Times Quick Cryptic No 1772 by Mara

Author   plusjeremyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Introduction

12:08, with nearly half that time spent on 12 Across. The vast majority of the puzzle went in quite easily, so I imagine I’ll be outpaced by many.

Solutions

A brief summary of cryptic crosswords —feel free to skip— :

  • Each clue has at least one “definition”: an unbroken string of words which more-or-less straightforwardly indicates the answer. A definition can be as simple as a one-word synonym; but it can also be a descriptive phrase like ‘I’m used to wind’ for REEL or SPOOL. A definition by example must be indicated by a phrase like ‘for example’, or, more commonly, a question mark (?). Thus ‘color’ is a definition of RED, while ‘red, for example’ or ‘red?’ are definitions of COLOR. Punctuation (and capitalization) is otherwise irrelevant.

  • Each clue may also have an unbroken string of words which indicates the answer through wordplay, such as: using abbreviations; reversing the order of letters; indicating particular letters (first, last, outer, middle, every other, etc); placing words inside other words; rearranging letters (anagrams); replacing words by words that sound alike (homophones); and combinations of the above. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but the general theme is to reinterpret ordinary words as referring to letters, so that for example ‘lion’s head’ indicates the first letter of LION: namely, L.

  • Definitions and wordplay cannot overlap. The only other words allowed in clues are linking words or phrases that combine these. Thus we may see, for example: “(definition) gives (wordplay)” or “(definition) and (definition)” or “(wordplay) is (definition)”.

  • The most common clues have either two definitions, or one definition plus wordplay, in either order. But a single, very misleading definition is not uncommon, and very occasionally a definition can also be interpreted as wordplay leading to the same answer. Triple definitions (and more) are also possible.

My conventions in the solutions below are to underline definitions (including a defining phrase); put linking words in [brackets]; and put all wordplay indicators in boldface. I also use a solidus (/) to help break up the clue where necessary, especially for double definitions without linking words.

After the solutions, I list all the wordplay indicators and abbreviations in a Glossary.

Across

8 Early moves / to screen commercial earlier (7)
ALREADY – anagram of EARLY around AD
9 Coffee: second of two cut (5)
LATTE – LATTER without the last letter
10 Bingo / audience (5)
HOUSE – double definition
Didn’t know the first definition at all. Apparently, ‘house’ is another name for the game, according to Chambers: “especially when played for money”.
11 Male is upset / with son lacking in purpose (7)
AIMLESS – MALE IS anagrammed + S
12 Spattered red wine covering complete quilt (9)
EIDERDOWN – anagram of RED WINE around DO
Couldn’t tell you why this took me so long to see.
14 Ruin mood and rioting starts (3)
MAR – first letters of MOOD AND RIOTING
16 Take in sci-fi film about aliens primarily (3)
EAT – E.T. around first letter of ALIENS
18 Hiding expression of pain, crying — turning somewhat pale? (9)
YELLOWING – YELLING around OW
I believe what’s meant here is ‘yellow’ and ‘turn pale’ in the sense of ‘become frightened’.
21 Type of onion: chance to consume the lot (7)
SHALLOT – SHOT around ALL
22 Author / moving quickly (5)
SWIFT – double definition
23 Twelve dozen / glaring (5)
GROSS – double definition
24 Nearest orders coming from China, perhaps? (7)
EASTERN – anagram of NEAREST

Down

1 Money only [for] material (8)
CASHMERE – CASH + MERE
2 Earth, good and spherical (6)
GROUND – G + ROUND
3 Story, last part recited (4)
TALE – homophone of TAIL
4 Energy producer held up by so many delays (6)
DYNAMO – hidden, reversed in SO MANY DELAYS
5 Winger on fire getting / second of goals (8)
FLAMINGO – FLAMING + O
6 Brook runs into vapour (6)
STREAM – R in STEAM
7 Shambles [getting] yours truly on ship (4)
MESS – ME + SS
13 Boy on a register, supporter of the Stuarts (8)
ROYALIST – ROY + A LIST
15 Paste: fix a large plateful, last of spaghetti (8)
RIGATONI – RIG A TON + last letter of SPAGHETTI
My puzzle had ‘paste’, but I wonder if this will be ‘pasta’ on the Club.
17 Time a poet composed something for the breakfast table? (6)
TEAPOT – T + A POET anagrammed
19 Beastly offspring, / rubbish (6)
LITTER – double definition
20 Flowers: one comes up (6)
IRISES – I + RISES
21 Silly originally, time [to get] wise (4)
SAGE – first letter of SILLY + AGE
22 Somewhat talentless, a shocking band (4)
SASH – hidden in TALENTLESS A SHOCKING

