Times Quick Cryptic No 1809 by Oink

62 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1809 by Oink”

1. 7 minutes for this very pleasing puzzle from Oink. I found the SE corner a little trickier than the rest of it with INGRATE not coming to mind until I had all of its checkers in place.

   I hesitate to say anything about levels of difficulty in general in case it discourages others but the blog is here to discuss all aspects of the puzzles so the subject shouldn’t be off limits. I would agree with John that there have been a few easier ones this week and last and I managed solve them all within my target 10 minutes. The week before that I failed on 3 out of 5 with QC1798 by Izetti standing out as being particularly difficult.

2. Well, I thought it was easy. I actually got in a few seconds faster than John, probably a first for me. 3:28.
3. I would have finished in under 5 minutes, only I took some time to proofread – and found a typo. I ended up at 5:04, which is a record for me. The answers flew in, and I saw how every cryptic worked almost immediately.

   Oops, I did biff garage.

4. No time but all done. I looked for Oink’s signature clue, so 7d was FOI. LOI 13d. COD 14a because of the pleasant feeling when it came to mind after I had stared at it for a while. Thanks Oink and John.
5. Yes, on the gentler side and had all but one done in around 4.30 but just couldn’t see FERRET so a PB will have to wait for another day.

   As always an enjoyable puzzle and blog

6. Spent almost as long on 8d as the rest of the whole puzzle. Eventually pressed “reveal” and it wasn’t a PDM moment. I had eventually eliminated B for bishop, but could not remember the other abbreviations (HE? VEN? SEE? ELY? etc) I didn’t have a good candidate for “supporters”. Some clues just don’t quite satisfy.

   COD Adultery

7. An enjoyable puzzle from Oink and very much at the gentler end of the spectrum. I would have been on for an extremely rare sub 5 minute solve had that pesky FERRET not held me up at the end. However it was nice to see bishop not being clued as ‘b’ for a change. Plenty of good clues but CINEMA and INGRATE stood out as my favourites today. Finished in 5.43.
   Thanks to John and I look forward to tackling your puzzle over the weekend

   Edited at 2021-02-12 08:03 am (UTC)

8. FOI 1A: EARL
   LOI 8D: FERRET

   I couldn’t sleep, so this was a relatively bleary-eyed, but nonetheless enjoyable puzzle at 4am!

   Thanks to johninterred and Oink.

9. I’m another held up by FERRET. Once I realised B was going to help I dug deep to retrieve RR which I’m certain I’ve used quite a few times in the past. Perhaps this is the time it sticks. All green in just under 9m which is definitely among my fastest times ever and I think my best of 2021, so a bit disappointing to only rank 50th on the leaderboard. New puppy is spoiling my morning routine — perhaps for the better — but doing this so close to going back upstairs to start work makes it feel a bit more pressured.
10. Not even drinking tea stopped me shaming my SCC status today, but I allow myself the occcasional lapse. All but a couple across went straight in, everything else followed virtually in order ending at DENY. A little slow to see CINEMA for no reason, and FERRET made me smile when it clicked. Thanks to Oink for a fun fast Friday.
11. Ahead of John by about the same as I was behind Kevin!

    FERRET LOI once I had ruled out “B” and considered RR.

    3:32.

12. Unusually, I went down the clues in order – only missing a few out which I filled in on a second pass. I went with the flow above finishing on DAWDLER and FERRET.
    5:36 which seems to be about as fast as I’ve ever done one of these.
13. A very good day, unusual for a Friday, and it gave me a lot of pleasure.

    I didn’t get FERRET for ages, or I might have been on for a pb.

    Thank you very much, Oink and John.

    Now for tomorrow, and I have to say that I’m finding the Saturday offerings very tricky. Luckily I have double the time to get them done before Monday.

    Diana

14. An odd puzzle with one clue from another universe …
    … as I too found this really very simple until I met 8D Ferret which was really very difficult. All but the last done in 6 minutes — not quite PB standard but nearly — and then an alphabet trawl for the last, a shrug of the shoulder as Ferret looked the only possible answer and over to John’s blog to be told why. 9 minutes in all, fully one third on my LOI.

    COD to 12A Sample, a very elegant surface.

    Many thanks to John for the blog and in anticipation for the Saturday special.
    Cedric

15. Yes a very gentle offering today from Oink. I would have got under 10 minutes if it weren’t for 8d that I had to have a good think about.

    FOI 3 AC
    LOI 8 DN
    COD – I liked both Light-fingered and ingrate.

