Times Quick Cryptic No 1818 by Teazel

Author   rolytolyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I found this rather tricky, and at three-or-so minutes over target took fully twice as long as yesterday’s done just beforehand. No particular hold-ups, but I only got five of the acrosses on a first read through (6,9,19,20,21), and continued on in a similar vein, eventually sticking in 12d and 13ac with an unparsed shrug and finally having to write out the anagrist for the forgotten 1ac. A quirky puzzle with lots of good quality misdirection – many thanks to Teazel!

Across
1 Terrier in shame lay twitching (8)
SEALYHAM –  anagram (twitching) of SHAME LAY. Not many options after all the checkers are down.
6 Noticed far side of lawn is cut (4)
SAWN – SAW (noticed) N (“far side” of lawN)
8 Very desirous to get article out of the country (6)
HUNGRY – take A (article) out of HUNGaRY (country)
9 Nothing in priest and lieutenant to inspire disgust (6)
REVOLT – O (nothing) in REV (priest) and LT (lieutenant)
10 Nobleman’s free pardon partially reversed (4)
PEER – fREE Pardon “partially, reversed”
11 After small mistake, travelled it’s said in exit lane (4,4)
SLIP ROAD – after SLIP (small mistake) ROAD = RODE (travelled, when said)
12 Indian perhaps back with uniform (5)
HINDU – HIND (back) with U(niform)
13 Out of practice, well-behaved prisoner loses head (5)
RUSTY – a TRUSTY is apparently a well-behaved prisoner, ditch the head.
15 In foreign parts manages to be heard (8)
OVERSEAS – is heard the same as OVERSEES (manages)
17 English sailors without a feeling of discontent (4)
ENVY – E(nglish) NaVY (sailors, without A). I suppose there are many varieties of discontentment, of which envy is one.
19 God posed beside vase (6)
SATURN – SAT (posed) beside URN (vase)
20 Power of special constable to intercept drug smuggler (6)
MUSCLE – S.C. (special constable) to intercept MULE (drug runner). I remember finding the seemingly endless, random things that can be reduced to initials quite frustrating when I started cryptics. You grow to accept it. (Or you could actively embrace it, and write an entire novel using just the initial letters found in Chambers.)
21 Letter school returned (4)
NOTE – ETON (school), returned
22 Staff that protect rebuilt city? Sure (8)
SECURITY – anagram (rebuilt) of CITY SURE

Down
2 Avoid duel, moving east (5)
ELUDE – anagram (moving) of DUEL ; E(ast)
3 Restraint of Roman soldiers suppressing resistance (3-4)
LEG-IRON – LEGION (Roman soldiers) suppressing R(esistance)
4 Horse always gets fodder (3)
HAY – H(orse) AY (always)
5 Carnival route initially appears in complicated diagrams (5,4)
MARDI GRAS – R (Route “initially”) in an anagram (complicated) of DIAGRAMS
6 Cut is almost serious (5)
SEVER – is “almost” SEVERe (serious)
7 Inept type engaging a black Aussie native (7)
WALLABY – WALLY (inept type) engaging A B(lack)
11 Nurses’ tea enlivened by a bottle of this? (9)
SAUTERNES – anagram (enlivened) of NURSES TEA. The strict definition is just “this”, referring back to the enlivened tea, with “a bottle of” providing an extra hint. I trust they weren’t pouring it into their tea.
12 Tackle a criminal? Just try! (4,1,2)
HAVE A GO – double definition, the first completely unknown to me: when a member of the public tackles a criminal. The clue echoes the OED’s earliest citation, from 1965 in the Daily Mail: “Mr. Ranulph Bacon, Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner for Crime, yesterday gave this advice to the public if they saw gunmen carrying out a raid: ‘If you can have a go, have a go.’” Wow, isn’t that some magnificently bad advice from Mr Ranulph Bacon? (Yes, surname Bacon, stop tittering at the back.)
14 Poet in first half of sermon about writers (7)
SPENSER – SER (first half of SERmon) about PENS (writers)
16 Red wine: rogue has good drop (5)
ROUGE – ROGUE has the G(ood) drop from 3rd to 4th
18 Jeeves, for example, introduces Glen to tango (5)
VALET – VALE (glen) introduced to T(ango)
20 Man in charge at first speaking into this? (3)
MIC – Man In Charge “at first”. (The strict definition is just “this”)

53 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1818 by Teazel”

  2. 9 minutes, so 1 minute improvement on my solving times so far this week.

