Times Quick Cryptic No 1822 by Pedro

56 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1822 by Pedro”

1. Got COLLECTOR easily enough; took a while to come up with RENT. I semi-biffed SCHOOL-TEACHER, trusting that the anagrist was all there. LOI THRASH; DNK, and took a while to come up with the spots. 5:50.
2. …as I stumbled a bit in the NE quadrant. Thrash and herald were not the obvious answers, and I had work the cryptics a bit before I could get them. I couldn’t see the rent part of rent-collector at first, but when I left it for a bit and came back, I saw it right away.
3. I had problems for the second consecutive day, needing 14 minutes to complete the grid and missing my target by 4.

   Looking back on it, I have no recollection of anything in particular that delayed me but progress was slow throughout.

   I might have put it down to just having a bad day, but Vinyl1’s time suggests that the puzzle was perhaps a little more difficult than usual, at least in some respects.

4. 1656. No unknown vocabulary, but complex definitions today, biffs mainly worked, apart from “Supply teacher” and “towel rack”

   “All meanly wrapped in swathing bands” appears in a Christmas carol, although I don’t understand what work “subsequently” is doing in this clue (21a)

   I keep forgetting that LA is always the “US city” in crosswords.

   I’ve just started submitting times to the Crossword Club, I often correct a typo before submission but it still comes back with a pink square. Why, and does that affect the score?

   COD: SPHERICAL

   1. There’s also NY, although it’s less common.
      Is the pink square a light pink? and is the letter in it the wrong letter? If you corrected it before submitting, I don’t see how that could happen. Or is the square a deeper orange? and was it the last square you filled before submitting? I don’t know why that happens sometimes. In any case you should see your score once you’ve submitted.
   2. You’ll know if you have an error because your score will be less than 600 (and “total errors” will be more than zero). The orange square Kevin mentions has scared me a few times but doesn’t affect anything.
      1. Orange square on last letter entered, happens each time. 0 errors but just about the slowest time on this list. I much prefer hanging out with the XWD-ers here where I seem to be middle of the pack.

         Edited at 2021-03-03 07:42 am (UTC)

   3. “Subsequently swathing top of head in soap”

      “Subsequently” = LATER

      Which “swathes” (ie wraps around) H, which = “top of head”

      Whole thing meaning “soap”, but the verb not the noun

5. I don’t think I’ve read your summary before, Jeremy, but I just now noticed one point that needs qualification: a word that in normal usage takes a capital letter cannot be written in lower case (‘London’ cannot be written ‘london’). But there’s nothing to stop the setter capitalizing a word that is normally not capitalized: ‘york’ (a cricket term) can be written ‘York’. I’m not sure why this distinction is made, but so far as I know setters make it.
   1. I’m not sure why this distinction is made

      I think one of the main reasons is that falsely representing common nouns as proper names makes the word/s stand out, thus potentially making a clue easier. Whereas falsely representing a proper name as a common noun makes it considerably harder. For example, if a clue has ‘bill’ or ‘Bill’ mid-sentence, solvers will reasonably think either could mean AC, but only the latter would make them think of famous people called Bill.

      —AntsInPants

   2. Ah, thanks!
6. This was a fascinating puzzle. All green in 14 in the end but it started slowly with only three going in on the first pass of acrosses and the downs weren’t too much better. Then built steadily from the bottom. I’d have spelled CHARLATAN with an E had I not followed the cryptic. 10a reminded me what a twit I can be when I realised what the planet was having spotted it was a hidden but not the word on the first pass. Got teacher quickly but couldn’t work out what sort for a while — quite fancied forcing French in there for a while. In stark contrast to eurcon RESUME and RUSSET were my LOIs. Hardy heroine is clear enough in hindsight but I could only think of Nancy Drew on first reading.

