Times Quick Cryptic No 1778 by Orpheus

I had one of those frustrating solves – not often a fault of the setter – where you rattle through most of it before getting stuck on the last one or two clues: here I had all but 8ac and 10ac polished off by the 6 minute mark, and then spent half the time again staring at two very gettable clues. Oh yes, and then came the Unlucky! sign thanks to a mis-biffed 11d. Let’s hope for a happier new year, and many thanks to Orpheus!

Across
1 Parrot originally making a sound like a crow (5)
MACAW – M (“originally” Making), A, CAW (sound like a crow)
4 Reportedly how one may ill-treat a dog? (7)
WHIPPET – sounds the same (reportedly) as WHIP IT.
8 Heavenly body in need of a man-made hormone (7)
STEROIDaSTEROID (heavenly body) in need of/lacking A
9 Journalist given position in the French city (5)
LEEDS ED (journalist) given position in LES (the, French)
10 Incident Elgar associated with pomp? (12)
CIRCUMSTANCE – as in Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance Marches. Sometimes helps just to read the words for what they are!
12 Originally living under tree, like a wolf (6)
LUPINE – L U (“Originally” Living Under) PINE (tree)
13 Pulverised earth (6)
GROUNDdouble definition
16 Ditzy type can test briar, surprisingly (12)
SCATTERBRAIN – anagram (surprisingly) of CAN TEST BRIAR. A briar can be either a prickly wild rose or a pipe made from its root, but the surface is mysterious as to which.
18 Artist is easy at first to uplift (5)
RAISE RA (artist) IS E (Easy “at first”)
20 Guards losing head finding gates, perhaps (7)
ENTRIESsENTRIES (guards) “losing head
21 Plant listening device in pub, catching English bête noire (7)
BUGBEAR – BUG (plant listening device in) BAR(pub), catching E(nglish). Originally an evil spirit/creature said to eat naughty children.
22 Astute woman in outskirts of Coventry (5)
CANNY – ANN (woman) in CY (“outskirts” of CoventrY)

Down
1 Extraordinary claims surrounding university entertainment (7)
MUSICAL – anagram (extraordinary) of CLAIMS surrounding U(niversity)
2 Choosing the best job on the fruit farm? (6-7)
CHERRY-PICKING double-ish definition
3 Thriller turned out down in hut (9)
WHODUNNIT – anagram (turned out) of DOWN IN HUT
4 Fairly broad bowl used by women’s organisation (6)
WIDISH – DISH (bowl) used by WI (women’s organisation)
5 Unhealthy part of rail link (3)
ILL “part of” raIL Link
6 What we may have on our mind before work? (13)
PREOCCUPATIONPRE (before) OCCUPATION (work)
7 Throw drunkard over top of seawall (4)
TOSS – SOT (drunkard) over = reversed, S (“top” of Seawall)
11 Boat race oddly grips one — like spectacular flying! (9)
AEROBATIC anagram (oddly) of BOAT RACE  grips I (one). Fits the definition slightly better than ACROBATIC.
14 Extremely dodgy, unpleasant line of hereditary rulers (7)
DYNASTY DY (“extremely” DodgY) NASTY (unpleasant)
15 Archdeacon always displaying specious refinement (6)
VENEER VEN[erable] (Archdeacon) E’ER (always)
17 Caterpillar food? (4)
GRUB double definition
19 Farm animal the present solver talked of (3)
EWE talked of = sounds like YOU (the present solver)

42 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1778 by Orpheus”

  1. Of course, rt, I have many solves that go your way. But today was a nice sub-5, very rare for me. Nipping at Kevin’s heels — I’ll catch him someday!
  2. I put in ACROBATIC at first, “spectacular flying” is just the kind of definition that shows up in crosswords. Then I noticed there was an “E” and so I realized what was going on. I had a similar experience since PREOCCUPATION took me far too long at the end.
  3. I read ‘Edgar’ at first, and wondered about a pompous one. The four long ones were helpful. 4:38, with Jeremy breathing down my neck.
  4. It ended in tragedy after all but one of the acrosses went in on the first pass. I never usually totally biff but speed and the sight of ACROBATIC was too much to resist with a pb in sight and then in a rush to finish after what seemed like an age on VENEER – which I thought was a tough clue – I whacked in ‘eye’ which I realised should have been EWE even as I pressed submit. So two pink squares that I fully deserve and at 7.41 it wouldn’t quite have been a pb anyway – arrrgh!
  5. from MACAO to LEEDS – but the train came off the rails at Putney Bridge. DNF due to ACROBATICS!

