Times Quick Cryptic No 1829 by Tracy

A neat and friendly Quick Crossword from Tracy today to end the week. 4A was my first one in and it went fairly smoothly for me after that, finishing, appropriately with 1D  in just a whisker over 4 minutes. That makes it in the “quite easy” category for me, but I know other people’s mileages can differ. How did everyone else get on? Thank-you Tracy.

Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is my turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the latest crossword, our 20th, entitled “Blooming Lovely”, here. As the title hints, there is a bit of a theme. Enjoy! And if anyone is interested in our previous offerings you can find an index to them here.

Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, deletions and [] other indicators.

Across
1 Take in synopsis (6)
DIGEST – Double definition
4 Best stout drunk across heart of Germany (6)
UTMOST – (stout)* [drunk] outside middle letter of [heart of] GerMany. A typical setter’s trick – you have to separate “Best stout” to find the definition.
8 Girl with horrid cheap mag (5-8)
PENNY-DREADFULPENNY (girl) DREADFUL (horrid). It’s a long time since I came across that expression last… and a long time since there were magazines that cost just a penny.
10 Odd heron in French river (5)
RHONE – [Odd] (heron)*.
11 Wife brought into A&E? A little overwhelming (7)
AWESOMEW (wife) inside A E, SOME (a little).
13 Anxious, I’m one receiving medical care (9)
IMPATIENTI’M, PATIENT (one receiving medical care).
17 Set out with a compass crossing river (7)
ARRANGEA RANGE (compass) including R (river). Not “set out” meaning start a journey. Neat.
18 Live adequately next door to daughter (5)
DWELLWELL (adequately) after D (daughter).
19 Speak after bartender initially identifies one who spills a lot? (13)
BUTTERFINGERS –  UTTER (speak) [after] Bartender [initially], FINGERS (identifies).
21 Deal with party, ultimately making pact (6)
TREATYTREAT (deal with) partY [ultimately].
22 Squalid type briefly performed (6)
SORDIDSORt (type) without the last letter [briefly] DID (performed).
Down
1 Leave extremely disreputable sector (6)
DEPART – Outiside letters [extremely] of DisreputablE, PART (sector).
2 Person associated with Venice, old region in resort (9)
GONDOLIER – (old region)* [in resort].
3 Reportedly, rustic steps in vogue (5)
STYLE – Sounds like [reportedly] STILE (rustic steps).
5 Zulu in repeat broadcast in bar (7)
TRAPEZEZ (Zulu in the NATO phonetic alphabet) [in] (repeat)* [broadcast].
6 Old couple of females getting away (3)
OFFO (old) F F (couple of females).
7 Row about two pounds wanted for a steering device (6)
TILLERTIER (row) [about] L L (couple of pounds).
9 Bake grouse in a meat dish (5,4)
ROAST BEEFROAST (bake) BEEF (complaint; grouse).
12 Recovering, continuously swallowing them (2,3,4)
ON THE MENDON END (continuously) [swallowing] THEM. This illustrates one of the ways quick cryptics are made easier than the 15×15 – unless it’s a hidden clue you wouldn’t get part of the answer directly in the clue. 13A is another example.
14 Kick around information that’s hot (7)
PUNGENTPUNT (kick) [around] GEN (information).
15 Good scope offered by opening on board (6)
GAMBITG (good) AMBIT (scope). “A gambit (from ancient Italian gambetto, meaning “to trip”) is a chess opening in which a player sacrifices material with the aim of achieving a subsequent positional advantage.” I seem to recall quoting that in a previous blog…. yes it was on a Des QC in February last year.
16 Humid days came to an end (6)
CLOSEDCLOSE (humid) D (days).
18 Wild dog shot after row (5)
DINGOGO (shot) [after] DIN (row).
20 Draw level, almost (3)
TIETIEr (level) [almost]. We had a different meaning for TIER earlier.

