Times Quick Cryptic No 1802 by Tracy

Author   plusjeremyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Introduction

6:33. Found this very straightforward for about 93%, but the other 7% really made me pause to scratch my head.

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

1 Pick up / awful cheat, [causing] grief (9)
HEARTACHE – HEAR + anagram of CHEAT
6 Staff reminder, no parking at the front (3)
ROD – PROD without P
8 Vagrant recalled / heading for Portobello / market (5)
TRAMP – reversal of P + MART
9 Looks / round / centre of Florence, not a pretty sight (7)
EYESORE – EYES + O + middle letters of FLORENCE
10 Money for extra work done ahead of season (8)
OVERTIME – OVER + TIME
11 Lake inside game reserve (4)
MERE – hidden in GAME RESERVE
13 Bid by Conservative [for] collection (9)
OFFERTORY – OFFER + TORY
16 Stake required, unlimited (4)
ANTE – WANTED without first and last letters
17 Sheath [found in] taxi caught by southern poet (8)
SCABBARD – CAB in S + BARD
20 Seaman, on his tod, [finds] shellfish (7)
ABALONE – A.B. ALONE
21 Head leaving specimen, more than enough (5)
AMPLE – SAMPLE without first letter
22 Last letters of Guy de Maupassant, until now! (3)
YET – last letters of GUY DE MAUPASSANT
23 Sit with Santa’s new helper (9)
ASSISTANT – SIT + SANTA’S anagrammed

Down

1 Heated / chow, perhaps? (3,3)
HOT DOG – HOT + DOG
Here the entire clue is the definition and the wordplay as well.
2 Stagger [out of] a labyrinth (5)
AMAZE – A + MAZE
3 Court official, man after gratuity (8)
TIPSTAFF – STAFF after TIP
4 Pick nuts [and] biscuits (5,8)
CREAM CRACKERS – CREAM + CRACKERS
‘Pick’ = CREAM as in “the choicest part”, and ‘nuts’ = CRACKERS as in crazy.
5 Fair / flat (4)
EVEN – double definition
6 Group of nesting birds [in] castle on European lines (7)
ROOKERY – ROOK + E + RY
7 German chap, / one eating less? (6)
DIETER – double definition
Dieter is a German name.
12 VIPs [with] supporters in T-shirts? (3,5)
TOP BRASS – BRAS in TOPS
This took me a terrifyingly long time to get.
13 Persona non grata forbidden to go on pitch (7)
OUTCAST – OUT + CAST
14 Illness [of] mother, noblewoman (6)
MALADY – MA + LADY
15 Notice express coming (6)
ADVENT – AD + VENT
As in ‘vent one’s feelings’.
18 Top grade hotel in mountain area (5)
ALPHA – H in ALP + A
19 Part of conservation area, an early centre of Christianity (4)
IONA – hidden in CONSERVATION AREA
Read about the Christian part here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iona

Glossary

Wordplay indicators

after = next to
ahead of = next to
and = linking word
awful = anagram
by = next to
caught by = containment
causing = linking word
centre of = middle letter(s)
finds = linking word
for = linking word
found in = linking words
(to) go on = next to
head = first letter
heading for = first letter
in = containment, linking word
inside = hidden word
last letters of = last letters
leaving = removal
new = anagram
no … at the front = remove first letter
of = linking word
on = next to
out of = linking word
part of = hidden word
recalled = reversal
unlimited = without first and last letters (“limits”)
with = linking word, next to

Abbreviations and little bits

area = A
conservative = TORY
European = E
hotel = H
mother = MA
notice = AD
parking = P
poet = BARD
round = O
seaman = AB (also: OS, JACK, RATING, TAR)
southern = S
supporter = BRA (also: TEE)
taxi = CAB

90 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1802 by Tracy”

  1. I biffed HEARTACHE; I took ‘pick up’ as a homophone indicator at first, which led nowhere. on edit: I forgot to mention that I’d never come across ‘on one’s tod’ before (and probably never will again). 5:31.

    Edited at 2021-02-03 02:57 am (UTC)

  2. About 8:32 for me. I don’t remember anything holding me up excessively. I knew the couple of slightly obscure words like TIPSTAFF.
  3. 7 minutes. We have the second outing for MART this week (it was in Monday’s QC) and its third within a few weeks. On that first occasion more than one person remarked that it was an obscure word. These things often go in cycles.

