and Ascetic (never in with a chance). Hard yards from start to finish. My commiserations to newbies – it’s not normally like this. Invariant
32. but excellent puzzle.

    FOI TAR, LOI ATTEND, lots of good clues; LARIAT, ASCETIC, COUNTRY MUSIC.

    10:58.

33. I love it when, on the rare occasion, we achieve a very fast time. However, we find it even more satisfying when we struggle through a toughie and complete it – even if it did take us 26 minutes. So, Steed and Mrs Peel enjoyed Pedro’s QC today as that which does not kill us can only make us stronger!

    FOI: tar
    LOI: adopt
    COD: so many to choose from but we liked rancorous, Barcelona, umbrella stand

    Thanks for the blog John. We’re looking forward to having a go at Phil’s weekend QC 😀

34. Even after 4 years practice this had about 6 clues I had no chance with.
35. I’m with countrywoman on this one in that I found it easier than most Pedro puzzles. I finished within my target time on 18 minutes. Couldn’t parse LARIAT and didn’t stop to parse BARCELONA or ASCETIC as they had to be right from the crossers. Otherwise, for once, not a problem.

    FOI – 11ac MALLEABLE
    LOI – 1dn COVET
    COD – 3dn TELL ME ABOUT IT

36. … And that’s my 2nd DNF in a week. Not great. It might be partly because I had to keep leaving it to do yuletide things like bake mince pies and put up lights. I never really got going on this and now it’s nearly dark outside. The usual shootings of oneself in the foot today made solving that bit harder, too. I put in ‘loose’ for 14 across, LURID, reasoning that it was LSE (London University ) plus OO (sensational ). That held me up for ages until BARCELONA arrived. The ones that eluded me entirely were ASCETIC where I was looking for a crab and COSTUME DRAMA where I was looking for a play about ‘*o*t*m* Diana “. Maybe I would have got them eventually but I’d lost the will to live by then. If today’s puzzle is really “halfway to a 15×15 “, then they will always and forever be beyond my ken. Thanks, John for your cheerful encouragement and thanks to Pedro
    1. I put in ‘loose’ for 14 across, LURID, reasoning that it was LSE (London University ) plus OO (sensational ).

       Well I was just about to say the same! “Pleased” it wasn’t just me 🙂 Of course I forgot the Golden Rule – if a clue isn’t working out, check the crossers. Once I’d twigged LURID, ATTEND fell straight into place (had been wondering where on earth the D was going). But it wasted huge amounts of time going nowhere and I limped in hurt in 21+ minutes. It was a bit harder than normal though …

       to do yuletide things like bake mince pies and put up lights
       Christmas? It’s not for three week surely? [looks puzzled]

       H

       1. Just put the tree up….
          1. Bah, humbug !
37. Needed aids for some of this. Was totally misled by climate change in clue for umbrella stand and was sure Barcelona had barnacle as its marine creature.
    1. Spanish city finds confused Marine creature with nothing in it (9)
38. We also found this difficult and had to seek some help to finish, but we are glad we preserved. LOI 5d, clever clue that did not fall until we had some crossers. We are not quick solvers and enjoy the different levels of difficulty, otherwise it would become boring. Thanks for the generally useful and informative comments above, the blog and Pedro.
39. Had to use aids today, but got there eventually. Only 1 across and 1 down solved on first pass – and they intersected in an unhelpful place: 17a/18d. Found the NE the most difficult. I insisted on parsing everything as I went to be sure I wasn’t fouling up later chances. LOI 6d as I couldn’t really decide between IRE and ICE – probably more than a bit punch-drunk by then! COD either 5d or 7d – respectfully for misdirection and being clever, or possibly 21a for construction. Took ages over 9a where I worked out AMI had to be in there but then was stuck for a good while. I admit to my brain being slow today and otherwise would have expected 1a and 22a to come to mind much quicker. For example, 1d came immediately once I had the last letter. I could see 13 was lariat but spent time on the parsing to be sure; ditto 13a llama. I print off the Times app edition and my A4 sheet is pretty full of workings.
    I usually find Pedro tricky but it was fair enough, just a bit dense and hard going today. A real pickaxe and shovel job.
    John – I was heartened to read that you needed 50% extra time, and then crushed to see 7.52. Like your blog though.
    To those who found it hard, I would echo the advice given above – forget the time, use aids when stuck, enjoy the solve and learn from the blog.