    FOI 1ac MACAW

    LOI 9ac LEEDS

    COD 11ac AEROBATICS

    WOD 4dn WIDISH silly mid-on

  6. which is shame, as I was heading for a rare sub-15 mins, and perhaps a PB around 14 mins. Well, that will teach me to biff and not check an anagram!

    FOI Macaw
    LOI Steroid
    COD Aerobatic

    Thanks to Orpheus and the blogger.

  7. DNF after 10 fruitless minutes on PREOCCUPATION. Just could not build it up from all the checkers, even though I guessed the PRE– and the –ATION.

    Good puzzle, though. I’m not usually a fan of Homophone clues, but I liked WHIPPET.

    I thought ACROBATIC would trip a few up, especially as the letter in question was not a crosser.

    COD: The Double def CHERRY PICKING

  8. Really enjoyed Orpheus’ puzzle today with lots of clever and fun clues making us smile – thank you. We finished in 11 minutes.

    FOI: macaw
    LOI: widish
    COD: cherry picking

    Thanks to Rolytoly for today’s blog.

  9. A top to bottom solve, with the exception of PREOCCUPATION where I needed all the checkers and some thinking time. Fortunately I saw the bear trap at 11d and double checked my answer having initially wanted to go down the wrong route. I finished with the tricky VENEER in 7.00 with my favourite being DYNASTY.
    Thanks to roly
  10. I am relieved to have found that my brain still works, especially after yesterday’s poor showing (by me). Almost straight through, filling the LHS in double-quick time. I slowed a bit with PREOCCUPATION (my COD), VENEER, and ENTRIES but was slightly disappointed to be a few seconds over 10 mins. Still, that counts as a very good day for me. I liked STEROID, TOSS, and BUGBEAR. Thanks to Orpheus and Roly. John M.

    Edited at 2020-12-31 09:35 am (UTC)

    1. An excellent discovery (that your brain still works)! Mine failed to function for quite a while on VENEER AND PREOCCUPATION which I managed to get in the end only by ‘removing’ the keyboard (I use an iPad) so the whole of the grid could be seen at once. Never usually have to do this. Another 12 minute solve – you’d better hand over the keys to the SCC.
      1. Thanks for your kind comment, Chris. One swallow doesn’t make a summer, though (what an inappropriate saying at the moment). It will take a while for a few of my recent times to fade, even from my questionable memory. Perhaps an approachable QC tomorrow will help…..
  11. Date: Thur, 31 Dec 20

    FOI: 10a CIRCUMSTANCE
    LOI: 15d VENEER
    COD: 21a
    WOD: SCATTERBRAIN

    Time before use of aids: 60 mins

    Total Answered: ALL

    The last Times QC of the year, and once again I surprise myself by completing it. Took a little over an hour to do, but I was quite pleased that I did not resort to aids until the last 3 or 4 clues.

    One of the clues I had to use an aid (Bradford’s Crossword Solver’s Dictionary) was 15d VENEER. Chamber’s Crossword Dictionary did not have an entry under Archdeacon, but Bradford’s had “Rev, Ven(erable).” The word refinement made me think of an anagram, and with the letters already present, VENEER came to mind.

    6d PREOCCUPATION took me a while. I kept alternating between thinking the clue meant something you might be thinking of, or something worn on the head. I then started to consider the prefix “PRE”, and the rest came to me thanks to the letters already in place.

    Watch out Tim Moorey! I’m catching you up.

    1. Bradford’s is an invaluable aid, and I would always try it first before using a traditional Thesaurus.
    2. Hooray! I was watching out (as promised) and, in my book, your third full solve means you have now acquired an “unarguable skill”. Luck and coincidence no longer come into it. It also looks like you beat me again today, as I finally crawled across the line tortoise-like in 68 minutes, having sprinted out of the blocks like a hare during the first quarter of an hour.

      Happy new year, and do let everyone know when you achieve your first unaided solve (it will come).

  12. Even the Lord Verlaine had a pink square today. I should have checked the anagrist, blub.

    Hey ho. Great fun puzzle and lots to enjoy.

    FOI MUSICAL, LOI VENEER, COD WIDISH, time 1.75K but DNF.