    It’s also the second time within a few days I have seen the DIETER / DIET-ER thing and the same goes for TIPSTAFF although these examples may have been in the main puzzle or a Jumbo or even The Guardian which I do every day now. It all goes to show there’s nothing like practice and experience for honing one’s solving skills as there comes a time when you have seen so many things before. Those answers then go in easily and provide checkers on which to build and help with working out the other clues.

    1. I was surprised before by people’s lack of familiarity with “Mart”. Besides Exchange & Mart (still in existence it seems despite eBay) and Walmart, it’s commonly used in US as a term for a supermarket.
  4. DNF — ran of our vocabulary. Having rejected ‘tipsteve’, solved OFFERATORY to try the NHO TIPSTAFF instead and submitted with fingers crossed only to find a chow is a dog not a pot. Rats. I’d been quite happy with 10m and for once been glad my children have been overdoing the screen time when ABALONE went in which is only known from seeing them dive for sea creatures in Animal Crossing.
  5. This went in very smoothly, with a minor pause over LOI TIPSTAFF, which I needed all the checkers for before dredging it from the depths Enjoyed ALPHA and MALADY but my HOT DOG gets my vote for COD. Finished in 7.21.
    Thanks to Jeremy
  7. An enjoyable steady solve in about 40 mins with all clues seeming to follow the rules without too much deception. LOI OUTCAST which took a while to see the intention of pitch having spent a while thinking of names of sports grounds (football, cricket, rugby), then musical terms before the penny dropped.
    Thanks Jeremy for the elegant descriptors and Tracy for a QC that fitted the bill for me, allowing me to get to work on time with a clear head.
    1. That was my comment. Seems my App forgot to Auto sign me in for the first time. How strange.
  8. 16:34, and this felt about right for a QC.

    6a=REP seems like a fair reading, with PREP=reminder, and REP=staff. Was then tempted by PIETER which is more Dutch than German, before DIETER forced a backtrack.

    11a the misdirection of an L=Lake inside a word for game required a mercifully short alphabet trawl of -EE games. After ZELE, time for another backtrack.

    16a (ANTE) is the kind of clue that once biffed I have no desire to try and find a word of unknown length to complete the cryptic definition.

    COD: Joint Winners: CREAM CRACKERS and TOP BRASS

  9. Like Jackkt I remembered seeing DIETER recently and I learnt TIPSTAFF from another crossword some time ago. I liked HOT DOG and CREAM CRACKERS best, but that’s maybe because I’m hungry being a 16:8 7D and not eating before noon. 4:33
    1. If you’ve finished a couple you must have the bug. And the technique. After a few years you will most likely say that this was reasonable.
      Stick with it!
    2. Don’t give up, please. I did this in 2 sittings. After the 1st one I had about 5 or 6 answers. I came back to it late-ish last night and they seemed to fly in. It’s a bumpy road, but worth travelling.
  10. FOI HOT DOG, LOI EYESORE

    Liked ROOKERY (clever parsing), CREAM CRACKERS. OFFERTORY amusing.
    Knew ANTE but couldn’t parse. Guessed TIPSTAFF which must have been lurking in the depths somewhere.

    I hope the helpful glossary is being stored somewhere. Thanks, Jeremy, for your extended blog.

    I should have read through all the clues as YET being obvious made that corner much easier.

    Edited at 2021-02-03 11:05 am (UTC)

  11. says I have turned on info about IP addresses which I have not.

    Edited at 2021-02-03 11:31 am (UTC)

    1. Probably nothing. But for those not aware, LJ was hacked in 2014 and up to 30 million account credentials stolen. These were being circulated for sale last year. Good reminder for all to change passwords and not share passwords across multiple sites.
    2. There’s definitely something odd going on at LJ at the moment, but I think that message means that TfTT has access to IP addresses of anonymous posters. This has always been the case.
  12. So this is a 2. Great fun and still interesting. No particular problems although I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of a TIPSTAFF and I really wasn’t sure how to spell ANTE, in the latter case not being helped by the wordplay because I needed Jeremy in his (as always ) super blog to point out that it was a naked “wanted “.
    Especially liked CREAM CRACKERS and SCABBARD.
    Thanks to the anonymous poster who identified the cockney origins of “on your tod” but who is Tod Sloan?

    Thanks, Jeremy, and thanks too to Tracy

    2. Hello Lousia.
      I loved your ‘Exasperometer’ the other week. May I ask how you would rate a puzzle that you are able to race through or work through steadily without too much difficulty, but one clue of which requires an inordinate amount of time to solve, or which you simply get wrong (even when you think you’re right)?
      I find this possibly the most exasperating experience of all and, unfortunately, it’s a more-or-less weekly experience for me (as it was again, today).
      1. Hi. Thanks for your kind words.