   Edited at 2021-03-03 07:30 am (UTC)

7. FOI THRASH, LOI FLEET. Initially had COIN COLLECTOR until AMORAL and NUT went in. For some reason I didn’t see that “at sea” was an anagrind until SPHERICAL became obvious from the letters in place. Enjoyable start to the day, but no time as it was completed in two sleepy sessions. Thanks to Pedro and to Jeremy.
8. This felt quite tricky in places but I find Pedro one of the harder setters due to the wordiness of his clueing (not that there’s anything wrong with long clues). Today it was often a case of seeing the answer and then figuring out how the wordplay worked rather than building the clue up from it’s component parts. Like Mendesest, my instinct was to spell CHARLATAN with an E but the wordplay put me right.
   An interesting challenge which I completed in 11.21, quite quick considering what I’ve just written above!, with LOI CLERGY. COD was SCHOOL-TEACHER
   Thanks to Jeremy
9. After a good week so far I slowed to a crawl today, getting severely bogged down by 4a THRASH and 7d HERALD after, what had been, a reasonable start. Not my finest performance. I managed it in under 50 minutes, so read into that what you will!

   Edited at 2021-03-03 08:26 am (UTC)

10. Around 25 mins which is about my normal pace whilst also drinking tea looking out at the garden. I like to think that I could therefore be faster if I concentrated, but I take care not to, so as not to spoil my illusions. Also, to support the SCC!
    Some similarities to comments above. Had to look twice to see EARTH, embarrassingly, and THRASH for party wasn’t one that came easily, the rash also being a little elusive. However it felt like more than usual went in very easily from the literals, with the parsing before moving on taking a bit longer. MILITIA went straight in but parsing wasn’t so simple, WISTFUL likewise.
    COD to 8A for the clever anagram altho it went in quickly.
11. Fourteen minutes, all parsed. The 15 x 15 beckons when I stop putting it off. FOI school teacher LOI fleet as tried tricky at 22 ac which did not parse and messed up fleet. Fleet then became clear, and sticky emerged. All clues witty and enjoyable. Thanks, Jeremy, for the blog, and Pedro for the entertaining puzzle. GW.
12. … and having for once set the stopwatch on my phone running (as opposed to just looking at the clock on the wall) I can announce that this puzzle took me 8 minutes and 54.67 seconds. Not sure I shall continue with the extra precision though.

    Nothing particularly to hold me up, and all parsed. Though I did wonder about calling poor Tess the “heroine” of Hardy’s book — a more miserable, benighted, put-upon and in the end tragic lead character for a novel is hard to find.

    Many thanks to Jeremy for the blog and summary of how cryptics work.
    Cedric

13. Like others, finished without too much trouble while the coffee was still warm, and looking at the answers again it’s all pretty clear and well clued. It didn’t feel that way at the time though, and quite a few were biffed first and parsed later.

    One minor quibble – shouldn’t it be (13) SCHOOLTEACHER rather than (6-7) SCHOOL-TEACHER? I always thought it was one word, and not hyphenated? Lovely clue though.

    Thanks Pedro and Jeremy – a nice start to the day.

    1. I think you’re right, Brian. I can’t find any support for (6-7) in any of the usual sources. The modern trend is to drop hyphens but nothing I have seen suggests that there ever was one in the first place in this example.
14. Well I did finish it in the end, but I wouldn’t have done if I hadn’t biffed many of them and used checkers for most of the rest!

    So then my time was then taken up in going over Jeremy’s explanations- for which many thanks.

    I take the paperback book version of The Times puzzles with me when travelling. (I’m presently on volume 6). Although they of course provide the answers, it’s frustrating not to be able to understand the parsing for some of them without searching the internet for this site ( always supposing I can get online).

    Diana

15. Ah well. Yesterday was a blip (in a good way). I moved steadily today but I found Pedro a bit unsettling once again. I always find many answers that scream at me given crossers but I made a silly mistake today with an incorrect biff for 23ac given some crossers plus LA. I had to unravel this before I could get 2, 12, & 14d. My fault for failing to parse this one answer properly. This tipped me a minute into the SCC. Lesson re proper parsing re-learnt.
    Some excellent anagrams today — perhaps SCHOOL-TEACHER was the best but it is debatable. I liked RUSSET, MOOCH, HEADSET, CLERGY, WISTFUL and more. Thanks to Pedro for a fine workout and to Jeremy for a clear blog. John M.
16. 
    FOI: 10a EARTH
    LOI: 20d NUT

    Time: 95 minutes

    Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 23

    Clues Answered with Aids (3 lives): 1d

    Clues Unanswered: Nil

    Wrong Answers: Nil

    Total Correctly Answered (incl. aids): 24/24

    Aids Used: Bradford’s

    I found this one trickier than yesterdays, taking me 95 minutes to complete (not my worst time, but among my slowest).