    Many thanks roly and Orpheus.

    Templar

  13. That was a good day – LOI VENEER as I couldn’t think of (s)ENTRIES. Sometimes the easiest words catch me out.

    WOD LUPINE – wolves slinking around in a forest.

    Diana

  14. Worked my way slowly through the grid with less than the usual hopping around. A bit of chewing over preoccupation and savouring the titbits of delectation…. Until I ground to a complete stop at VENEEER, determined to squeeze REV in somehow, I reached a DNF after an hour.
    Thanks Orpheus and Roly for untangling the not so obscure after all.
  15. Looks like I joined the club today: Acrobatics and Eye, and 7 minutes to get LOI PREOCCUPATION (COD to that). 9 minutes for the rest.
    An excellent and deceptive puzzle. I must try harder!
    David
  16. Silly typo: CIRRUMSTANCE

    NY resolution: stop rushing, check.

    Thanks to Orpheus and rolytoly

  17. After falling short on the 15×15, I was wary on this one and checked ACROBATIC unusually carefully. All green. Phew!
  18. Found this pretty straightforward, although VENEER needed thinking about. Much more approachable than other recent puzzles.
  19. Done and dusted in just over ten minutes mainly because I was lucky enough not to have thought of “acrobatic” for 11 down, only ever seeing AEROBATIC in “boat race” and “I”. A lucky escape.

    I really rather like double definitions and there were some nice ones today – chestnuts for the old hands, I suspect, but chuckle-raisers for me. I’m thinking of GROUND, 13 across, and GRUB, 17 down. Neat. I also really liked EWE, 19 down which is short but smart.

    I needed the blog today to remind me that “in need of” can mean without , or missing. STEROID, 8 across, was my second one in and I could see the connection to asteroid, obvs, but even then missed the instruction to lose the initial A.

    On the final day of 2020, I was wondering if there would be some kind of Nina today about horror, plague and ghastliness but there doesn’t appear to be .Still the time spent looking for one produced some amusing moments including MUSICAL CHERRYPICKING, which sounds like some kind of parlour game.

    Thanks so much, Roly, for the blog, and thanks, too, to Orpheus.

    Happy New Year to you all, my cruciverbalist friends. May 2021 be a kind space for you.

  20. All bar 2 acrosses on first pass and on course for a fast solve until the last 2 clues more than doubled my time to around 20 minutes. They were PREOCCUPATION and VENEER.

    Thankfully I parsed 11d and did not fall into the trap.

    FOI Macaw
    LOI Veneer
    COD Canny

  21. Oh, also a mistake on ACROBATIC which I didn’t even think about.
    Zoomed through then came to a halt on WHIPPET and PREOCCUPATION (clever clue) which dawned eventually, along with WIDISH.
    Got EWE and CIRCUMSTANCE, no probs.
    Weirdly I know that Archdeacons are Venerable. Must have learnt it at school, ditto Lupus = wolf.
    COD WHODUNNIT

    Thanks vm, Roly, and all the bloggers. Happy NY to all.

  22. After a 1ac/1d start, and some good fortune with the long answers, this should have been a comfortable sub-20. My last pair, Widish and Steroid, were both slow to come to mind, but the parsing of Steroid was the real time waster and annoyingly put me just the wrong side of my target. An unchecked Acrobatic therefore became a small mercy. Lots to enjoy, especially Circumstance and Preoccupation, but CoD to the perfectly formed 7d, Toss. Invariant
  23. An enjoyable 13 minutes today – my best time for while. Possibly could have been quicker but got held up on 15dn “Veneer”. (I often find when I get a little excited about posting a quick time, my brain mockingly turns to mush).

    Luckily, I also saw some of the long answers early which helped no end for the other clues. 4dn was interesting as I totally misread/mispronounced “widish”. Maybe it was because I was reading it vertically, but I saw it as “widdish” and thought it was some historic word for “fairly”. Only when I read the blog did the penny drop!!

    FOI – 1ac “Macaw”
    LOI – 15dn “Veneer”
    COD – 4dn “Widish”

    Thanks as usual and a Happy New Year to everyone in advance.

  24. ….SCATTERBRAIN today, and checked everything before hitting submit. Enjoyable puzzle (never considered “acrobatic”, so am currently sitting 10th).

