Times Quick Cryptic No 1848 by Trelawney

51 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1848 by Trelawney”

1. Biffed MIND READER & SINGLE MALT. Slowed down at 14d, as I took ‘picked up’ to be a homophone indicator. 6:34.
2. DNF. Like Roly, I’ve been having a decent run and I finished within my 10 minute target for the last 9 QCs. Only one answer did for me today, TRILOBITE, as I couldn’t bring it to mind from the definition and checkers, and I missed every element of wordplay. It has come up only a few times over the years and only once in a QC as an anagram in 2019 when I plumped for ‘tribolite’.

   Edited at 2021-04-08 03:06 am (UTC)

3. Started fast but faded and managed to enter volVanoes to give a pink square — annoying as I’d enjoyed that clue having spent a while thinking it must be some sort of cigar starting with C. COVER STORY fixed that but I’d been assuming the Conservative went at the start (CON), so enjoyed seeing him appear at the end in a different guise. Similarly SINGLE MALT held out as I was trying to use bachelor on island to give BI at the front and was then a bit lost as to what was going on. Double learning for TRILOBITE which I didn’t know had the L and trite for worn-out, I knew if meant ineffective but not through overuse. Misdirected (and careless) a lot in my 17m. Good one!

   Edited at 2021-04-08 06:20 am (UTC)

4. A speedy, for me, 18 minutes, so a rare excursion from the SCC. The top half went in so well I was quite excited but I was slowed around 11, 14,18D and ARM didn’t click at first. FOI COVER STORY which was also my favourite with SOAP OPERA.
5. 15:38 with 5 mins on LOI GUMDROP. Tricky last clue, was misdirected by the secondary meaning of fool, so was looking at an unknown yoghurt/soufflé.

   At 17a with a final A, and ‘religious leader’ in the clue I put in Dala Llama before remembering which llama had the double L.

   COD SPEED CHESS

   Good Stefan Zweig recommendation, I don’t read German, so it’s all about the translator. Anthea Bell is his best translator, she also did Asterix, Kafka, and many others. Her father Adrian, was the first Times cryptic crossword setter, brother Martin Bell was a journalist and independent MP, and son Oliver Kamm is a leader writer for The Times.

   1. Thank you for the note on the Bell family. What a talented family they are. As for Anthea Bell and her translations of the Asterix books, I have at least one French-speaking friend who prefers her English versions of the stories — the humour is apparently rather different, and to his mind also rather superior.
      Cedric
   2. I’ve just finished reading Zweig’s The World of Yesterday” which Bell translated. A simply fascinating story – it produced a melange of conflicting opinions at the zoom book club meeting.

      Diana

      1. 
         Yes as Cedric says – thanks a lot for the translator info, very interesting. And ditto to Diana for the recommendation – I’m not sure I would have gone for that on my own but after your description and looking into it, it’s definitely going on the list.
6. FOI CREED and then a few nice anagrams. Stuck for a whole on TRILOBITE, couldn’t seem to remember the word for some reason. Still a fast time (for me) of 13:27. Loved it.

7. FOI: FLOTSAM
   LOI: EYE

   Time to Complete: 32 minutes

   Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 23/24

   Clues Answered with Aids (3 lives): 21d

   Clues Unanswered: Nil

   Wrong Answers: Nil

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

   Aids Used: Chambers

   Wow. My quickest ever Times QC solve at 32 minutes. Very enjoyable crossword, not just because I finished it so quickly compared to my usual efforts, but because it had some particularly good clues.

   23a. SPEED CHESS – This took a few minutes as I equated mates as friends. I saw chess quite quickly, and then speed eventually came in. Even then I was wondering about the friends, until I realised that mates related to check/stalemates.

   11d. TRILOBITE – I entered this answer more due to the letters already present. I did not understand the clue, other than fossil, until I came here.

   21d. EYE – Really embarrassed about this one, and it was almost a wrong answer and therefore could have been a DNF. I put in ERE, as in “ere, ere”. But it did not look right, and so I conducted an alphabet trawl, starting from A. But for some reason I stopped when I got to R, and in ERE went. But the study did not fit. Then for some unfathomable reason, rather than continuing with the alphabet trawl from S, I turned to Chambers. When I saw EYE, I could have kicked myself in the head. I am glad I checked it rather than entering ERE and coming here. The visit to this blog represents my “handing in” of the puzzle.