    I had forgotten the first meaning of HAVE A GO but I remember it now as I was around at the time when the slogan became part of a national campaign promoted by certain newspapers. I’d have preferred a reference to the long-running radio show hosted by Wilfred Pickles but I guess that wasn’t likely.

    I see poor old Jeeves has been demoted to VALET yet again!

    Edited at 2021-02-25 06:01 am (UTC)

      1. Gentleman’s Gentleman. This came up only a couple of weeks ago when he was clued as ‘butler’. His duties would have combined both skills plus a number of others.
        1. Jeeves was a valet, meaning he served an individual, as opposed to a butler who served a family or household. In certain circles a valet might be referred to as a ‘gentleman’s gentleman’ but a valet he was all the same.
    2. I had to look up Wilfred Pickles… Could remember radio.

      Edited at 2021-02-25 09:43 am (UTC)

  3. Loved this one. The GK heavy run continues but today’s only dimly aware ofs SEALYHAM, SPENSER and SAUNTERNES were kindly clued with the risk reduced by checkers. The terrier was the only really not known but with four checkers in I couldn’t see another way to put the letters in. Without pen and paper I don’t think I could have juggled those letters though. Nothing until revolt on the first pass of acrosses but ended up with seven, which is good. Best moment came with SATURN which was like being on Catchphrase — I said what I saw and there it was. Biggest hold up was ELUDE where the clue took a while to reveal its secret and finally SEALYHAM with fingers crossed. All green in 14.
  4. …. which I’ve never heard of so guessed at YEALSHAM terrier instead. As a result I got two red letters. That’s SO annoying as I’ve been completing well recently, albeit in a leisurely manner between mouthfuls of porridge. It didn’t give me a time, of course, but I estimate about 25 minutes this morning.
    I especially liked 8a HUNGRY and 5d MARDI GRAS.

    Edited at 2021-02-25 08:25 am (UTC)

  5. … and all done in 12 minutes. DNK my LOI 1A Sealyham, but as Mendesest says, the checkers were helpful. A good reminder too of how to spell Sauternes and Spenser; in both cases there is one more S than one might have expected.

    A groan at the return of the crossword setter’s favourite school in 21A. It must have been nearly a month since the last mention and the poor pupils must have wondered if we had forgotten about them. A rather larger MER at 12D Have a go — I only know the phrase as meaning simply “give it a try”, and given that the first meaning dates from one random (and as Roly says, spectacularly stupid) comment made well over 50 years ago I’d say it is pretty obscure. Though I see Jack recalls it, so not completely obscure quite yet.

    I’ve often wondered if the Cryptic Quintagram setters are the same group of people as the crossword setters. Seeing today’s, and the answer to the first clue, I’m fairly sure that at least Oink does double duty!

    Many thanks to Roly for the blog
    Cedric

    1. ‘Have a go’ is fairly used, especially in the tabloid press. Typical headline would refer to ‘Have a go hero’

      Edit: I see that this has been mentioned a few times in the comments below…

      Edited at 2021-02-25 04:23 pm (UTC)

  6. Got of to a flyer with SEALYHAM (remembered from a previous QC) and its offshoots going straight in and continued in a similar manner until finishing with SECURITY. My only slight pause was over ENVY where I was trying to get an ‘a’ into one of the various abbreviations of sailors. Got HAVE A GO from the ‘have a go hero’ phrase that journalists seem to enjoy. Finished in 7.34 with my my COD going to LEG IRON as it made me chuckle.
    Thanks to Roly and Teazel for an entertaining puzzle.
  7. Nice and gentle today, so very quick at under ten minutes. FO’sI were 1 and 6 across, at which point I couldn’t resist having a go at the downs. I hesitated on elude as evade appeared to me, and wouldn’t parse, so elude was my LOI. COD Hungry. Dithered over oversees/overseas but the cluing clarified which was needed. And since wombat wouldn’t fit or parse, wallaby leapt into second place. I suppose that leaves me leisure to try the 15 x 15 — with the usual trepidation. Thanks, Roly, and Teazel. GW.
  8. Under 40 minutes. COD OVERSEAS. Thanks Teazel and Roly and All of the above for voicing my experiences, individually or severally.
  9. I just don’t believe it! Yet another 10 minutes AND 9 seconds. That’s the third exact time recently. NW was the big hold up. Sealyham took an age as did LOI hungry. As always, they’re easy when you see them. Thanks for the blog.