Glossary

Wordplay indicators

about = containment (could also be reversal or C, CA, RE, ON)
and = next to
composed = anagram
(to) consume = containment
covering = containment
cut = remove last letter
for = linking word
getting = linking word, or next to
held up by = hidden in reverse (in a Down clue)
hiding = containment
into = containment
last of = last letter
moves = anagram
on = next to
orders = anagram
originally = first letter (could also be anagram)
primarily = first letter
recited = homophone
(to) screen = containment (as in ‘shield’)
second of = second letter
somewhat = hidden
spattered = anagram
starts = first letters of several words
upset = anagram
with = next to (could also be W)

Abbreviations and little bits

boy = ROY (and many others)
commercial = AD
expression of pain = OW
good = G
one = I
runs = R
sci-fi film = ET (also from ‘alien’)
ship = SS
son = S
time = T
yours truly = ME

74 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1772 by Mara”

  1. There is no 6 across for you to spend half your time on. This went in ok but I had a MER at “paste” for RIGATONI. I know the word pasta means paste, but I’ve never seen that in English before.
    2. ‘Paste’ doesn’t even make sense in the surface reading so I’m sure it must be a typo.

      –AntsInPants

  2. Hi Jeremy, great introduction! Perhaps it can be put somewhere permanent?

    My only suggestion for improvement is:

    Punctuation (and capitalization) is otherwise ALMOST ALWAYS irrelevant.

    Just occasionally, the punctuation mark is the definition… of COLON, perhaps.

  3. 9 minutes. Like our blogger I spent more time on 12ac than any other clue. I had no problem spotting the answer so I might have been tempted to biff it and move on, but in QC’s I always include parsing in my timings and it took me a while to reconcile DO with ‘complete’. Ironic in that I spend so much of life these days doing crossword puzzles and hopefully completing them!

    I suspect ‘paste’ at 15dn is a misprint for ‘pasta’.

    Edited at 2020-12-23 05:37 am (UTC)

  4. I struggled throughout. Only three on the first run through of acrosses followed by eight of the downs, so at five minutes I only had eleven entered – and that was unchanged by ten minutes. I got moving once I got FLAMINGO which let me see the OW of what I first thought might be ‘mellowing’ which when fixed allowed ROYALIST to yield. Those checkers let me gallop to the finish. An awful lot of my troubles were self-inflicted: I missed both the anagram plus insertions of ALREADY and EIDERDOWN and failed to notice the straight anagram EASTERN too, also missed the hidden DYNAMO and took an age to see CASHMERE. I think this might have been a great puzzle ruined by my dimness. Back over 20m but at least it was all green!

    ‘do’ for ‘complete’ – not seen it before and love it!

    Edited at 2020-12-23 05:57 am (UTC)

  5. As a child, we played Housey-Housey, AKA Bingo. First to complete shouts “House” very loudly. No money involved!
    Slow meander around the grid, completing within my usual 40 minutes or thereabouts.
    Couldn’t parse LATTE although an easy biff. Thank you Jeremy. Strange how the most obvious cryptics can appear mystifying. (Is that a paradox?).
    Enjoyed FLAMINGO and SWIFT after hesitating over SHIFT which came to mind first.
    Thank you Jeremy and Mara. Sadly the setter’s name does not appear on my Android phone app.