        I think I’d count a puzzle which was not too bad bar one clue as eg a 3+4, maybe ? Or a 2 + 5? Or whatever best fits?
        The Exasperometer has really helped me to classify whether I’m making hopeless weather of a crossword or if I’m justified in bring grumpy.

  13. On paper again today. FOI YET. LOI TOP BRASS after SCABBARD -two difficult ones which took me a while to get.
    COD to CREAM CRACKERS. About 15 minutes.
    David
    PS I’m also getting weird messages from Livejournal.
  14. on wavelength, being in the region of K.

    Not much to say, LOI was OUTCAST. I Liked TRAMP and OFFERTORY. TIPSTAFF was definitely in another puzzle within the last week.

    5:47

    Edited at 2021-02-03 10:23 am (UTC)


  15. Overall a puzzle with enough striaghtforward answers to boost the morale, interspersed with some challenges.

    Once again caught out by CRS ‘on his tod’, so athough had the answer, was unsure how/why.

    Got 12D as BOY BANDS which fit, but despite my hope that the t-shirts referred to boy band fans, was clearly wrong.

    A bit like the jaffa cake is-it-a-cake-or-a-biscuit divide, I don’t consider a CREAM CRACKER a biscuit!

    Thank you to Jeffrey for the detailed explanations — have now added ‘unlimited’ to my list of indicators.

    1. There’s an official ruling on this because VAT is (or was) levied on one but not the other. If you leave them unprotected cakes go hard and biscuits go soft. By that measure Jaffa Cakes are cakes and Cream Crackers are biscuits – not that I would ever have disputed either in the first place.

      Edited at 2021-02-03 12:25 pm (UTC)

      1. I always assumed that the word “biscuit” was derived from French, bis cuit, cooked/baked twice, hence hard.
        By extension, perhaps the American cookie originates from Cook once_ie
  16. James Forman ‘Tod’ Sloan was an American jockey, died 1955, and was the source of the CRS for on your Tod. Abandoned by his parents, he was ‘on his own’ throughout his life. He also inspired the song ‘Yankee Doodle Boy’ with his lifestyle.

    This puzzle took me 10 minutes and a handful of seconds, one of the quickest QCs for me for a goodly while. All good stuff, and very enjoyable. Thanks Setter and Blogger.

    Edited at 2021-02-03 10:39 am (UTC)

  17. All went straight in — quite pleased with myself. In passing there seems to be a quantum leap between the’ quick’ version and main paper one.
  18. Sometimes I wonder why I bother with these puzzles. I just don’t have the vocabulary or intelligence to complete them. I have been attempting these since December, and in that time I have only completed two (three if I included a completion where I had a wrong answer), and that was with the help of aids such as Bradford’s and Chambers.

    I started off well, answering about ten clues fairly quickly, which gave me a false sense of hope. But yet again I answer a few then just get completely stuck. Quite often I simply have no idea what the clue is saying, no idea on even how to start thinking about working out the answer.

    Perhaps I should look for cryptic crosswords aimed at children.

    Oh well, pity party over. Let’s hope that tomorrow will bring some success. These QCs are not going to defeat me. They just keep giving me a black eye.

    1. Hopefully because you enjoy doing them! If you were rattling them off after just two months you would never have needed this blog, and look what you would have missed 🙂
    2. No, please don’t say that! The cryptics have a language all of their own and nobody learns a new language in a few weeks . Today’s esteemed blogger has given a great guide, when I started having a go at the cryptics, years ago , there was no guidance available , you just looked at the answers the next day and tried to work out what you had missed.
      I enjoy your posts and your honesty but as others have said, nothing comes easily that is worth doing.
      It’s all exercise for the mind. Enjoy the clues you solve and build your repertoire . There is repetition, old chestnuts and some days are trickier than others.
      Do keep going if it’s something you would like to master ( not that some of us really feel we have ever completely mastered it…)
      Keep going, keep posting and best wishes
    3. Did you check your messages? I offered to work through a puzzle with you and offer you advice.
      1. Hi.

        I have private messages switched off in my settings here, so any message that you may have been able to send would not have reached me.

        That was a kind offer though, thank you. I have my aids and this blog, so I’ll be okay.