    Edited at 2021-02-25 09:24 am (UTC)

  10. Yes, the NW did it for me, too, after a clockwise walk around most of the grid.
    I enjoyed, and was totally engrossed by, the puzzle and was surprised that I was 4 mins over target. Held up by SEALYHAM and, unaccountably, by LEG-IRON and MARDI GRAS (both good clues).
    A typical offering from the arch tease but is it beyond the wit of setters to find a way of doing without that b****y school in crosswords, please? Perhaps it is there just to tease, in which case I have risen to the bait. Thanks to both, John M.

    Edited at 2021-02-25 08:57 pm (UTC)

  11. I agree there were some tricky bits in today’s puzzle; something for everyone perhaps. I had no problem with SEALYHAM but my LOI was PEER and I questioned HAVE A GO (but I do now remember Have a Go Heroes).
    FOI was ROUGE. LEG IRON tricky I thought. COD to SECURITY.
    Time just under 12 minutes on paper.
    David
  12. About 25 minutes in browsing fashion. Solved in a symetrical band from NE to SW which looked so neat I was almost reluctant to spoil it by filling in any others. Slight delay with the ENVY/VALET as I was trying to cram some variation of ABs or Tars into it at first. Now to spoil my morning by checking on the cricket…

  13. FOI: 21a NOTE
    LOI: 20a MUSCLE

    Time to Complete: DNF

    Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 16

    Clues Answered with Aids (3 lives): 1a, 14d

    Clues Unanswered: 7 (8a, 15a, 17a, 22a, 4d, 11d, 16d)

    Wrong Answers: 2d

    Total Correctly Answered (incl. aids): 18/26

    Aids Used: Chambers, Bradfords

    On my first go around the grid I had only 3 answers. I found this one to be tough. Going from my previous attempts at Teazel’s crosswords he/she is not a beginner-friendly setter.

    I really struggled to get many clues, finding that I would get a couple and then be staring at the grid for a long time. Then an answer would come which would lead to several other clues being quickly answered, only for everything to slow down to a crawl again.

    1a. SEALYHAM – Never heard of this word/dog breed, and even if I had managed to have all the intersecting letters from other clues completed, I would not have got this one without help.

    17a. ENVY – I got the E for English in, and then tried to think of a plural word for sailors consisting of four letters. All I could come up with was TARS. Removing the A from TARS just did not produce a word with the E. I am annoyed that this ex-matelot did not get this one.

    2d. EVADE – I put in ELUDE, so this was my wrong answer.

    Another unenjoyable crossword for me. Teazel never fills me with any confidence.

    1. Sorry you found this awful…on the other hand you did very well recently on one where I only managed 3 and a couple of halves!
  14. FOsI. ELUDE, SEALYHAM, SAWN, HINDU, WALLABY

    MARDI GRAS was a penny drop moment. Liked REVOLT, HUNGRY. LEG IRON clever.

    LOI PEER, SATURN

    Thanks vm, Roly.

  15. Unlike Poison Wyvern I really enjoyed the QC and romped home in under 8 minutes. Admittedly the solve wasn’t straight forward and my FOI was ELUDE then PEER and an anticlockwise solve followed. Thanks Roly for explaining RUSTY which I biffed. I finished back in the NW corner taking my time over juggling the letters for SEALYHAM. My LOI was HUNGRY.