    FOI WHIPPET
    LOI CIRCUMSTANCE
    COD MACAW
    TIME 3:10 (but not to Yuma)

  25. I raced through the first 20 clues in just 15 minutes (unheard of for me) and a massive PB beckoned, but I should have known better, as it took me a further 53 minutes to solve the remaining four, which were:
    6d: PREOCCUPATION
    20a: ENTRIES
    21a: BUGBEAR
    15d: VENEER

    The solutions to these clues were all connected in the grid and I guessed that getting any one of them may well crack the others. This was indeed the case, but I refuse to use aids when tackling the QC, so a seriously frustrating time ensued. In fact, I got BUGBEAR ten seconds after I’d decided to give up and had put my pencil down. I have had to learn to be patient in the 7 months since I started these QCs.

    Many thanks to Orpheus, with whom I have only a 1:3 solve rate (and none quicker than 40 minutes) and also to rolytoly for the clear explanations (especially of VENEER, which was my LOI and which I never did really understand).

    I wish a happy new year to all who contribute to and read this blog.

    1. When you get stuck on the last couple/four, try a short tea/coffee break and doing something else for a few minutes. You will be surprised how often the answer(s) then jump out on return. HNY, Invariant.
  26. Happy New Year to all, and let’s all hope good riddance to the pandemic that has marred 2020 and caused so much distress to so many across the globe. A fast top down solve today. BUT, in my enthusiasm I let 4d Widest stand although it didn’t feel right at the time and meant to revisit it. Also fell for 11d Acrobatic despite puzzling how to use the E. Lesson here to me is not to get carried away! FOI 1a Macaw. LOI 15d Veneer – needed to remember Ven. COD 21a Bugbear. A very good puzzle from Orpheus and thanks to Rolytoly for the corrective blog!
  27. I must have been Preoccupied as I invented a new word Scatterbrian having known a couple. Also flew into the Acrobatic trap.
    Couldn’t remember Venerable. Thought that was a monk like Bede. But then I though His Excellency was the Pope but turns out to be an ambassador. I guess they’re all listed somewhere.
    All of which made a mess of the SE of Tier 4 proportions.
    HNY. Johnny
  28. A good time for me today – 12:17. And on a day when I thought everyone else would be faster than that, I’m also pleased with my position at 99 of 194. Too many too ACROBATIC I guess. I did not work out STEROID until after submitting. Mostly good fun. COD WIDISH.

    Thanks to Orpheus for an enjoyable end-year QC and to rolytoly for a fine blog. Happy new year to us all. kap

  29. Was on for a reasonable time for me, despite taking longer than I should have on such answers as RAISE, WHODUNNIT, WHIPPET and MACAW, but my LOI VENEER took me from 27 minutes-ish to my eventual finish time of 43:02. “Ever” for always came to mind straight away but I just never considered “e’er”. Never mind, tomorrow is another year. FOI 9a, LOI 15d, COD 21a Thanks Orpheus and Rolytoly
  30. Avoided the acrobatic problem and finished in our best time for some weeks. Took a little time to sort out the archdeacon but the rest went in without problems. A nice puzzle to finish the year and a better 2021 to all.
  31. Hooray! One I managed to finish without using aids. Probably around half an hour in total, so definitely a Good Day.

    Being a volunteer at the Elgar Birthplace museum, I had no trouble with 10a. I was also tempted by ‘acrobatic’ but studied the anagrist carefully and the penny dropped.

    Last ones in were, as with others, veneer and preoccupation. The first because I couldn’t remember the honorific for Archdeacon. I often find I have to write out the checkers for down clues as I can’t see the answer when they’re vertical.

    Here’s to a better year than the last one….

    Edited at 2020-12-31 04:21 pm (UTC)

  32. … and finished in 10 minutes give or take. A really nice crossword – we seem to have had a good run recently of puzzles which are worthy contests without too many dubious clues.

    I “saw” Acrobatic for 11D but checked it carefully, which saved that one, and originally entered Macau for 1A before that made 3D Whodunnit impossible and forced a rethink. But it was 6D Preoccupation that took me the most time to see, even with all the checkers, and was my LOI.

    Many thanks to Roly for the blog, and a Happy New Year to all.
    Cedric

  33. Late to the grid today. This would have been my first sub 5 minute solve, except that I was careless with the anagrist(and spelling) at 11d. AIROBATICS. Drat! If I hadn’t been under the 5 minute mark I’d have proof read it. Thanks Orpheus and Roly. Happy New Year everyone.

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