    Thanks to Oink and John. Have just printed out the weekend QC to attempt.

16. Thanks to Oink for an easy end to the week (apart from my LOI FERRET which I biffed). A smooth top half (with the one exception) so I started again from the bottom and met in the middle with LIGHT FINGERED. Even after spending time on 8dn I managed to stay a couple of minutes under target so that is OK. This will (largely) please our newer solvers and it made a nice change. Thanks also to John. John M.
    Perhaps the light-fingered amongst us risk being grilled by the pork chops? (Rhyming slang….. )

    Edited at 2021-02-12 09:58 am (UTC)

17. An increasingly rare sub-ten-minutes for me at 9.10, and like everyone else it seems, would have been significantly quicker but for trying to fit B into LOI 8d. Only when I gave up on that aspiration did I finally see the blindingly obvious alternative. I think I went through the across clues pretty much in order, interspersed with the occasional downer to provide crossers — all very straight-forward. Thanks both.
18. An enjoyable QC just right for people like me. I’m not nimble minded enough to complete in single digit time and this one took me 33 minutes. Perhaps a few too many answers came from first thoughts, but ferret ingrate easel and grilled needed more thought and i needed the blog to understand why repel, obviously the answer, fitted outcast. My thanks to Oink and to John. DavidS
19. Really enjoyed. I always feel guilty if I start the crossword before lunch but it’s OK if it’s quick like today.
    Glad we got to eat a bit of PORK. FOI EARL, etc. Top across clues flew in.
    INGRATE made me laugh.
    Re IDES in Rome. ‘ Beware the Ides of March’ – ‘Julius Caesar’ is ingrained on my memory due to O level studies in days of yore.
    I did manage to parse FERRET LOI , after some thought.

    Thanks vm, John.

    Edited at 2021-02-12 10:12 am (UTC)

20. A gentle offering from Oink today. FOI EARL, LOI SIDELINE. 5:56. Thanks Oink and John.

21. FOI: 3a WASHED UP
    LOI: 25a DENY

    Time to Complete: 1 hr 22 mins

    Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 23

    Clues Answered with Aids (3 lives): 3 (19a, 23a, 8d)

    Clues Unanswered: Nil

    Wrong Answers: Nil

    Total Correctly Answered (incl. aids): 26/26

    Aids Used: Chambers, Bradfords

    I whizzed through the first half of this puzzle very quickly, giving me a real confidence boost. But then I got stuck on a few clues that took me a long while to decipher.

    20a PEACE – I pencilled this one in at first as I could not get the gym expert part of it. This was the penultimate clue I answered, and in the end I was convinced the answer was peace, even though I could not work out the complete clue.

    14a- LIGHT FINGERED. This also took a while before the light bulb moment struck. AT first when I read the clue I thought “Take a letter”? Obviously that did not fit in with the letter/word numbering.

    4d – ASSASSINATION. This is another clue that took me forever to work out.

    21a – IDES. I answered this one in a flash of inspiration before I realised it was a hidden clue. When it spoke of a date in Rome I quickly thought of the Ides of March.

    7d – PORK. I saw this possible reference to the setter very quickly.

    So, a great puzzle that really got me thinking. I had to use my three lives on this one, but it resulted in a completion for me, albeit at a rather sedate (though it felt frantic) 82 minutes. Oof!

22. For me this was a quick cryptic, finishing in 07:42. It would have been much faster but for pauses to find ADULTERY and LOI DENY where I nearly went for DEFY.
    I agree with our blogger, Oink is always a pleasure to solve and this should have pleased most people.
    David
23. DNF because of FERRET. Never heard of RR for Bishop and wouldn’t have thought of FEET for supporters. Always pleasing to learn a new “trick”, so many thanks for the blog.
    1. The same for me. I wizzed through this in 45 minutes (by far my quickest for all bar 1 clue!) but couldn’t see 8d. Thanks Oink and John.
24. Not a fast solve but a very rare, for me, clean sweep. DENY went in unparsed and FERRET took some time.

    Thanks to Oink and John and will be doing John’s puzzle tomorrow.

25. All done in under five minutes, mostly in order. Then sat for a minute to find the piggy clue — doh. FOI earl, LOI Ferret — biffed, then checked online. Thanks to blogger for parsing that one for us, and to Oink. Three COD’s for me — ingrate, sideline and dawdler. Have a good weekend one and all. GW
26. If it hadn’t been for FERRET I could have had an unheard of sub 10 finish, with only one to go I was at 9:08. Then I spent time, like others, trying to fit a B in and checking my spelling of ALGIERS as I usually get the IE bit wrong. The penny finally dropped at 12.15, still one of my fastest times.
    I think both yesterday’s and today’s puzzles have been perfect QCs at either end of the hardness scale .
    Thanks to Oink and blogger.