71 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1829 by Tracy”

  1. 8 minutes. My last one in, PENNY DREADFUL, seemed appropriate having made a connection with ‘The Dandy’ in one of today’s 15×15 clues.
  2. A mixture of obvious and puzzling took me to 30 mins. Assumed “wild” was anagrind for dog so biffed DINGO. Continuously, “on end” really? Spent ages trying to parse GONDOLIER and missed “in resort” as an anagrind. A satisfactory end to the week as I usually find Tracy and Friday’s puzzle most puzzling.
    COD Awesome although I think that popped up quite recently. Don’t know where I dredged up PENNY DREADFUL from and guess it may stump a few people for a while before the “penny” drops. Thanks John, will have a bash at your weekend challenge tomorrow.
    Regards to all. Stay safe. Richard
  3. 1339 ends the week on a good time. I’m sticking with my down- first strategy, which worked well, allowed the two 13-letter acrosses in early then not too many alarms. LOI SORDID which I was slow on, as was sure it ended DED, with a 7 letter word for “squalid type” absent a first letter.

    I think there will be complaints over PENNY DREADFUL, a tough word, not really sure what they are. What Dickens wrote?

    “In resort” seems an odd anagrind, of the 500 ways of indicating an anagram this seems an odd choice by the setter. Not a great surface, nor sneaky misdirection.

    GAMBIT now much more familiar to many after that Netflix series last year.

    COD 13a IMPATIENT

    1. PENNY-DREADFUL seems a tougher (but fair) clue for the QC. Although the term appears to have emerged during the 1830’s in Victorian Britain, it was originally applied to cheap tales based on highwaymen, vampires and similar.

      Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable has: “Originally a cheap boy’s paper full of crude situations and highly-coloured excitement. The term was later extended to trashy periodicals in general, although costing more than a penny. A shilling-shocker was a similar but more expensive publication.”

      I doubt Dickens’ work, as originally published, would have been considered as part of this genre. (Incidentally, the monthly instalments of ‘The Posthumous Papers of the Pckwick Club’ sold for one shilling in 1836).

    2. Surprised you think there are only 500 words that can be used to indicate an anagram. Having seen some extremely tenuous ones, I have come to the conclusion that there may only be 500 that can’t …
      Cedric
    3. The choice is to do with the surface meaning – that a gondolier is associated with the old region (i.e. the canals) of the resort, Venice. It is a little clunky, though, I think.
    4. I quite like resort, as in re-sort but it is certainly fiendish when the word is hidden next to, say, Mablethorpe.
  4. Very unfriendly for me and a DNF as I had to look up a couple to keep moving. Struggled with some of the definitions (e.g anxious/impatient) and failed to spot some of the anagram indications.

    Pb

    1. Must say I agree. Days on end doesn’t mean continuously, it means “repeatedly for a number of days at a time”.
  5. Raced through the top half — slow in the SW and very slow in the SE where I was left with four clues each with only one checker. Ended up in 21m to finish a hard week.
  6. Nothing too challenging today, although PENNY DREADFUL had to be dragged kicking and screaming from the depths and I took a bit long to unscramble GONDOLIER. I enjoyed CLOSED but my COD goes to STYLE for the PDM. My FOI was DIGEST and I finished with UTMOST in 8.16.
    Thanks to John for the blog and in advance for your weekend QC
    1. Hey Sal,
      When I get stuck on the QC, I find that if I come back in half an hour, or so, my brain seems to have refreshed itself and several answers have shifted from ‘impossible’, to, ‘obvious’ and so I proceed, to complete the puzzle.
      Please try, it is so satisfying to complete the quickie and then have a little go at the 15×15.
  7. I DEPARTed from the NE and worked steadily from top to bottom where eventually PUNGENT was my LOI. I didn’t DWELL on the parsing of 12d and 19a, but biffed away happily. 9:57. Thanks Tracy and John.
  8. Well, I looked at it and my first sweep netted several solutions, but I could see it was going to be hard. I took a welcome brief break to jump start the wife’s car, so she could go to work, then I made some breakfast and spent another half hour staring hard at it. Still only about half done. So, I had a shower and got dressed, dusted and hoovered upstairs and came back down determined to finish this thing.

    I did a lot of biffing in the end, and if I’m honest I still can’t see some of the parsing. No stand out clues today for me.

    I did turn all green, but it was one of the trickiest in a long time for me.