        1. Well the offer stands for others, too. If you want to go through a puzzle on Zoom, I’m happy to offer advice.
    4. I find revisiting them later in the day throws up a few more and eases the frustration somewhat.
    5. If you ever see the Saturday Telegraph, there’s a 50/50 crossword where the acrosses and cryptic and the downs are standard definitions. I usually manage most of it. Mind you, I’m not that good at standard clues either!
    6. Las December is a nanosecond ago in cryptic terms. If you’ve completed 2 or 3 in that time you’re doing well. They are a good way to build vocab and intelligence has little to do with compared with experience and the insight that comes with time. As I said to anon, above. I did this in 2 sittings. After the 1st one I had about 5 or 6 answers. I came back to it late-ish last night and they seemed to fly in. It’s a bumpy road, but worth travelling.
  19. Very quick solve today, but a very enjoyable puzzle. FOI tramp, LOI outcast. COD rookery, hard to chose between this and scabbard. Good wordplay throughout. Had to look one up in the dictionary — NHO tipstaff. Still being educated by crosswords, a good excuse for the addiction to them. Thanks to setter and Jeremy. GW
  20. I thought this was quite tricky in places, bordering on sneaky when it came to clues like 11ac Mere. I was lucky in that some well placed crossers prevented more than a few rabbit hole excursions. Hold ups along the way to a satisfying 18min finish included Cream Crackers, Scabbard and loi Assistant, where I missed the anagram (😳)… Invariant
    1. 11ac always brings me back to that well known quiz question of how many Lakes are there in the Lake District.
  21. I was not as quick as yesterday but I submitted well within target. My FOI was HOT DOG. There were plenty of write ins such as AMAZE, ABALONE and OVERTIME which was just as well as I needed the checkers for some of the other clues including TIPSTAFF and OFFERTORY. I dithered over the definition of EVEN meaning fair and decided it was something akin to even handed. My penultimate solve was OUTCAST and my LOI where I paused to parse was ANTE. Thanks to Jeremy and Tracy. 7:39

    Edited at 2021-02-03 11:26 am (UTC)

  22. Really enjoyed this and thought it was a perfectly pitched QC. Quite a few unknowns (“Tipstaff”, “Offertory”) but the clueing was generous enough to have a reasonable attempt. There were also quite a few biffs (“Heartache”, “Scabbard”, “Ante” and “Abalone”).

    Overall — completed in 17 mins. Main trouble was 12dn “Top Brass” — once again the “bra” for supporter nearly defeated me — and 18dn “Alpha” which I knew had something to do with the Alps, but just couldn’t see the word.

    FOI — 1dn “Hot Dog”
    LOI — 16ac “Ante”
    COD — 4dn “Cream Crackers”

    Thanks as usual.

  23. … “10 minutes and a handful of seconds” describing it exactly. LOI was 16A Ante, for which I needed both checkers, and then an alphabet trawl (A-T- not the most helpful of things to stare at!), and then a moment or two before I spotted Wanted as the word which was being unlimited. I wonder what proportion addressed it in that order — solve-then-parse rather than parse-then-solve. I suspect I was not the only one.

    Having said that, the puzzle was not without its talking points. Unusually, there were two beheaded words (first letter taken off) at 6A Rod and 21A Ample, and the top-and-tailed at 16A: clearly a device Tracy likes. And 3D Tipstaff was not a word I knew — though generously clued and quite guessable.

    It also took me a time to see season = time in 10A Overtime, and as someone who generally struggles with random names of people even when they are English, I groan at the thought of now needing to know a list of German first names as well!

    Many thanks to Jeremy for the blog
    Cedric

    Edited to correct spelling of Tracy — with apologies to our esteemed setter of the day

    Edited at 2021-02-03 05:56 pm (UTC)

  25. Nothing on firt pass off the across clues and then it all took off. Only needed help with two. Misspent youth as a lawyer paid off knowing Tipstaff. Thanks,
  26. Slightly disgraced my membership of the SCC today but I don’t think that once in a while is too reprehensible. No real holdups or unfamiliar words, all fair clues.
  27. Par-ish solve for me

    Held up trying to put an l into MERE and not being able to parse ANTE (thank you Jeremy)

    Otherwise knew the vocab though in one case (ABALONE) purely down to doing these things. Never heard of it/them outside crosswordland

    Thanks Jeremy and Tracy

    1. I knew ABALONE from watching too many television antiques programmes. The experts tend to use the word for what I would call mother-of-pearl.
  28. A sub-40 minutes completion today (very good, for me), except that my HOTPOT for 1d turned out to be wrong. I know little about dogs and have never heard of a chow. A poor clue, in my opinion.