    I saw THRASH early on but could not equate it in my mind to a party. However, I saw the TH and RASH in the clue, so it had to be THRASH. Therefore, in it went.

    15d. AMORAL – This one held me up a bit as “IN the morning” suggested to me that the rest of the clue (exam) was to go INTO the abbreviation for morning. I had pencilled in A_ _ _ _ M. However, once ORAL popped into my mind, I read the clue as saying, “a morning exam” (AM+ORAL).

    19a. RENT COLLECTOR – I pencilled in collector early on, but the “opening” threw me for a bit. I thought initially of DEBT COLLECTOR, but debt did not equate to opening for me. Then I thought DOOR COLLECTOR, i.e., somebody who collects money at the door. Opening = door to me, but I was not convinced as though I had not answered 20d yet, I could not do so with 20d starting with an O. Then my molasses slow mind thought RENT! Rent = opening.

    20d. NUT – I only answered this one because I was left with N _ T. In my mind I inserted each of the vowels until NUT popped in. I knew a nut is a seed but was not aware that another word for barrel was tun.

    1d. RUSSET – This was the only clue I needed to use an aid on. I could not think of an apple beginning with R.

    So, completion number 9. And my usual reward for a completion of this crossword is … CANDY!!! I am now off to the candy store.

    Edited at 2021-03-03 10:05 am (UTC)

17. I thought I was in for a struggle at first sight, but slowly warmed up and moving down the right side in my, seemingly usual, clockwise manner came home in an on par 36:29 with no passes. Bash/Thrash were familiar in times gone by but suspect consigned now to the rumination of the senior set. Very enjoyable without much gnashing or scratching. Thank you Pedro and Jeremy et al.
18. Agree with others; complicated wordplay but fairly straightforward definitions.
    MY FOI was RUSSET having left a biffed RESUME for checkers.
    No big hold-ups but I did biff TRICKY at 22a and once pencilled in it was hard to get the brain away from it.
    My last two were FLEET and STICKY.
    Just under 12 minutes today.
    COD to SCHOOL TEACHER.
    David
19. A careless WISHFUL left me with a pink square in 8:18. Didn’t check the anagrist carefully enough. Thanks Pedro and Jeremy.
20. What a strange solve. I think I took a leaf out of Mrs Random’s book and came up with likely definitions first and then parsed. The cluing was quite complicated and sometimes wordy. Some answers I entered and only parsed after solving…e.g. MILITIA and ARTICLE. I did come unstuck once having biffed TOWEL RAck which then caused a slight delay with RENT COLLECTOR. FOI RUSSET and LOI CLERGY in a pleasing 8:49

    Edited at 2021-03-03 10:59 am (UTC)

21. I really enjoyed the difficulty of this QC because of its variety of types of clues .

    Biffed 12D as didn’t pick up on ‘asti’ for the answer, and was unfamiliar with TUN as a barrel in 20D (though had to be that for ‘nut’ backwards.)

    Couldn’t see way in to 3A despite have the CH ready to place, but then realised it was the word ‘feeling’ to be diminished, not ‘feeling diminished.’ Very clever construction.

    Thank you to Jeremy for explanations, too.

22. Really good puzzle today providing a suitably satisfying challenge. We finished in 17 minutes with Steed, in particular, being on Pedro’s wavelength.

    FOI: ash
    LOI: headset
    COD: rent collector

    Thanks to Pedro and Jeremy.

23. 21 mins for me, but whilst it was relatively straight forward and enjoyable, I thought there were a few clues that I wasn’t a hundred percent convinced by.