    Edited at 2021-03-12 09:30 am (UTC)

    1. Sounds like a busy morning. I hope you remembered to leave the jump leads in your wife’s car. Otherwise there could be a distress call on its way to you when she finishes work.
  9. Rather struggled with this for some reason. Most of it within my 10 minute target but just couldnt see DWELL and CLOSED at the end. Neither difficult.

    Have a good weekend everyone

  10. A good end to the week …
    … as this was all done and parsed in 12 minutes. And many nice clues too. But one or two minor quibbles for me — I do share SteakCity’s view that continuously is a weak indicator for on end, notwithstanding John’s example, and anxious for impatient is also less than crisp.

    As for adequately = well in 18A, for me the two are really not the same, and one simply asks why Tracy could not have used a word which conveys the meaning better. Live successfully, live healthily, even live in style?

    Many thanks to John for the blog and I look forward to the Saturday special
    Cedric

    1. Yes, my eyebrows are on the back of my head after this. Whilst not quite antonyms, they are pretty close with “adequate” meaning just enough and “well” implying more than normal. Impatient=nervous, not to me, similarly on end = continuous. “Pungent” for “hot” again seems a stretch. Can’t remember so many dodgy definitions for no obvious reason
        1. It’s almost like the setter is trying to be deliberately misleading, maybe even cryptic

          Edited at 2021-06-17 11:15 am (UTC)

  11. “Neat and friendly”. Nonsense! At least for me. Ha ha!

    I really got nowhere with this one. Managed to get PENNY DREADFUL and ON THE MEND, among a few others. In my mind, however, “continuously” gave me NO END. But some how it was supposed to be “ON END” to make ON THE MEND.

    So, a bad week really for me, with just one completion and several gave ups, including this one.

  12. All setter tricks and codes and very little cryptic humour (I think STYLE was my only smile). Though for that reason I’m sure the QC veterans will find it just as simple as our blogger did. (D for daughter, FF for females, R for river, L for pounds, O for old, G for good, W for wife, Z for Zulu, etc.)

    For me it felt more like a code-breaking exercise than a cryptic. Worth doing for the achievement of solving rather than the enjoyment along the way.

    Nothing unfair though – PENNY DREADFUL was a recent hit TV series, so I’d imagine most people will have at least heard of the term one way or another.

    Thanks Tracy and John. Looking forward to doing the weekend quick tomorrow morning.

    Edited at 2021-03-12 01:45 pm (UTC)

  13. Not an easy solve, overall, despite a rapid start. Most of the longer answers seemed to drop out given the odd crosser or two but I was disturbed by an unexpected phone call (strangely rare at this time these days) and ended up 3 mins over target when the lost time was subtracted. I quite liked STYLE, AWESOME, TRAPEZE, PUNGENT and GAMBIT and thought ROAST BEEF was neat. BUTTERFINGERS was my COD. A funny old week of QCs for me — 3 close to target but 2 in the SCC so I’m looking forward to a smoother week to come. Thanks to Tracy and John. John M.

    Edited at 2021-03-12 10:10 am (UTC)

  14. I have found this week’s puzzles to be something of a depressing experience when I’ve had to cheat or DNF more often than I’m comfortable with. I’m not sure it’s the crossword level, if I’m honest, or just lockdown doldrums. Anyway, for my money, today’s offering, at 24 minutes, has been the easiest of the bunch. Not that that’s saying much…

    Some quite good clues, I think, especially BUTTERFINGERS and STYLE. I also liked the misdirection in eg 8 down, ROAST BEEF, where “baked ” could conceivably be an anagrind ; ditto “horrid ” in 8 across and “out ” in 17. I didn’t fall for any of them, though, thank goodness, including PENNY DREADFUL, which I actually rather liked (although I had always assumed the phrase related to cheap sensational popular novels as read by late 19th century maids and shop workers ).

    I have come across “well” to mean “adequate ” in the QC before, as in DWELL, and I thought it was poor then and I think it’s poor now. I also hesitated for ages over PUNGENT, because I couldn’t accept that anyone would use it to mean “hot “.