   Thank you, Trelawney. After some dismal efforts by me this week, you have given my crossword solving morale a boost.

8. I didn’t find this quite as straightforward as our blogger as it took me some time to step back from a couple of incorrect assumptions. Like Mendesest, I thought that the liquor was going to start with BI and I then got SPEED DATES stuck in my head for 23a, event though it didn’t feel quite right, making the bottom of the grid tricky.
   The fossil required an alphabet trawl and spotting MUG/GUM finally allowed me to finish with that rather unpleasant sounding drink at 13a in 9.56
   A enjoyable puzzle with a number of very satisfying PDMs, but COD goes to VOLCANOES.
   Thanks to Roly and Trelawney
9. We raced through the majority of this lovely puzzle only to slow right down in the south west corner. We finished in 9 minutes – greatly enjoyed the anagrams.

   FOI: COVER STORY
   LOI: ARMS
   COD: MIND READER

   Thanks to Trelawney and Rolytoly.

10. A mixed bag of very easy and a few chewy clues. I managed it in 14 mins exactly, a minute under target. LOI was SPEED CHESS. I needed to think about EYE (yet another ‘study’ to include in the list) and GODPARENT. SOAP OPERA was an unparsed biff and ARM was entered without conviction. I liked COVER STORY, EGGNOG and MIND READER. Thanks to Trelawny and Roly. John M.

    Edited at 2021-04-08 08:30 am (UTC)

11. An enjoyable puzzle today. Most of the top half went in easily but I was stumped by ARM, ( where does department come into it?) and nho SPEED CHESS.

    COD ATTIC.

    Thanks very much, Roly and Trelawney.

    Diana

    1. ARM as in a branch or department of a larger company
12. Sub 30 minutes but got stuck on MALT as my go to island if not I is Man. Unfinished, I struggled to justify LT. Also could not see why ARM is department but obviously a DD.
    As others, did not equate Trite initially with overuse but was not bothered as TRILOBITE was unequivocal.
    Nice crossword for me, about the right mix of easy and thinkers without stinkers.
    Boiler supplier en route. After a week of constant clanking and whistling it can’t come soon enough to placate an angry household.
    Thanks Trelawney and Roly.
    1. I didn’t see Malta as well and was left with a dangling “LT” which just wouldn’t fit with my parsing.
    2. Boiler manufacturer visited and replaced most of the internals of our <1 year old combi boiler. Said that was quite common. I thought boilers lasted a lifetime. Apparently that is <12 months. Tempus fugit.

       Edited at 2021-04-08 10:12 am (UTC)

       1. Gosh, SC, I had better speak nicely to our 31-year-old boiler, here! Lots of praise on its way to it. 🙂
    3. Reminds me of joke.
       “Darling, what were you thinking?”
       “Taupe, I think we should paint the bedroom ceiling taupe”.
       Have often wondered what colour was taupe.
       1. At risk of being pompous, taupe is French for mole, as in the garden-digging variety. Not a good ceiling colour even if the paint is lighter.

13. My fastest solve for ages, 14 mins and every clue parsed which is very satisfying. Big thanks to Trelawny.

    I loved GODPARENT being an anagram of Pet Dragon!

    I remembered Trilobite from boyhood fossil-hunting days at the beach. Good memories.

    Roly – I can’t see the down clues in the blog. Maybe just me but the across clues end with the word ‘empty’ so maybe something gone amiss?

    1. As no one else has mentioned it, and some have mentioned the parsings of the down clues, I think it might just be you… an explanation is beyond my skill grade, I’m afraid!

       1. I get the same problem when viewing the blog in the Live Journal app on my android phone. This often happens. However, it displays fine if viewed on a browser.
          Incidentally, 22 minutes for me, outside my 20 minute target. A little delayed in SW corner.

          1. Thanks!

          2. Thanks Roger

14. … with a second fast finish this week, as all done in just under 9 minutes. LOI was 13A Eggnog — when I was looking at E-G-O- I wondered briefly if there a drink which started EBG…, being GBE backwards for the returned medal. But got there in the end.