    I don’t mind being beaten fair and square (missing out by 3, 4 or more clues) but, for some reason, I find failing by a single clue much harder to take. Fortunately, Mrs R knows to play it softly with me for an hour or so now, especially as I’m also recovering from having my ears syringed first thing this morning.

    Not happy, but thanks to plusjeremy and Teazel.

    2. Seems I can’t even get the name of the setter correct, today. My apologies are due to Tracy (for incorrectly attributing, in my post above, his well-constructed puzzle to Teazel). Thanks to Tracy.
      1. Just to say that my fortnightly copy of Private Eye has just been delivered – and has turned my rather downbeat mood around completely. Hooray!
        1. Mine too — brilliant cover! Also agree on the frustration of being beaten by one clue — sympathies. That nearly always happens to me on the concise 😕 But you do make me laugh — hope you’re feelng ok now!
  29. One part hard and two parts easy. I filled in most of the grid in about 25 minutes before needing a break to tackle the slightly harder ones, including 20A Abalone which in the end I had to Google what “on his tod” meant, abalone is today’s new word! All done in 35 minutes and then an error…1D Hot Dog. I was certain it was Hot Pot! Ah well, still a lovely puzzle to solve which gave enough with the right amount of challenge.

    FOI 2D Amaze
    LOI 21A Ample, which took forever to come out.
    COD 4D Cream crackers, such a simple clue that I so often misunderstand. Lovely to get this one!

    Thanks Tracy and Jeremy

    R

    1. Thanks for your reply, and sorry you DNF’d for the same reason as me (and in almost the same time – I did 37 minutes). The only difference is that, as I do the puzzle on paper, I don’t get the pink squares.
  30. FOI Hot Dog

    DNK Tipstaff but biffed it

    LOI Assistant

    DNF Due to rookery and Iona both of which I should have got

    Thanks for the glossary which I’ve added to my collection that various bloggers have kindly shared. Enjoying the challenge and understanding the parsing and wordplay more every day.

    Thanks Tracy and Jeremy

  31. But overall pretty straightforward. NHO tipstaff but worked it out. Took ages to get outcast which slowed us down and we finished in 14 minutes. Thanks for a great puzzle Tracy.

    FOI: rod
    LOI: ante
    COD: offertory

    Thanks to Jeremy for the excellent blog

  32. Reasonably straightforward for me today although was held up by the end by the hidden 11a and 16a, which I thought must be ante but could not parse. Thanks to Jeremy for the explanation. I also DNK tipstaff so googled to double check.

    A question. I normally print out the crossword as find it easier to dip in and out & do anagrams on paper but tried to do it on my phone yesterday. I think I got submit by mistake as I was scrolling down, and then couldn’t go back despite only having done 1 clue. Is there a way to cancel your submission on the crossword club site? Thanks

  33. Pleased to get 1a as FOI by doing the anagram of cheat and seeing ache and hence the answer.
    This appeared tricky but was a steady solve just hanging in on the way.
    Offertory was great to spot — not overly familiar with that — rare church attendances..
    Abalone and Tipstaff just heard of enough to add in confidence and LOI Advent had me looking at Advert but saw the answer in time.
    A few well known only from previous experiences — crackers, dieter, mere, etc.
    Thanks all
    John George
  34. A Red Letter Day today 😊 Whizzed through this despite being briefly held up by 11a — L in some three lettered game, 15a — not totally committed to vent equalling express, and scrabbling around for an alternative to pitch at 13d. So am feeling pretty chuffed tbh. Only one fly in the ointment — bra for supporter AGAIN!! But on the other hand, we have been watching reruns of The Kumars at No 42 — Meera Syal’s grandma does to seem have problems on that front 😅

    FOI Hot dog
    LOI Outcast
    COD Amaze — simple but effective, lovely surface
    Time just under 7 minutes

    Many thanks Tracy for the ego boost, and Jeremy for the blog

  35. TRAMP was my FOI, then the NW didn’t immediately yield any further, so I proceeded in a clockwise direction with the NE providing more low hanging fruit. HEARTACHE and AMAZE were late entries, but I’ve forgotten which was actually my LOI, as I did this much earlier, read the comments, but then forgot to comment myself. Getting old! 6:18. Thanks Tracy and Jeremy.
  36. ….that I would like to achieve on my weekend offerings. No unfair clues, nothing overly obscure, surfaces that aren’t clunky. A couple I had to think about a little (OUTCAST, TOP BRASS) but otherwise straightforward and — most importantly — enjoyable.