    Edited at 2020-12-23 06:51 am (UTC)

  6. My only hold up today was entirely self-inflicted, when I put a tentative TABARD in for 17d. It’s a word that sounded vaguely familiar and there was enough in the wordplay to justify it at a glance. I also thought that it sounded, with a lot of imagination, as if it might be quite tasty on toast for breakfast. Having since looked up the meaning I’m not sure how that’s how I’d like to start my day!
    Fortunately it didn’t take long to realise that something had gone horribly wrong when I got to 21 and 23a and a more thorough reading of the clue revealed the answer. Finished in 8.49 with LOI LITTER
    Thanks to Jeremy for the excellent blog
    1. The word “tabard” is etched in my mind from early school plays, normally as a result of playing random elves or animals.
  7. No real problems but took us a surprising amount of time to solve 8A which resulted in a completion time of 12 minutes. Really enjoyable – thanks Mara.

    FOI: house
    LOI: already
    COD: cashmere

  8. Rather disappointed to have missed three pretty standard clues: CASHMERE, LITTER, EASTERN. If I look at my scratchpad I see CASH-E-E, CISTERN? So no excuses really. Maybe I give up to easily, its a tough call when to throw in the towel. I usually get impatient at the 25 minute mark.

    MER at “large plateful”=TON.

    COD FLAMINGO

  9. Steady solve …
    … and all done in 10 minutes. And all parsed too, though in some cases only after hitting upon the solution – more “I wonder why that’s the answer – oh I see” than using the parsing to generate it. Fewer such clues these days than there used to be when I started doing the puzzle, but it remains a Good Day if I don’t have any biffs from the checkers.

    LOI 22A Swift; mental block connecting the adverb quickly to the adjective swift. Might not “Author is quick” have been slightly better?

    Sad that Mara couldn’t repeat his self-reference this time, but a valiant try with 14A Mar.

    Many thanks to PlusJeremy for the blog
    Cedric

  10. Wed, 23 Dec 20

    FOI: 19d LITTER
    LOI: 10a HOUSE

    30 Minute Mark: 10
    60 Minute Mark: 22

    Time before use of aids: 35 mins

    Total Answered: 22 /26

    Did well, though not quite as good as yesterday, with 4 remaining unsolved.

    22d SASH. I did actually think of think as an answer but couldn’t get the shocking part of it. It wasn’t until I came here that I realised it was a hidden clue. Kicking myself that I did not see that.

    15d I am wondering if there was a misprint here. PASTE. Should it not have been PASTA?

    5d FLAMINGO. I liked this one. Took me a while to get the meaning of WINGER. I kept thinking of it as in a friend, especially when I saw the word FLAME in there. Made me think of friend as in an old flame. Then it came to me that winger might be a bird. Flamingo leapt out at me at that point.

    24a. EASTERN. Kicking myself over this one too.

    DNF

    1. Don’t give up! You’re doing so well. I find myself looking forward to your morning analysis and rooting for you. You’ll get there.
      One crossword thing I’ve noticed, re your comment on 22, SASH, is that clues which have the word “some ” or occasionally “somewhat” in them are very often hiddens. These are now trigger words for me.
      Also in 22, the word “band” regularly means something round or circular and possibly an item which, once tied – like a sash – becomes this shape.

      Good luck on your crosswording journey!

    2. If it’s any consolation I plateaued for ages at DNF -4 or so before occasionally (as today, 50 mins) completing a QC. Persevere! Mass rejoicing will break out when you finally ‘do’ it!

    3. Like you I am enjoying the journey even though the destination is usually elusive even though I get close some times. In all the months I have been travelling I have arrived twice under my own steam and a couple of times have arrived due to the assistance of the merry band of bloggers for whom I am delighted to post my thanks.
      I have days when if I get eight or ten clues and others like today when there was a plethora of green but annoyingly simple short clues were troublesome.
      Festive greeting for all