    Otherwise few problems. I share the MERs at 16A Arm; arm = department is a bit tenuous I think, but the answer couldn’t have been anything else. I was also nearly caught out mis-spelling 11D Trilobite — at first I entered Trilobyte (the pull of Kilobyte was far too strong!) and then wondered what Tryte meant and what 22A could be starting with a Y, until the penny dropped and the pink square was avoided.

    Many thanks to Roly for the blog
    Cedric

    1. I found an ancient USB stick under the desk, its capacity was only 32 Trilobytes…..
15. I was heading for a time well under ten minutes until I got stuck.
    The ones that did for me were IDEAL where I was thinking of roulette wheels;
    ARM, which I think was fair but hard to bring to mind. And I spent ages on 6d where the instructions had me looking for BI …; I needed a complete reset for that one.
    Eventually crossed the line in 18:17; glad to have got all correct.
    COD to Single Malt.
    David
16. A steady solve, just held up a bit with TRILOBITE, EGG NOG and ARM. Couldn’t remember if it was RAPID or SPEED CHESS, but obvious once I got GUMDROP.
17. I wish I had looked at 2d VOLCANOES earlier as it gave me so many answers. Slow on SINGLE MALT, despite GODPARENT being a FOI. Liked IDEAL, SOAP OPERA, TIN EAR, EGG NOG.
    Wavelength intermittent today. Too exhausted to work out fossil so looked it up.
    Thanks vm, Roly.
    1. Perhaps an egg nog or single malt could be restorative? Failing that a G & T although not clued.

       Edited at 2021-04-08 10:23 am (UTC)

       1. Better wait until I have been to the dentist.
18. Not so easy as far as I was concerned but finished in 20 minutes. Unfortunately a typo at 18dn means a technical DNF. I was quite slow on 7ac where I was trying to justify WHEEL and even slower on 6dn which I was convinced would start with B (at least that stopped me entering WHEEL at 7ac).

    FOI – 10ac GODPARENT
    LOI – 23ac SPEED CHESS (never heard of this)
    COD – a tie between 1ac COVER STORY and 10ac GODPARENT

    Thanks to setter and blogger

19. A second quicker than yesterday, despite not being able to get either of the two long edge clues without lots of checkers. Lots of witty clues to enjoy.

    FOI CREED; LOI ARM after SINGLE MALT finally fell; COD SOAP OPERA though like the Prof I also loved discovering that GODPARENT is an anagram of “pet dragon”; time 1.4K for a Very Good Day.

    Many thanks Trelawney and roly.

    Templar

20. Just made my target of 15 minutes, with ARM LOI and taking a bit of thought to justify. Excellent times from Roly and PW (by his own standard), but I’m afraid mine was more pedestrian. I liked all of the longer (9 and 10 letter) clues, which came fairly easily, but struggled a bit on a couple of the shorter ones. Thanks both.
21. After moaning yesterday about my lack of sub 20 min finishes lately, I managed a sub 20 min finish which is just typical.

    All completed in an enjoyable 17 mins, with the main hold up being 6dn “Single Malt” — mainly due to parsing rather than the answer itself. I thought there may have been an error in 18dn, as I thought “Attic” was a hidden word — but the blog above shows it can be looked at differently.

    For a while, I wondered whether Trilobite was spelt Trilobyte — the contents of a data stick still fresh in my mind — but 22ac put paid to that.

    FOI — 4dn “Too”
    LOI — 6dn “Single Malt”
    COD — 9dn “Mind Reader”

    Thanks as usual!

22. A slow solve with gaps in the SW corner not seeming to be likely to yield, so called in disinterested husband. As I did so, I saw single, and he saw malt. He knew speed chess, I had nho this. Some sort of drop for the sweet — beginning with G — he saw gum, I had a total mental block on the two letters following the G. We got arm together to finish. A bit like phone a friend, a joint effort, this one. He reckons I would have got there. I didn’t think so, which was why I called to him for help. FOI story without the cover, which followed from volcanoes, creed and rifle. LOI arm. COD the pet dragon. Did not parse trilobite or flotsam. Nho tin ear. Lots of good clueing. Thanks, Roly, for clarifying everything, and Trelawney for a good half-hour in the mental gym. GW.
23. Despite a fast time, I enjoyed this one. COVER STORY, SPEED CHESS, SINGLE MALT were all very good indeed.

    ARM and EYE were my last two in.

    4:22.