    Edited at 2021-02-25 10:34 am (UTC)

  16. 10 minutes and a few seconds, so I found this one easy enough, helped by seeing 1a and 6a straight away. SEALYHAM known only from watching Crufts, but I think they are quite nice looking dogs. Like others, I remembered HAVE A GO heroes, which helped justify 12d. I thought MARDI GRAS a good clue, but COD to LEG IRON. Thanks Roly and Teazel.
  17. No hold ups today, just a steady solve starting with HAY and finishing with SECURITY. Biffed MARDI GRAS from the M from the terrier and the I from SLIP ROAD. SPENSER is getting about a bit lately! 7:42. Thanks Teazel and Roly.
  18. ‘Have-a-go hero’ is a phrase I’ve seen a lot, but not sure I’ve ever seen it purely as a verb. SEALYHAM and SAUTERNES covered two out of three of my biggest crossword knowledge gaps (just needed a shrub for the hat-trick) but didn’t hold up for too long.
  19. Going okay until I got hopelessly bogged down in the NW corner after about half an hour. Couldn’t think of a name for a Roman soldier or what “very desirous” might be and I realised the terrier was a breed I hadn’t heard of. It’s always a bit annoying when setters clue fairly obscure words as anagrams. I agree with Roly that there weren’t many options, but even with all the checkers, as slackercracker found, there are still options which can lead to an undeserved DNF. Anyway, after nearly 20 minutes of head scratching, I saw I hadn’t filled in 12a either. No, I can’t see how I didn’t see it either. I guess I was so focused on the other three I just didn’t look down and forgot the unknown Indian that I hadn’t seen earlier. Thankfully, when I did see it, I got it straight away, which led to me thinking of something-IRON for 3d and eventually thinking of an alternative meaning to “restraint”. I then decided that SEALYHAM sounded a little less unlikely than either YEALSHAM or SEYLAHAM and then saw the LOI had to be HUNGRY and stopped my watch on 63:13 for a definite bad day. That last one in reminded me of an early email I was sent at university (about 25 years ago) which said there are three words in English that end with ‘-gry’. Hungry and Angry were two, it said, but what is the third? I’ve never been able to figure out the answer, but what better group of people to help. Anybody?
    Thanks to Teazel for a (mostly) enjoyable puzzle, and to Roly.
  20. Really must be more careful. 😉

    AYLESHAM went in confidently as the terrier as my FOI. All then progressed smoothly until trying to solve 2 down and 3 down, whereupon I realised something must be up. Scrubbed out AYLES, got ELUDE and my favourite LEG IRON, then rearranged AYLES into the semi-remembered SEALY.

    Last one was OVERSEAS, which I also had to think about for a while.

    8:39 in the end. MUSCLE also a very nice clue.

  21. 22:02. A chewy QC, and I persevered as clues dropped in regularly. NHO of SEALYHAM, went with LEAYSHAM before the PDM with LEG-IRON.

    I actually “built” MUSCLE and ENVY up from the pieces.

    WALLY for inept type has a pleasing Retro feel, I will add my complaints about ETON. There a plenty of other ways to clue NOTE, and hundreds of word fit _O_E, if that’s what the setter is left with.

    I like ROGUE-> ROUGE with the “has good drop” device. Always pleasing to see a new clue species.

    Too many LBWs in cricket today. Not good TV.

  22. Found this tricky, but carried on and thought I’d completed in 40 mins. But I was never sure about 11dn and my answer of a bottle of “Seureants” was obviously incorrect. This has come up before and I’ve been caught out — however 1ac “Sealyham” I did manage to drag from the depths.

    Like many, the NW corner was incredibly bare for a while. 2dn was so obvious it’s embarrassing how long I took to see it — along with 5dn “Mardi Gras” and 12ac “Hindu”. But a good challenge overall.

    FOI — 6ac “Sawn”
    LOI — 12ac “Hindu”
    COD — 3dn “Leg Iron”

    Thanks as usual.

    1. Obscure to some, perhaps, but it was only a couple of days ago that I was looking through my modest collection of aggry necklaces when I got a twinge of constipation, and relieved it with a trusty cup of higry-pigry. What are the odds, eh?!
  24. Very much enjoyed this one. Unusually for me a steady solve with no tricky ones. Must have been on Teazel’s wavelength. It helps I know Sealyham terriers as lovely dogs. I remember a time when there was frequent newspaper headlines about ‘Have a go hero’ so-and-so who had taken down a criminal on his own. Perhaps we are all too timid these days, or crime is all on line.