    Thanks so much, John. Looking forward to your crossword tomorrow. Thanks too to Tracy

    1. My eyebrow was raised there, too, and I was going to mention it; but like most of the things I was going to do, I forgot.
      1. Me too – I’m sure someone will find Pungent meaning hot somewhere but really? That smells bad to me

      2. It’s not in Chambers, but Collins has “hot” as a synonym. I did think it a bit of a stretch, but not enough to make me raise my eyebrows.
    2. I agree. This week has been difficult and I rarely get more than 60% done. Today I found some of the definitions iffy. Awesome for overwhelming for example. Complete opposite in today’s parlance. I also agree with you on dwell and pungent.

      I am relatively new to this but got to be honest find the time boasting to be a real disincentive. Possibly if I could do a puzzle in 4 minutes I would flag it, but then again why would I bother to do a puzzle that was not a challenge. Oh well there is always next week.

      1. I don’t mind the “time boasting” if truth be told, but I must confess to chuckling to myself when I read somebody lamenting that it took them longer than usual to solve a puzzle, stating that it had taken them 6 minutes to solve. And there’s me – 90 minutes in and still not close to solving.

        However, it gives me an incentive to be able to say that myself one day.

      2. It doesn’t need to be a challenge — it needs to be enjoyable. Stick at it for half a lifetime like me, and your times will improve — it’s not boasting, it’s something that comes with experience. I’m probably the only person on here whose FOI was PENNY DREADFUL, but then I’m an old fogey.
  15. 18 minutes was a bit of poor performance for me, which I think I should have bettered. I took longer on BUTTERFINGERS than on PENNY DREADFUL, and LOI was ARRANGE. No real delays with anything else, just slower than usual. Thanks John and Tracy.
  16. I was in the too tricky group too, marking the end of a frustrating week. Just didn’t feel I was in sync with the setters at all. I had to get down to Treaty before I got a clue today. DNF for me and hoping for an easier ride next week

  17. Well, I was relieved to read the last few comments which seem to broadly agree with my assessment of this puzzle, rather than those of the earlier posters who found this easy. I definitely thought this was towards the harder end of the scale for a QC and I finished in a way over target 46:26. “Scope” = ambit, “Range” = compass and PENNY DREADFUL were things that I had to dredge up from that section at the back of my mind, created only a couple of years ago, labelled “obscure terms I’ve only come across in crosswords”, and there were many other rarely used synonyms I thought. It’s all part of the fun I suppose, but if anybody’s reading this who is usually slower than I am, don’t be disheartened if you found this hard going; I don’t think I’d have managed it at all until quite recently. Anyway, FOI AWESOME, LOI GAMBIT, COD 5d. Thanks John and Tracy.
  18. FOI Rhone, LOI Pungent, supplied on the blurt by my husband, COD Butterfingers. Four acrosses and four downs on first pass — the downs seemed as convoluted as the acrosses today. I think this was what is described often on the blog as chewy. Solving seemed almost at random over the grid, and the fog gradually lifted over the whole. Like others here, I don’t equate well with adequate, but could see the point, grudgingly. I was trying to get Doge in somewhere in the gondolier clue and needed all the crossers to see the answer. I didn’t see the anagram. Tried to find an anagram of “grouse in a” for a while. A long solve, over twenty minutes today, but no less enjoyable for that. Thanks to John for the parsing, and Tracy for the entertainment. GW.
  19. 10 minutes to get to my LOI 11a which then held me up for ages. Eventually after a second alphabet trawl I saw AWESOME. Doesn’t seem to have bothered other solvers. About 16 minutes in the end.
    My favourite was STYLE. A good test. I was slow to get started. FOI was RHONE.
    David
  20. Yes, definitely chewy, after a good start with TILLER.