    15dn “Amoral” for instance. It’s obviously “morning” (AM) and exam (ORAL) but the surface gives nothing to suggest it should be in this order. Or am I missing something obvious? Also — don’t normally think of a party as a “thrash” (perhaps a “bash”), but I guess it’s used and acceptable.

    Apart from nearly putting “Supply Teacher” for 8ac the rest went in steadily, with the main hold up being the other corporal punishment themed clue of 22ac “Sticky”.

    FOI — 1dn “Russet”
    LOI — 22 “Sticky”
    COD — 16dn “Clergy” — enjoyed the simplicity of this, and it rhymed.

    Thanks as usual.

    1. AMORAL is a word, ORALAM is probably not. Doesn’t that suggest the order? ‘An exam in the morning’=an AM ORAL is standard English word order. What more would you have?
       1. It does obviously – but normally there is something within the wordplay that suggests order. However, the way you’ve put it above makes does make sense, so I’m probably overthinking it.
24. Finished in just over 14 minutes although I biffed quite a few from the definitions and a quick glance at the wordplay, just rounding up to an approximate ‘that’s probably right’ kind of feeling. Which is what led me to a cropper with RENT COLLECTOR which I had initially as a debt collector, reasoning that it was some kind of almost punning double definition, that a person looking for a hobby might start collecting debt. Hmmmm.. Well, 15 down, AMORAL, soon put me right on that one!

    All in all, I thought this was a good puzzle with some lovely surfaces and quite intricate parsing to do. I especially liked 18 down, FLEET and 12, FANTASTIC.

    Thanks, Jeremy, for your as always fabulous blog, and thanks too to Pedro

25. Yes, I thought the COLLECTOR might gather Coins or Rock which slowed me up in SW too.
    Then I took ages over FLEET, FRAIL and STICKY, but was determined to finish today. I forgot Feet=supports.

    FOsI RUSSET, ASH, SCHOOL TEACHER, TOWEL RAIL.

    An enjoyable puzzle and thanks for helpful blog, Jeremy. There were a few I failed to parse after biffing.

26. Slightly shorter clues from Pedro today, though 1ac was sufficiently wordy to enable me to guess the setter straight off!

    So nearly two consecutive True Clean Sweeps … but alas the WIST of WISTUL and the RENT of RENT COLLECTOR evaded me at first pass. Otherwise all in order again. Neat puzzle.

    FOI RESUME, LOI WISTFUL, COD AMORAL, time 1.8K for a Good Day.

    Thanks Pedro and Jeremy.

    Templar

27. All done and dusted in 24 minutes today, which for me is really fast (although not a PB). I must have been on Pedro’s wavelength, as I got many of the solutions before fully understanding why they fitted all elements of the clue. My only alphabet-trawl today was for R_N_COLLECTOR, but that didn’t take long.

    Mrs Random has just finished in 32 minutes, having been held up by the inter-connecting STICKY and FLEET. She says she has been bamboozled by FEET for ‘supports’ before.

    Thanks to Pedro, who often beats me, and to plusjeremy

    1. You beat Mrs Random! 🙂 Has this ever happened, before?
       1. Well spotted! It does happen occasionally, but I’m probably safer not drawing attention to it when it does. However, the glory was only transient, as it was back to normal with a DNF today (Thurs.).
28. Started slowly with a hesitant Russet, where I was looking for a homophone, and slightly more certain Thrash. Their offspring soon confirmed I was on the right track, and I steadily worked my way down to the SE corner with a sub-20 in clear sight. Unfortunately Clergy turned out to be not quite as ‘clear’ as Pedro intended, and I also needed Fleet before I finally let go of Tricky for 22ac. The upshot of all this was a 21min finish, which seems reasonable for Pedro. CoD to our friends in the Clergy. Invariant
29. ….on my phone — but only possibly, as I found this quite tricky. No queries or complaints, decent puzzle. Thanks Pedro, and Jeremy.