    COD Leg-iron.

    Thanks to Teazel and to rolytoly for the blog.

  25. I always find Teazel crosswords very hard (my success rate to date is only 5 from 18 attempts), but I ground out the solutions for 50+ minutes, only to be faced with what I hesitate to suggest is an unfair clue at 1a (SEALYHAM). As a non-dog owner, and with the rarity of the breed (one of the three most endangered breeds in the UK, according to the Kennel Club in 2011), the anagram for me came down to a pure guess – with five pronounceable options available. I guessed incorrectly (YEALSHAM) of course, as I normally do, but it’s very frustrating to have to record a DNF on a point of relatively obscure general knowledge and with only a 20% chance of guessing correctly. I’m not happy at the moment.

    Mrs Random, on the other hand, fairly raced through the clues, before being faced with precisely the same guess (she is also a non-dog owner, as you might expect). However, given her uncanny knack of always randomly guessing correctly, she crossed the line all correct in 23 minutes.

    Another (typical) morning in the Random household. Roll on tomorrow!

    Many thanks to rolytoly and to Teazel.

    1. Whilst “Sealyham” may be obscure (I have no idea – as I don’t have a dog either) – it’s one of those words that seems to crop up every now and then. A bit like “Sauternes” which isn’t something that often springs to mind when thinking of wine – but if you have the letters it may jog something in the memory.

      I think it’s one of those things you’ve just got to try and remember. It’s frustrating I know – I’ve been there.

  26. I have SAUTERNES in the cellar and three dogs in the kitchen (OK, none is a SEALYHAM but I’m a dog person), so I whistled through that (by my standards) in 7:39 with hardly a hold up. Wavelength etc.

    FOI SEALYHAM, LOI VALET, COD SATURN (brilliant surface, take a bow Teazel), time 1.2K for an Excellent Day.

    Many thanks Teazel and roly.

    Templar

  27. We had no problems until we hit the NW corner. Mrs Peel was certain that 1A was a Layesham terrier thus completely and, sadly, irrevocably putting the kibosh on the last couple of clues. Grr, although we’re not dog owners, there was a feature article in Country Life not so long ago about Sealyham terriers – we shouldn’t have been caught out by this one. Great puzzle though – thanks Teazel.

    FOI: sawn
    LOI: Hungry (DNF in 28 mins)
    COD: Saturn

    Thanks for the blog Rolytoly.

    Edited at 2021-02-25 01:44 pm (UTC)

  28. 11:32 with fingers crossed for 1ac SEALYHAM, having struggled to construct a convincing word from the anagrist. At 16dn I liked the good drop device. I hadn’t seen it. I thought the rogue must be a roue, then drop in a g. Your way is much better. COD LEG-IRON which provided much more enjoyable bafflement than the dog at 1ac
  29. I thoroughly enjoyed this, helped no doubt by my best time for quite a while – I think I’ll measure it as 1 Plett or 1 Templar! No problems with the GK – as others have commented, ‘HAVE-A-GO-heroes’ used to be all over the papers, quite often causing more problems than they solved, especially when they got injured or worse. It’s a shame that SEALYHAMs are on the endangered list, I remember a neighbour had them when I was a child and they were very good natured (especially for terriers!)

    Lots of fun surfaces today with some entertaining images to conjure with too, in particular Jeeves doing the tango while the nurses spike their tea.

    FOI Sawn
    LOI Slip road
    COD Muscle (for the surface)

    Many thanks Teazel and Roly

  30. I needed all the checkers to work out the terrier, but It vaguely rang a bell when I saw it. I was tempted by AYLESHAM to start with, but fortunately didn’t fall for it. FOI SAWN. LOI SEALYHAM. COD to MARDI GRAS for the excellent “complicated diagrams”. 4:54.
  31. Finished within our target for a change. Knew the dog but had to check the spelling. Carelessly put seen for 6a, so the aussie animal took longer until it was corrected to sawn. Pleasant puzzle, thanks Teazel and for the blog.
  32. ….and I found this the easiest QC of the week so far. MER at 20A however. If SC intercepts MULE, surely that gives us “smulec”. I bashed on regardless.