    Edited at 2020-12-04 05:28 pm (UTC)

40. Came to this late today and, like others, found it hard going. I was slow all over the grid but can’t believe how long it took me to get the MUSIC part of 1a – it was my POI and finally lead me to UMBRELLA STAND. I also find wordy clues the hardest but it got my COD. Finished in 17.45 with ASCETIC unparsed.
    Thanks to John
41. Glad everybody (just about) found this one tough. I wouldn’t have said it was at the very top of the difficulty scale – I did finish after all, and under the hour – but it was getting there. I only got five on my first pass, but after that it was a slow but steady solve, eventually stopping my watch on 56:22, though the last three minutes of that was spent trying to think of an alternative to LARIAT after I had put it in. I think I had thought of that a few minutes before I actually wrote it in too. I was most relieved to come on here and find it was correct. I think it may have come up once before. If so, I hope I do a better job of remembering it this time. The only other comment I would make is to object at ROMCOM being clued as “Funny film”. In my experience, most of them are anything but, but thanks anyway Pedro and John
42. Definitely too tough for me. I got about half way before I had to resort to aids. Even then, there were several I couldn’t parse and needed the blog. Confused by 9ac – it says one in the morning, so I was sure that the i had to be inside am, not inside bent. Not even convinced bent=put out of joint, either!

    Still don’t understand umbrella stand, despite the explanation in the blog. Rain is weather, not climate, and why ‘restrains’?

    Ho hum – it’s been a tough week of QCs for me but I’ll try not to get discouraged. Maybe next week will be better..

    1. You put your umbrella up when it’s raining and take it down again afterwards. The stand restrains (holds) the umbrella upright to drain, but you are quite right about weather/climate.
       1. Thanks, rather too oblique for me!
43. Very enjoyable, but I have been doing cryptic crosswords for over 50 years.
    The Times Quick Cryptic is a brilliant introduction to “proper” crosswords but most of this one should be in a midweek 15×15.
    Not often that the QC takes longer than the Cryptic!
44. Sort of thing that makes you think you will try the Telegraph at last, like a lot of my friends, because even the QC doesnt agree with you anymore.
    1. Well yes…..if you can bear to read the Telegraph !
       1. Their crossword used to be ridiculously easy at one point (one of my colleagues did it each day), nearly every clue was an anagram or a hidden. Somebody told me that they’d switched to using computer-generated puzzles, and I guess that these two contructs are relatively easy for a computer to come up with. After a few months I think they gave the computer the old heave-ho. It was still pretty easy though 🙂

          H

       2. I always enjoy the Torygraph Cryptic but I only do it when I get a free copy in Waitrose and I ignore the rest of the paper.
          I must say my other favourite Cryptic is in Private Eye. It always raises a smile and there are some clever clues. It takes me longer than the Times QC but I always complete it.

          Edited at 2020-12-05 10:21 am (UTC)

45. Can’t believe we finished that. Abandoned it at about the halfway mark, after about 40 minutes or so, took a break and suddenly whizzed through the rest. Finished SW corner first, which appears unusual going by other comments. Stunned to complete, but wasn’t exactly a fun outing. Lengthy lengthy clues.
    Tim (not that Tim)
46. I think that the editor must communicate with us. For years and years the QC has been a jolly solve in about 15 joyful minutes for most of us and we hate the Times on Saturday for its lack of a QC. Recently we have had a succession of extremely difficult QC’s with one exception (Hurley). Can we have a mission statement from the editor concerning his perspectives. Today’s QC was indistinguishable from the 15 x 15 imho.
    1. Strongly agree. This blog is usually cheerful, upbeat and occasionally somewhat rueful as regulars admit to a blind spot or momentary stupidity. In the last two weeks we have had regular contributors saying “that was considerably harder than usual” and even “I did not enjoy that much”, and newer solvers saying “I simply can’t do this”.

       I’m less fussed about regulars taking a few minutes longer, but every new solver who gives up is a convert to this entertaining pastime lost. Which is surely not the object of the QC.

       Cedric

47. It’s time for Izzeti to audit the QC. He has the perfect understanding of what the QC is all about.

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