    FOI TRAMP
    LOI OUTCAST
    COD ROD (I thought this was top drawer !)
    TIME 3:50

    1. … and there I was thinking “at last, a weekday puzzle as good as our Saturday Specials always are”
  37. As per my previous post, normally whenever I use times_xwd_times app I am automatically logged in, but it didn’t happen today and I didn’t notice, so was anon. This time it recognised me automatically and logged me in correctly. So, something strange going on.
  38. All done without aids in under 30 mins for a Good Day! LOI was 1a where the h at the start convinced me that the anagram of cheat was at the beginning. Tipstaff was vaguely familiar, everything else was known.

    Not usually on Tracy’s wavelength, so doubly good

  39. A late start after a very busy, demanding, day. Quite enjoyed it — some fine clues — but I would have got more pleasure if I hadn’t rushed. 4 Mins over target. I’ll go through Jeremy’s blog later to get more out of Tracey’s interesting QC. My COD was TOP BRASS. Thanks both. John M.

    Edited at 2021-02-03 04:33 pm (UTC)

  40. Pleasant puzzle finished in about 20m which is good for us. Thought a bit about 15d and tempted to put in advert, until the penny dropped. Thanks to all.
  41. Biffed more than usual on this and found it tricky overall. Although no single clue held me up for too long (it might have had I forced myself to parse ANTE) I ended up finishing in 41:32. Even allowing for a couple of minutes to help my son sort out a Zoom lesson, this was still not a great day. Bit annoyed with myself for not getting AMPLE quicker as that seems to be a bit of a chestnut, but at least EYESORE has lodged itself firmly in brain at last. Anyway, FOI 6a, LOI 1a, COD 13a WOD ABALONE (never realised “On your tod” had anything to do with CRS though). Thanks Jeremy and Tracy
  42. Finished in 3/4 of a course (peach pasander)
    Seemed to be on the right wavelength today but biffed outcast but unable to parse the pitch bit
    1. I assume context :
      pitch = throw = cast
      As in pitch a ball, cast a net. But could be mistaken.
      1. We are veggies so all our curries are fruit based or have Quorn which works well.
        All you do is to slice the peach thinly and add it to the pan just before serving
  43. Back on track after completing both yesterdays and todays back-to-back. Nothing too challenging today but I failed to see the parsing of 16a Ante until reading Jeremy’s excellent blog. Also impressed with our contributors grasp of the (to me) obscure – today it is Rotter’s turn for the source for 20A.
    I had one error with 1d Hot Dog – in my vocabulary, and Chambers Dictionary, chow=food so although it was supposed to lead us to =dog, I’m not sure I really need to accept that as the only correct answer and would be inclined to quibble that hot pot could be an acceptable alternative… I know this is a late post but any views on this?
    FOI 8a. LOI 9a Eyesore. COD 4d Cream Crackers – a phrase I’ve not heard for a while (they probably wait until I’m out of earshot!).
    Thx to Tracy for another easier solve after the recent run!
    Oh – also getting the red ‘…you have been banned…’ error message on logging in. Possibly someone wants us to create new ID’s so they can pick these up…?
    1. Andrew, I’d say it has to be HOT DOG because the &lit definition relies on the two quite different meanings of ‘chow’ i.e. a canine and food. Because of that, ‘heated chow’ can mean heated canine or heated food both of which lead us to HOT DOG. HOT POT misses the canine element.

  44. A relative easy offering today it seems. About 18mins or so, less than the episode of Schitt’s Creek which I was watching whilst solving. I don’t frequently comment on the blog but I am an avid reader of it. Today is special though. It is a year since I started on the QC and that first months were a series of DNFs. I wouldn’t have been able to reach the point of being able to amble through the crossword, whilst watching a distracting comedy series, if it wasn’t for the help of this blog. So my huge thanks to all the bloggers (and of course the setters) who have supported my adventure into the world of cryptic crosswords. FOI: 6a Rod LOI: 1d HOT DOG COD: 16a ANTE

  45. DNF for me today.

    NHO TIPSTAFF, or “Chow” for that matter which left me stuck on HOT DOG. Took me far too long to get CREAM CRACKERS too for some reason.

    The rest of it was good fun though. Loved DIETER and OFFERTORY. I finished the Private Eye crossword once it had dropped through the door too so hopefully I’m not completely losing the plot. Fingers crossed I’m more in sync with the QC setter tomorrow.

    Thanks Tracy and Jeremy.

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