    Brian

27. One of my best attempts, merrily whizzing through until I was brought to a complete stop by two clues:
    17A: I failed to understand that ‘rebellious’ meant turn the word around and
    8D: where I didn’t know the RR for Bishop and so was stumped.
    Otherwise felt quite proud of myself!

    What I still don’t understand is whether the Quick Cryptic is ‘quick’ because it’s shorter AND meant to be easier than the large Cryptics, OR just shorter? The difficulty level isn’t consistent from day to day at all for me.

    Thank you for the puzzle and the explanations.

    1. The QC caters for a wide range of solvers at different stages on the learning curve so it has to vary in difficulty. If it could be done every day in 5 minutes by everyone attempting it there wouldn’t be much point to it as a learning tool and interest would swiftly dwindle. But I admit the setters and/or editors don’t always get it right

       Congrats on your successes today!

    2. Yes we get a variable level of difficulty in the Quick Crossword, but the difficulty varies for the 15×15 too. If it’s any guide, my average time for the QC over the last 6 months is about 5 1/4 minutes, but for the 15×15 is nearly 18 minutes (for those I finish). But there is an overlap. My slowest time for a QC this year is slower than my fastest time for a 15×15. For the 15×15 there is a very interesting site The SNITCH which measures the difficulty of the 15×15 from the average times of a number of “reference solvers” compared to their average times over 6 months each day. Read the “About page” to see how it works.

       Edited at 2021-02-12 11:18 am (UTC)

       1. Thanks for flagging the Snitch page. It’s great for me as I generally attempt to do a 15×15 once a week so would prefer to try an easier one (& Fridays my day off tend to be the most difficult). Interested to see Tuesdays seem easier on the whole than Mondays.

28. Great fun today. 11:55. So many enjoyable clues. I was held up by some but mainly, like others, by FERRET. DNK RR=bishop (I do now) so it was LOI with fingers crossed. Difficult to choose but I’ll go for WOD DAWDLER and COD CINEMA
29. Thank you Oink…I needed that. I was fast fingered today with the only real hesitations at 25a DENY and my LOI 8d FERRET which took me a good minute of my 7 minutes solve. Lovely way to end the week.
30. Very easy – apart from FERRET!!!
31. I’ve been attempting the QC for over three years now and still rarely complete unaided. I struggle with anagrams but today saw them all very quickly and finished in a 2nd best 11:54 (Best was QC 1715, Wurm, 9:43). Being a member of the SCC in the 30-40 min range, today’s QC gave me a nice boost to plough on.

    FOI 1A: EARL
    LOI 8D: FERRET

    1. Hi.

       For anagrams I use Scrabble tiles. So many times I have tried to solve anagram in my head or using paper and pencil, yet the answer just didn’t come. When I use Scrabble tiles, however, I often find the word appearing as I move the tiles about.

       1. That’s real dedication, PW, having a set of Scrabble tiles to hand! Have you tried writing down the letters in different formats? A random circular pattern works for me with a couple of letters in the centre, but faced with a horizontal string of letters my mind goes blank
          1. Hi

             Indeed I do use that method too. The Scrabble tiles come out when these methods fail to produce the word.

32. The same experience for me as for so many others. Felt I was flying along for most of it, slowed down slightly towards the end, as one might expect I suppose, and then gratefully stopped my watch on 14:40, very pleased with myself for going sub-15. Then I saw I had still got 8d to fill in, so I had to restart the watch. It took me half as long again to think of FERRET, but I couldn’t parse it immediately. After another half minute or so (22:18) I decided to go with it and then did see how the clue worked a few seconds after stopping the watch finally. As annoying as it was, I can’t deny it was a good clue, much like SAMPLE was, which seems to appear with amazing regularity, but always holds me up. That started me thinking if there was some kind of league table of words that have appeared most frequently in the QC. I’m guessing Jack would be the one to know if anyone does. Anyway, enjoyable as usual from Oink, so thanks to him and of course to John.
    1. Compiling such a list sounds like a mighty task, crispb, but who knows? If the lockdown continues for much longer I may get round to giving it a go!
33. 8:47; very straightforward, although I did biff garage! Thanks to Oink and blogger.
34. as I finished in a PB of 6.18, I’m usually a 12 to 15 minute solver, so quite a chunk off for me.
35. Thought I was on for a PB and about to enter the dizzying realms of a sub 10 minute finish — like Harry Maguire exploiting gaps in midfield to burst into the opposition box. However, as I was about to unleash my shot I was tackled by an alphabet trawl of 25ac and missed my moment.