    FOI THRASH
    LOI CLERGY
    COD SPHERICAL
    TIME 5:32

    1. Seems that back pain has not slowed you down! Hope you are getting more mobile.

       1. No change to report unfortunately.

          1. Analgesia and exercise has replaced older bedrest philosophy. Either way altogether frustrating and limiting.
30. Much too difficult for me.
31. On target today at 10 minutes, which is encouraging because, as I’ve said before, I find Pedro particularly tricky. I felt SCHOOL-TEACHER was a bit of a chestnut and was also confused by the hyphen, but it was still a very nice version of the clue! Two clues CLEARly stood out for me today — SPHERICAL (lovely surface) and CLERGY (a clever construction).

    FOI Thrash
    LOI Charlatan — to paraphrase: I had all the right letters but not necessarily in the right order, so it wasn’t until all the checkers were in that I saw where to put everything 😏
    COD Charlatan — for the above reason

    Thanks as ever to Pedro and Jeremy

32. I think I was probably around the 20-25 mark but unsure as doing it on paper inbetween work! A bit trickier than yesterday I would say as I got a little stuck in the SW corner, trying to use RN for navy before seeing fleet which opened things up for me. The clergy clue was obvious in retrospect but wasn’t sure how it worked at the time. My last 2 in were 4ac & 7dn, I had heard of “Thrash” for a party but it’s not very common – bit dated? Once I had the H 7dn was obvious.

    Thanks to Pedro and Jeremy.

33. Today seemed hardish, I wasn’t sure whether it was the puzzle or me being a bit rusty.

    Seems to have been on the slightly tougher side.

    The surface for STICKY made me chortle.

    6:16

    Edited at 2021-03-03 01:46 pm (UTC)

34. I absolutely love Jeremy’s explanations. They have been incredibly helpful to me over the last few years. I now reckon to complete most of the puzzles. Sometimes, like others, I just don’t get on the setter’s wavelength and have a couple of clues left over.

    This site has been amazingly helpful and I hope you all keep it going.

    Thank you all.

    Fred

35. I also think Jeremy’s blog is superb

    Decent time today after a couple of flails. I seem to swing between good times and much slower but I do do the puzzles at very different times of the day/night which probably has something to do with it.

    Anyway liked the SCHOOLTEACHER and the TOWELRAIL; otherwise no particular hold ups with THRASH my LOI but only as that’s where I ended up

    Thanks Pedro and Jeremy

36. A steady solve today with only 19ac to hold me up. When I read the clue I was convinced it should be COIN COLLECTOR but reading 20dn soon put paid to that idea. Also briefly toyed with RING COLLECTOR until RENT sprang to mind. All complete and parsed in 15 minutes.

    FOI – 1ac RESUME
    LOI – 19ac RENT COLLECTOR
    COD – 22ac STICKY

    Nice puzzle. Thanks to Pedro and Jeremy.

37. Thought this was a lovely balance of clever wordplay with biffable answers. This will have kept the speed merchants happy but will give new solvers lots to go at and opportunities to learn. Excellent puzzle.

    Steady solve with no big hold ups but definitely lots to enjoy. 6:48

    Thanks Jeremy and Pedro

38. We made steady progress until the SE corner when we tried to put rn for 18d messing up the rest of the corner. Still completed within target. Like others we found the definitions helpful sorting out the parsing afterwards.
39. No time to write anything today, but I found this surprisingly gentle from Pedro and finished after an enjoyable 21:13.
40. Bah – a DNF having biffed 8a Supply Teacher (justified by the hyphen, when Schoolteacher is surely one word) – should have looked for the anagram. This fouled up 2d and 3d. FOI 1d Russet (went straight in; not up on Hardy/Tess et al, but it helped with 1a, 8a and 10a). LOI 18d Fleet – I’m another who tried for RN until the PDM. COD 19a Rent Collector which also went straight in. So needed Jeremy’s helpful blog, the discussion and Thx to Pedro for an entertaining puzzle.
41. Took a while for this one
    Some hood clueing thay we just did not see.
    Oh well washing up to be done
42. Much too difficult for me.

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