    FOI SEALYHAM
    LOI ROUGE
    COD SAUTERNES
    TIME 3:19

  33. A much improved time today as I managed everything in 18 minutes, as opposed to the 20+ or even 30+ I have registered every other day this week. Although not a dog person I had heard of SEALYHAM (I’ve no idea where). Also knew that a well-behaved prisoner was a Trusty, so no problems there either. I was tempted to enter evade at 2dn but as I couldn’t parse it I left it and it became obvious once 8ac had fallen. A thoroughly enjoyable crossword with the only weak clue IMO being 12dn.

    FOI – 6ac SAWN
    LOI – 2dn ELUDE
    COD – 19ac SATURN

    Thanks to setter and blogger.

  34. Not being very good at anagrams , I had to use an aid for 1a (it was a bit chicken and egg, as I was stuck on most if the relevant downers). A bit miffed as I did know the breed. Otherwise, it was a bit of a slog going round the grid, gradually filling in the blanks. I did manage the other anagrams, though.

    Couldn’t parse rouge, so thanks for the explanation- rather obscure, IMHO!

  35. A one course gentle QC today.
    Did like leg iron.
    If they used a different school we would have to work it out!
    Thanks all round

  36. Like others, I had to guess SEALYHAM but not helped by struggling with HAY. Can someone give me examples of where you’d abbreviate horse to ‘h’ and always to ‘ay’?

  37. I thought this a pretty gentle offering from Teazel. My first thought for 1a was Bedlam but insufficient letters set me thinking and Sealyham was remembered (I’m on my fourth Irish Setter so smaller dogs take some exercising of the brain cells). No problem with 12d Have A Go as Wilfred Pickles, with Mabel, made this such a memorable catch-phrase as ‘Have A Go, Joe’ even before the red-tops picked it up so much later. I had ‘mule’ in mind for 20 but was looking for the full parsing for a while. By know I’ve come to consider 21a Note/Eton as fairly lazy setting (sorry, Teazel) but as commented above, it does save us having to work it out! A pretty quick solve for me broken into parts but mainly completed while sitting in the car waiting for someone undertaking a quick hospital screening. I’d estimate a total of about 35 minutes.
    I’m continually surprised by the difficulties some experience with what I regard as standard GK, and my own failings where they forge ahead and I stare into a blank page. Today, for example, several have expressed trudging through the NW, whereas I sailed through. I suppose its a good job we are all different!
    FOI 6a Sawn, LOI 22a Security, COD 17a Envy. Thanks to Teazel and our blogger.
  38. crispb sums up my experience too.
    But after 25 minutes I had four in the top NW incomplete….Sealyham NHO but clearly many have so I cannot complain…..Hungry- not seen from the definition — Hay — not familiar with Ay = always… and Leg — I got the iron but without letters couldn’t see the first part. Legion not thought of.
    Thanks all
    John George
  39. Found this a challenge, especially NW corner since NHO SEALYHAM. Once I discovered this with help, the rest fell into line OK, so Igot there in the end.
  40. 10 minutes and a few seconds, so I found this one easy enough, helped by seeing 1a and 6a straight away. SEALYHAM known only from watching Crufts, but I think they are quite nice looking dogs. Like others, I remembered HAVE A GO heroes, which helped justify 12d. I thought MARDI GRAS a good clue, but COD to LEG IRON. Thanks Roly and Teazel.
  41. …Apart from 1A which I DNK, 12D which I couldn’t parse for the life of me and AY which I also DNK. I need to read more… Spenser?

    10A FOI
    1A LOI
    COD for me 11D

    Thanks to Teazel and RolyToly
    Cheers,
    Woodspiral.

  42. Sealyham terriers are lovely dogs and it’s such a shame that they are now so few that people haven’t heard of them. They used to be very popular in the UK and are one of the old breeds that are dying out as new mixes become popular.
    So now you know folks, spread the word!

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