    In the end, I was fairly satisfied with 12 mins for a relatively straight forward, but enjoyable, Oink puzzle. Only real hold up, apart from 25ac, was 8dn. After trying to fit a Bra into it, I had a flash of inspiration around feet and suddenly saw “Ferret” (I have seen RR used before for bishop).

    FOI — 1ac”Earl”
    LOI — 25ac “Deny”
    COD — 8dn “Ferret” (although I also loved the simplicity of 12ac “Sample”)

    Thanks as usual.

36. Finished all the across in order in one pass for the first time ever. As others denied pb (by a whole minute) by ferret. Kicked myself as I did know rr but was obsessed with 3rd letter being b.

    Edited at 2021-02-12 12:49 pm (UTC)

37. Well, the top half (bar 8d) flew in, but 14ac, Light Fingered, wouldn’t come to mind and that seemed to put me off my stride with the rest of the clues. The SE corner, in particular, remained stubbornly empty until Peace and then Repel unlocked the dam and allowed an 18min finish, with loi Ferret responsible for a couple of those. That felt slow, and the times posted by others in my usual group confirm I was off the pace today. Still, I enjoyed the puzzle, with CoD to 5d, Harem. Invariant
38. Thanks for the blog, been at this quickie for a couple of years. Today my best ever time at 13:13 meaning either I’m improving or this was on the easy side.
    8DN held me up too.
    3AC COD made me smile.
    9AC very generous to tell us “north” Africa as clue worked without.

    Previously only tried the print edition which I only take a couple of times a week but during this lockdown have been solving on the app. Have finally made the graduation to the main puzzle the last fortnight, coming in at circa 90 minutes over two days with a couple of “check grids” to help me along. Then coming here for the explanations. Quite a step up I must say!

    Hope all are keeping well and safe, had my first jab this week, lockdown surely can’t go on much longer…. Salacious99.

39. A 22-minute solve (very speedy for me) today has enabled me to achieve a series of firsts:
    – Longest run of success (7) since a DNF.
    – First ever 5-0 week.
    – First time my overall median performance has dipped below 60 minutes. N.B. I don’t use the mean as a average, as my many DNFs can’t sensibly be allocated a meaningful time.
    – Spotted Oink’s porcine reference on the way through for the first time.

    And, if I had been held up for a full 6 minutes by my LOI (CINEMA) I would have also recorded a PB – or world record (in my little world), as I prefer to think about it.

    I trusted to luck a little with FERRET, as I saw FEET for supporters, but didn’t know RR for bishop. Also, I didn’t fully parse DENY until after I had put down my pencil.

    I can report that Mrs R also had a successful day with a 17-minute completion. She also might have got very close to her PB, had she not struggled at the end with FERRET.

    So, all in all, I think a glass of something is called for in the Random household this evening.

    Thanks to johninterred and to Oink.

40. It is marvelous to see how many have enjoyed this puzzle as much as I did. Well done and thank-you, Oink!
41. Not so much light fingered as clued with a light touch, I’d say! I’m another who finished in a quick time, almost half my average, and close to a clean sweep. Oink’s puzzles always put a smile on my face, and today was no exception 😊 Nice to see so many PBs (or near ones) today.

    FOI Earl
    LOI Deny – nearly put defy
    COD Ferret – so happy the supporters weren’t bras! I liked Light fingered a lot too
    Time 7 mins

    Nearly forgot: many thanks to Oink for a fun Friday and John for the usual enjoyable blog

    On a separate subject, I just wanted to say that I have finished the book that Louisajaney recommended – Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose (8) by Sandy Balfour. I really recommend it – it’s a cleverly constructed memoir, well written and very interesting too. My only quibble is that – as far as the crossword element is concerned – the focus is very much on Guardian puzzles rather than a wider range of styles! But that in itself is interesting, as – unlike quite a few of you – I have never tackled a Guardian crossword and they are clearly quite different beasts from what we’re used to here! I now understand a bit more about Ximenean rules too. BTW I did find it helpful to have the Crossword Who’s Who from Best for Puzzles to hand. So many thanks LouisaJ – I look forward to hearing your next recommendation 😊

    Edited at 2021-02-12 03:10 pm (UTC)

    1. I would like to add my thanks to Louisajaney too. I saw the post earlier in the week from someone who had read it on her recommendation and have it on order… arriving this weekend.
       BTW for those who want to try the other crosswords, there are links (and blogs) on Fifteensquared to the FT, Independent and Guardian crosswords. Stuck at home during lockdown I often do all three in addition to the Times Concise, QC and 15×15.