  11. Thanks indeed for the blog – great effort and of course to Mara. When I was a kid many moons ago we played housey housey and together with Lotto it was another name for what became or always was Bingo. Is it still used as a call for a full card?? I thought the term was outdated but not sure.
  12. Yay! Just inside 10 minutes today with a straightforward solve. Answers just seemed to appear to me for much of this, so thanks Mara, and J of course for the blog.
  13. Just over 10 minutes on paper; no big problems. LOI was ALREADY which I assumed would start AD so I came back to it. FOI was STREAM.
    I wondered about Paste so just waited for the checkers and put something in which lives in the larder. Could not parse SHALLOT but I know my onions!
    David
  14. An early Christmas present for me – my first ever sub-ten minute solve. Very pleased. I don’t know how it happened really but it just seemed that, the moment I read each clue, I knew more or less straight away what the answer was. Never happened before and might never happen again but I enjoyed the feeling immensely and celebrated with an illicit mince pie.
    This meant that, with the exception of EIDERDOWN, my eventual LOI, I answered the clues in linear fashion, with ALREADY being my FOI and SASH, my PLOI.
    Thanks so much, Jeremy, for your, as always, terrific blog. It is so kind of you to put such effort and time into this. I really appreciate it. I certainly needed your help this morning to identify what DO was up to in the complete quilt of 12 across.
    Thanks too to Mara who has made my day.
    Merry Christmas, one and all.
    1. Congratulations and Happy Christmas! As an extra present from me – the moment I read each clue, I more or less didn’t know straight away what the answer was and ended up not being able to put in rigatoni = paste until desperation set in. 12 minutes – so that’s 1.2 LJ’s!
  15. I was grateful to Mara for a more straightforward puzzle than many of late. I moved steadily after a slow start on this grid design. Just under 11 mins in the end so happy to have ‘clicked’ with the setter for once. I entered EIDERDOWN but had trouble seeing do/complete. Slowed by YELLOWING and EASTERN (should have seen this earlier). COD the well-constructed DYNAMO. Thanks both. John M.

    Edited at 2020-12-23 12:28 pm (UTC)

  17. After a week of typos, caused by being forced to solve on a phone, I was pleased to finally get an all green sub ten minutes solve; about as fast as I can get. I remain in awe of those that can do these regularly in half that time.
  18. My FOI was GROUND, but my brain refused to produce any more results in the NW, so I moved into the SW and worked in an anticlockwise direction with more productive results. Finally, spotting EIDERDOWN from the crossers, I saw CASHMERE and the rest of the NW dropped into place. 9:34. Thanks Mara and Jeremy.
  19. Failed on ALREADY and hence DYNAMO. Was too impatient.

    No problem with the rest of the puzzle. FOI MAR. COD FLAMINGO

    Very helpful blog, thank you.

    Edited at 2020-12-23 11:32 am (UTC)

  20. A satisfying 20 mins for me, especially as it feels like the first time in a while I’ve completed the QC around my usual target and without any errors.

    I have to admit though it was a bit erratic, and I ended up starting halfway down the grid and randomly flitting from clue to another. Nearly came a cropper by biffing “Cavalier” for 13dn without reading the clue properly (perhaps yesterday’s clueing was still in my mind?) – but luckily 12ac “Eiderdown” came quickly to ensure I altered it.

    Not sure whether 15dn “Rigatoni” was a paste or pasta, but got more hung up on “plateful” and whether it was relevant or not.

    FOI – 16ac “Eat”
    LOI – 1dn “Cashmere”
    COD – 5dn “Flamingo”

    Thanks as usual.

  21. Was going to give up on 10 minutes but suddenly saw house, cashmere, and already.

    Too much Jameson last night, well it is nearly Christmas.
    15d strange clue.

    COD flamingo.

  22. Very pleased to finish this without any aids bar 21A Shallot (just couldn’t see past scallion!) Mara has been kind lately to me!

    Liked 5D Flamingo because I don’t normally see the birds but this time it appeared from the cryptic very neatly.

    I also had trouble with 12A Eiderdown, being unable to find a word for complete with only 2 letters. It appeared eventually when I tentatively put done in, and suddenly Eiderdown came to me.

    FOI 1D Cashmere
    LOI 15D Rigatoni, but mostly because of the paste/pasta dilemma.

    Thanks Jeremy for the excellent blog, its always really helpful to get more explanation. And thanks Mara for another great QC.