    I liked BUTTERFINGERS and PENNY DREADFUL (such a descriptive word — we weren’t allowed comics as children, except the bland ones: Girl and Eagle, the others were described as Penny Dreadfuls so of course we surreptitiously managed to get hold of them as often as possible — Dandy and Beano)

    Diana

    1. More upmarket than Robin and Topper. I seem to remember a liking for the “spot the difference” and the maze.
  21. Friday and Tracy meant that I was on my guard, but a number of biff then parse answers helped fill the grid quite quickly. In fact, I was in with a shout of a sub-20 before Style and loi 16d, Closed, pushed me out to just under 22mins. I agree there was a need to know quite a bit of ‘crosswordese’, but that’s exactly what the QC is trying to install. Invariant
  22. Another depressingly slow one for me today at 45 mins — tough, but kind of satisfying, the equivalent of crawling under barbed wire through the thick mud of an assault course. I just felt I had to get to the end no matter how long it took. Thankfully I didn’t have anyone bellowing in my ear to hurry up.

    Upon reflection, nothing too hard that couldn’t be gleaned from the parsing and checkers. Even so, I made some early errors that didn’t help. Initially put “Upmost” for 4ac which made 5dn incredibly difficult to work out. Luckily spotted “Butterfingers” early, but took an age on “Penny Dreadful” and “Gondolier”. DNK “ambit” for scope, but biffed 15dn based on my recent Netflix viewing. For some reason I always thought “Pungent” meant smelly.

    FOI — 1dn “Depart”
    LOI — 17ac “Arrange”
    COD — 13ac “Impatient” — mainly because for once I wasn’t.

    Thanks as usual.

    Edited at 2021-03-12 12:11 pm (UTC)

    1. I think pungent means smelly too. It didn’t help that I had never heard of punt to mean kick.
      1. I always thought Punt was an American Football term – the equivalent of hoofing the ball up the field when the attacking team had run out of “downs” – however I am sure someone from the US will correct me if I am wrong.
  23. Very enjoyable solve for me which started well but somehow ended at around 35 mins. All fully parsed which is my way – I hate putting in an answer unless I can parse it even if I know it’s correct. I was stuck on arrange, my LOI, which was easy of course once I got it.

    Not keen on ‘in resort’ as another of the endless list of anagrinds.

    Thanks to John and Tracy

    Edited at 2021-03-12 12:26 pm (UTC)

  24. My cryptic crossword solving capabilities were stretched almost to breaking point with this offering from Tracy. Half an hour gone and only 11 clues solved – and with precious few ideas about how the remaining clues worked. Then, 50 minutes gone and still eight clues to get. It was like wading through treacle. I eventually finished in the SE corner with 18d: DWELL (after a very careful alphabet trawl – surely nothing could start with DWE__, could it?) and 16d: CLOSED. 71 minutes, but not a DNF and all unaided.

    All I need to do now is to steel myself for sometime later this afternoon, when Mrs R (she’s out at the moment) will undoubtedly knock it off in less than a third of my time and wonder what took me so long. I’ve had a lot of practice at coping with this, but it doesn’t get any easier. Roll on the weekend!

    Many thanks to Tracy and to johninterred.

    1. I used to have terrible problems with Tracy’s clues, but I seem to have got used to his style, albeit with a biff then parse approach, which I’m never happy doing. OK, that should just about guarantee me a slow time when Tracy next makes an appearance…
  25. FOsI OFF, RHONE, IMPATIENT , AWESOME.
    Until I looked up 1a synopsis, I was very slow on GONDOLIER trying to think of characters from the Merchant of V that might fit!
    Also looked up Squalid. Agree about PUNGENT.
    Managed BUTTERFINGERS ( clever) and PENNY DREADFUL but they didn’t help as much as I hoped. Ditto ROAST BEEF (COD).

    Thanks for much needed blog, John. I look forward to your w/e crossword. Am sure it will be much more friendly than this one which I found v tricky.