24. Another TRILOBYTE biffer here, until the beheaded pirate put me right. I was delayed at the end by my LOI, SINGLE MALT, as I was sure it was going to start with a B. That took me just over my target to 10:42. Thanks Trelawney and Roly.
25. A very mixed bag today – a good start, then I slowed right down and finally ground to a halt! It was 6d and 16a that did for me – they took three minutes on their own. I said yesterday that I don’t like double definitions – too many options and not enough memory bank to extract the right one! Still I did finally get ARM which pushed me towards SINGLE MALT. Finished in nearly twice my target time 🙄
    Nevertheless, I thought this was a great crossword – I really liked TIN EAR, SOAP OPERA, VOLCANOES and ATTIC. I realised I had to extract the AT from data but took a bit longer to realise that I needed the middle of stick too – that was an out-loud PDM! No problem with TRILOBITE – what a great word.
    FOI Too (just because I spotted it straightaway)
    LOI Single malt
    COD Godparent – a wonderful anagram and clue
    Many thanks Trelawney for the fun, and Roly for the blog – super time too 😊
26. A 43-minute solve for me today, which is just under par for me at the moment. I got stuck for six or seven minutes at the end by GUMDROP and my LOI ARM (for which a fairly extensive alphabet trawl was required), but otherwise progressed without too much difficulty at my usual sedate pace.

    I enjoyed MIND READER on the way through (I heard it in my head as MINE DREADER), SPEED CHESS (although I prefer playing without time restrictions) and SINGLE MALT (I could sometimes do with one after DNF-ing an Orpheus or Teazel QC – a frequent occurrence for me).

    Mrs R started a long time after me today and has yet to finish. I think she’s currently pondering TRILOBITE and SINGLE MALT.

    Many thanks to rolytoly and Trelawney.

    1. Just to report that Mrs R has now finished in 37 minutes, so the accepted order of things here is maintained for another day.
       1. I have visions of you pacing the room as she completes it, checking your watch to see whether you have at long last disrupted the natural order 😀
27. 13 minutes and onto my last one….
    conceded after ten minutes of confusion.
    Not heard of Trilobite and would not have seen trite for worn…so, in my opinion, a tricky word very difficultly clued.
    Other than that it was a great crossword for me.
    NHO tin ear but it had to be.
    Thanks all
    John George
28. I hopped around the grid as I completely failed on 1a. I though the initial C stood for Conservative and the definition was ‘Pays for’. I managed to work out TRILOBITE and guessed SPEED CHESS. ARM was a late solve filling in the missing letter but the one that delayed me unexpectedly was my LOI VOLCANOES after my POI COVER STORY. 9:23 but at least no pink squares today. Thanks Roly

29. ….although SPEED CHESS was an unknown

    FOI IDEAL
    LOI EYE
    COD GUMDROP
    TIME 4:38

30. An excellent QC today I thought. Not as fast as I was hoping for when I saw Trelawney’s name at the top, but still a respectable (for me) 23:39, and fantastic clues in every direction. I kept writing “COD” next to a clue, only to write it again by the next one when that was even better. Being a biologist, TRILOBITE was no problem (as soon as I saw “fossil” I thought it’s either going to be ammonite or trilobite) and, although I’m not sure I would ever have thought of ARM if I didn’t have the M, I can’t see anything wrong with it meaning department. Anyway, FOI COVER STORY, LOI IDEAL, COD SINGLE MALT. Thanks Trelawney and Roly.
31. Despite anti stain sealants, I think in the end we had to have a multi-stained ceiling skimmed with plaster. For the first time in 30 yrs it looks OK.
32. Well, the previous post was 3pm and here I am at nearly 8pm! I did this before preparing supper but not early enough to add my halfpennorth… Another generous puzzle! FOI 8a Flotsam. LOI 21d Eye – which was uncertain but couldn’t be ‘ere’. COD 17a Soap Opera for the construction and imagery. Lots to enjoy today – Single Malt, Mind Reader, Torrent, Eggnog included. Never managed to parse Trilobite but it was obviously going to be the right answer. Thanks to Roly, I now know how it should have been tackled. Thanks too to Trelawny for an entertaining puzzle winding down the afternoon.

    Edited at 2021-04-08 07:00 pm (UTC)

33. Thanks Roger

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