    Edited at 2020-12-23 12:28 pm (UTC)

  23. Well that was a swift 7 minutes solve that started rather poorly. I biffed Mocha at 9a. As soon as I tried to build on the checkers I realised my mistake with my second entry STREAM. I had no problem with EIDERDOWN and I assumed the 15d ‘Paste’ definition was a misprint as the wordplay was clear. I finished at the top of the grid deliberating over the parsing of TALE. Thanks to Jeremy for the blog. It is nice to be ahead of you on the leaderboard for once!
  24. 8 minutes – much faster than usual. Very encouraged! I’ve been having a go at the 15 x 15 recently, and also having family Zoom cryptic crossword sessions – great fun – so maybe the practice is paying off.
  25. Problems in the NW for the second consecutive day. Couldn’t see ALREADY for some time, although I had understood the construction of the clue. Unaccountably couldn’t parse TALE despite knowing it had to be the answer. Enjoyable puzzle which I eventually completed in 17 minutes, so thanks to Mara, and thanks also to Jeremy for the wonderful blog.

    FOI – 11ac AIMLESS
    LOI – 22ac SWIFT
    COD – 5dn FLAMINGO

  26. Am I the first to point out that “paste” is the Italian plural of PASTA, and therefore not a typo? I’m struggling to read the comments on my phone so apologies if this has been said before.

    Lovely puzzle, 9:42 here estimated as 1.8K and a Very Good Day.

    FOI CASHMERE, LOI ALREADY, COD DYNAMO (sneaky). Many thanks Mara and Jeremy (magnificent blog Jeremy).

    Templar

    1. Yes, I know that, but it isn’t an Italian puzzle, and I don’t see ‘paste’ in my English dictionaries. And the surface reading is clearly about noodles, so I’m not sure what Mara was going for here.
        1. ‘Rigatoni’ is in standard English usage as a pasta dish, but ‘paste’ as the plural of ‘pasta’ is not. It might be a fine point to be argued in a Mephisto, but in a Quick Cryptic it’s clearly an error made either by the setter or a typographer.
          1. It’s in Collins, meaning 1.b under American English so hardly Mephisto level! (“PASTE in American English – NOUN
            1. a. dough used in making rich pastry b. pasta”).
              1. It doesn’t say “used in making pasta”. It says “pasta”.

                This is how it appears in Collins, copy and paste (ha ha):

                “1.
                a. dough used in making rich pastry
                b. pasta”

                “Paste” for the plural of pasta also appears on the menu of more or less every Italian restaurant in Britain, like “pizze”, so it’s very well known (or I thought it was until today, anyway).

                1. The Collins site draws from other sources with American entries such as this one lifted from (and credited to) Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. It’s not in the Collins English Dictionary. I’m not saying this invalidates the meaning, only that it makes it a very unlikely candidate for inclusion in a Quick Cryptic.

                  I don’t see ‘pizze’ in any of usual dictionaries either.

  27. ….when I saw the misprint at 15D, which would have been a pretty poor clue even without it. The only “foodie” definition of “paste”, even in Chambers, is “a barley porridge”. I think of “paste” as a cheap sandwich spread from my youth (Shippam’s comes to mind). No way does that have the slightest thing to do with RIGATONI. If we accept Templar’s explanation, we’re looking at an Italian word not in English usage, so it would barely be acceptable in a 15×15, let alone a QC.

    However, it wasn’t the reason for my slowest time of the last week. I confidently wrote “ad” at the start of 8A, and it took me a long tour around an unhelpfully shaped grid before I corrected it at the very end. I also wasted time parsing EIDERDOWN and missed my target as a result.

    FOI HOUSE
    LOI ALREADY
    COD FLAMINGO
    TIME 5:14

  28. Wow, thank you so much PlusJeremy, for an explanation of how to actually decipher the clues. So wonderful to have someone being helpful instead of crowing about how quickly they had solved it.
    Thank you, thank you, thank you and Merry Christmas
    Linda
    1. Well, I do solve them quickly most days!

      I have always taken for granted that people who come to this blog know how to do cryptic crosswords, that they just need guidance with some clues. But some of the comments lately have made me feel that maybe some could use a little clarification on the precise nature of cryptic clues. And since we’re in a digital medium, it doesn’t hurt to include this brief summary on every blog, so that is what I plan to do.

      The glossaries are there for people who might like to see what all this arcane information adds up to.