    (Moan of the week: By the way, as far as I am concerned, a Synopsis gives a brief summary of the plot of a novel, say, whereas a Digest is an abridged version, as in Readers Digest. )

    Edited at 2021-03-12 03:33 pm (UTC)

  26. Having been slow to get a toe hold in this QC (FOI was dwell), I’m quite pleased with myself, having finished and parsed it without using aids. No time but probably under half an hour, pretty good for me. The main hold-up was the bottom left but they eventually fell in place. Another MER from me at on end for continuously.
  27. 9 mins (which is now my new target). PENNY DREADFUL and GAMBIT were guessed from the series titles on TV and Netflix. ROAST game was corrected with BUTTERFINGERS and SORDID was my LOI and semi biffed from checkers. Thanks John.
    1. Wow, that’s an ambitious new target! Good for you. Is the thirst for speed linked to your new avatar?!
      1. The new avatar is me! I’m on my bike at the top of Col d’Honor in Mallorca, October 2020. I’m hoping it will inspire me to get back out on my bike soon. Not working yet!
  28. Tough week all in all. We completed 75% of the grid quite quickly but then had to dig deep (as they say) to complete it which we did in 11 minutes. Some really clever clues – we doff our hats to Tracy – nice to be stretched.

    FOI: Rhone
    LOI: arrange
    COD: butterfingers

    Thanks to Tracy and John.

    Really looking forward to the blooming amazing weekend QC!

  29. I’m with the ‘not so easy’ brigade today. Only saw a few answers first time round then slowly got going, only to grind to a halt in the SW corner. Just could not see ARRANGE or PUNGENT (hot?) and had to resort to aids to get them. A bit disappointing.
  30. Struggled mightily to 14:37

    I did like BUTTERFINGERS and SORDID when they eventually were dragged to mind!

  31. It’s a wavelength thing. I didn’t find this too difficult, finishing in the (for me) reasonable time of 19 minutes with everything parsed. I thought this was an enjoyable solve, which is not always the case with Tracy or on a Friday! In common with others I found it difficult to equate anxious with impatient or, to a lesser extent, continuously with on end, but on the whole no complaints.

    FOI – 10ac RHONE
    LOI – 11ac AWESOME
    COD – 16dn CLOSED

  32. Joined those who found the bottom part of the puzzle difficult. Not sure why. Enjoyable comments above which made us laugh, thanks.
  33. I did this in fits and starts and was pleased that I eventually finished it without resorting to aids. There were a large number of misdirections. I thought 8a and 9d were going to be anagrams, 10a would involve alternate letters of heron and that ‘broadcast’ in 5d would mean ‘sounds like’. For some reason I hadn’t read the clue for 2d, but as soon as I did, I finished off the top half then took a while with the rest. I’ve done enough QCs to know that ‘board’ often refers to chess and ‘shot’ can be ‘go’ but I was not convinced by kick=punt or continuously=on end. Thank you for the blog, John, and to Tracy for a satisfying puzzle.
    FOI off
    LOI arrange
    COD utmost- lovely surface
    Blue Stocking
    1. I agree about “on end” but “punt” definitely = kick

      Collins: “NOUN 1. a kick in certain sports, such as rugby, in which the ball is released and kicked before it hits the ground 2. any long high kick”. Goalkeepers punt the ball in football, for example.

  34. Add me to the list of people moaning about the iffy definitions in this one. Pretty average.

    For some reason my brain decided that “heart of Germany” meant G not M (I think I must have read it has “head”) and so I spent 5 minutes or so in utter bafflement.

    FOI DEPART, LOI UTMOST, COD BUTTERFINGERS, time 2.8K for an Awful Day.

    Thanks Tracy and John.

    Templar

  35. Much used in Rugby too, the term usefully distinguishing such a kick from a drop-kick. Used in Rugby League when a side has run out of tackles, in Union when they have run out of ideas (see the England side, frequently).
    Cedric
  36. ….but I thought this was rather a poor puzzle. Three definitions already mentioned are distinctly iffy. The definition is the key to the whole clue. By all means disguise it, or use a less well-known meaning of it, but don’t use deliberately misleading words.

    None of which stopped me meeting my target, but not with great enjoyment.

    FOI PENNY DREADFUL (but then I’m ancient)
    LOI BUTTERFINGERS (c’est moi ! I’m dyspraxic)
    COD STYLE (nothing else came close)
    TIME 4:24

  37. 30 minutes plus and failed in the SW corner. Didn’t see Gambit and thought of Arrange but didn’t pursue it. So didn’t get Pungent or Treaty (I never get treaty)
    Oh well, back to watching Crypto!
    Thanks all,
    John George

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