       Edited at 2021-02-12 03:22 pm (UTC)

       1. Thanks John — I’ll look into that, although I’m not sure how popular I’ll be if I do six crosswords a day 😉 As I’m somewhat slower than you, I think it might take a large portion of my day! My husband has a Guardian sub tho, so perhaps I should get him to print off the crossword.

          Years ago, in the days when the Indie was a great newspaper, we used to tackle its crossword at weekends and very occasionally complete it. Then children came along … So maybe it’s time to try again 😊

          Edited at 2021-02-12 06:05 pm (UTC)

42. If we accept that FERRET was the clue that caused most problems (but not for me) it’s worth bearing in mind that a setter is very rarely going to use exactly the same device twice in the same puzzle. So the bishop (B) who has disappeared from his GARAGE is only likely to turn up at 8D in another guise ! So here, he’s the Right Reverend (although I doubt he drives a Rolls Royce !)

    Bishop has no less than 45 suggestions in Bradford’s, but I doubt that many will appear in a QC.

    Nicely accessible puzzle from the Hogmeister, and the fact that my sub-3 minute solve only places me at 16th on the leaderboard suggests that it didn’t cause too many problems.

    FOI EARL
    LOI WASHED UP
    COD FERRET
    TIME 2:52

43. Because I got a personal best of 11 minutes.

    I am in awe of the sub 5 min brigade, as I got nearly every clue immediately, except ferret – when I got the checkers and put in RR, it then came quickly.

    A great end to an interesting week. I found Thursday slow but doable, whereas with Izzetti on Monday, which many others found OK , I made no headway with at all.

    Ho hum! At least I seem to be getting better….

    FOI Earl

    LOI Ferret

    Thanks to Oink and Blogger

    Edited at 2021-02-12 03:57 pm (UTC)

44. 9 minutes and two to go. 9 more minutes to get Ferret and another 5 before giving up on Deny.
    Surprised that only a few struggled with this one.
    Just didn’t see Den for retreat.
    Oh well!
    But I did set a new record for me of 7 straight across answers before Cinema made me move on…and then the ease with which the down answers could fly in was a novel experience…
    Thanks all,
    John George
45. I whizzed through this and thought it might be a PB but like everyone else I ground to a halt at 8d. I saw (without aids) that it could be ferret or learnt but I was expecting a B and couldn’t see why it could be ferret. After about 7 minutes on that one clue I remembered Right Rev but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it abbreviated to RR. A very enjoyable puzzle but a PB will have to wait for another day.
    FOI washed up
    COD sample — very neat clue
    LOI ferret
    Thank you both.
    Blue Stocking
46. I was on for a pb in single figures but took as long to get 8dn as it did the rest . Couldn’t fit in b , or some other chess allusion.
    I had a boyfriend, many years ago whose mother called him an ingrate. I always thought it an American term of derision.
    Thank you blogger and setter.
47. Apart from finishing before the end of the first course in record time this QC was fun with humorous clues.
    Not a pig of a puzzle.
48. Like so many others we raced through this one only to be held up by 8D. So, what might have been a PB was not and we finished in 10 mins. Never mind, we really enjoyed it – thank you Oink.

    FOI: earl
    LOI: ferret
    COD: light fingered (but we also liked ingrate and washed up)

    Thanks for the blog John.

49. Yes, pretty straightforward with all but a couple being write-ins.FOI 1a Earl. LOI 25a Deny as I had to think about the passing. COD 14a Lightfingered – just for the surface. *d Ferret became obvious once I had quickly dismissed B ( good tip in the discussion of re-appearing devices) and went straight on the RR. Nice way to finish the week. Might even have been a PB if I had thought about timing. Wish I had done this yesterday, but only found it in the printer this morning!
50. Biffed FERRET based on the assumption that ‘search’ was a definition for an all-time personal best of 15 minutes.

    Very happy with that, and a nice finish to a week in which I had spent quite a bit of time complaining about the difficulty of earlier puzzles!

    WB

    1. Well done on the PB.
       1. Thanks!

          WB

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