  29. Drew a blank with 1ac/1d (not a good sign), and so started with 9ac Latte before a steady clockwise solve. Biffed Eiderdown (what else could it be?) and then parsed, and ended back in the NW with a by now obvious Cashmere. Although I could see what was going on with 8ac, Already, it still took ages to click, but at least prompted loi Dynamo… when nothing works look for a hidden! 23 mins again, but I think one of those was down to the paste/pasta misprint. Invariant
  30. Another steady solve, very slightly quicker than the last couple of days with 27:16. Didn’t get what was going on with 15d, but assumed RIGATONI was the name of the paste that went with the pasta. FOI a tentative LATTE, but I never properly parsed it, LOI EASTERN, COD 8a. Thanks all.
  32. This is my first EVER completion of a ‘quick’ cryptic! In such gloomy times, even I can’t believe how happy it made me! 😁
    1. Well done! An early Christmas present. Do now join our merry throng properly and give yourself a name – or at the least sign your posts.

      Cedric

  33. I was on the 8.15 this evening.

    FOI 2dn GROUND

    LOI 17dn TEAPOT

    COD 15dn RIGATONI – I’m with Mr. Templar on the ‘Paste’.
    If not, why did the editor not call it out?

    WOD 21ac SHALLOT – The Lady of…

  34. I am interested to see some beginners give up quite early. I consider myself a beginner having started about a year ago. I don’t time myself but start it over lunch. Sometimes I finish it by the time I have eaten my lunch and at the other extreme I finish it over the bext mornings coffee! It seems to depend on how my brain is doing as well as how hard the clues are. I always enjoy the process even when I take a long while and, for me, thats what it’s all about! Thanks again for the blog
  35. … who can’t see why “yellowing” is “growing paler”? I just can’t think of any examples of your explanation Chris, yellowing with fear is not something I have seen or heard. The only usage of “yellowing” that I can think of is for ageing documents, where in fact they are growing darker.
      1. Yes to both, that is why I asked, can you be more specific? The only mention I can find in the blog was what I mentioned didn’t work for me. Invariant has suggested yellow in the sense of cowardice, but that doesn’t work for yellowing which would be growing more cowardly, not frightened. This just seems too big a stretch, and since nobody else finds it a problem I was hoping someone could explain why.

        Edited at 2020-12-24 04:37 pm (UTC)

        1. I’m not sure how to say this.. language isn’t a question of whether it works for you. ‘Yellow’ is an adjective meaning ‘afraid’, but it’s also a verb meaning, essentially, ‘to yellow’, ‘to become afraid’. You may not know those meanings, but they are attested whether they work for you or not.
      1. Possibly for yellow, though that would be a stretch, but not yellowing which would be getting more cowardly.
  36. Pleased with my time of 11.30 today. started straight away with CASHMERE and set off from there, except for ALREADY. I was annoyed that I couldn’t see it until I came here and saw that it had baffled lots of us. I liked FLAMINGO. COD DYNAMO
  37. This was a real struggle for me today, right from the start. Only two clues solved by 10 minutes in, and fairly glacial progress from then on. Still seven to do after half an hour, but I managed to solve only three of those. I eventually gave up after 67 minutes with four clues unsolved.

    15d: Never heard of RIGATONI (How does TON equate to “large plateful”?), so I assumed “a large” would be abbreviated to AL. This made 22a (SWIFT) impossible.

    4d/8a: Lots of ideas about how these clues were structured, but never saw what the setter had in mind. I would never have solved these, even if I had spent another hour trying.

    Thanks to Mara and to plusjeremy for the explanation.

    1. A ton is a large amount as is a plateful (cf having a lot on one’s plate), and ‘large plateful’ adds emphasis, but I agree it’s not very good. In fact the more I think about this clue the more I think it should have been discarded and replaced by something better – see the discussion above about ‘paste’, although that could just have been a printing error. The surface reading is rubbish too.

      Edited at 2020-12-23 09:13 pm (UTC)

  38. Thanks Jeremy for the blog and glossary etc. Much appreciated, keep it up, although still can’t see the connection between gross and glaring!
    Andrew

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