Times Quick Cryptic No 1868 by Teazel

Author   rolytolyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A gentler one today from Teazel, if you’re prepared to do a bit of shrugging-and-entering along the way. Three cryptic definitions and two cryptic hints felt a touch excessive (and I do like a good cryptic definition), and was the cause of most of the shrugging. All quite gettable, I found: at 7 minutes I was nearly half yesterday’s time, done just beforehand. And plenty to like, particularly among the downs, with 7d, 14d and 19d being my favourites – many thanks to Teazel!

Across
1 Originally on African soil it supplies refuge (5)
OASIS – “originally” On African Soil It Supplies
4 A piece of crockery may be flying (6)
SAUCER – cryptic-ish definition, referring to flying saucers. Coined in 1947; their name during WWII was “foo fighters”. Last year the Pentagon released some grainy videos of “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena”, as covered in the NY Times.
9 Peer over there before much time has passed (5,2)
EARLY ON – EARL (peer) YON (over there)
10 Danger of salesman returning: I left (5)
PERIL – PER (Rep = salesman, returning) I L(eft)
11 But lots of other insects do this too (3)
FLY – cryptic definition, because not just flies fly. Originally a fly could mean any winged insect.
12 Persecuting the Baskervilles? (8)
HOUNDING – vaguely cryptic hint: the Baskervilles were hounded by the titular hound. Let’s move on…
15 One used to paint trading vessel, a dizzying experience (6-7)
ROLLER-COASTER – ROLLER (one used to paint) COASTER (trading vessel)
17 Carefully adjust enjoyable melody (4-4)
FINE-TUNE – FINE (enjoyable) TUNE (melody)
18 Victory almost a breeze (3)
WIN – “almost a” WINd (breeze)
20 Cog, for example, excessively tough on the outside (5)
TOOTH – TOO (excessively) TH (TougH “on the outside”)
22 Little pebbles hard during one run (7)
SHINGLE – H(ard) during SINGLE (one run, in cricket)
23 Superheroes, these military servants? (6)
BATMEN – another cryptic hint, I’d say, more than a double definition, unless we have become so supersaturated with superhero nonsense that there are a whole load of Batmen, fighting a criminal colony of Penguins, perhaps…coming to a screen near you soon, no doubt.
24 Wrong American gets a hole in the head (5)
SINUS – SIN (wrong) US (American)

Down
1 Order to soldiers for some blazing coals (4,4)
OPEN FIRE – double-ish definition
2 Go wandering and find accommodation across river (5)
STRAY – STAY (accommodation, as in a temporary residence) across R(iver)
3 Menu suggestion for one preparing to be shot? (3,6)
SAY CHEESE – cryptic definition, with a pun on “one being shot” = “one having their photo taken”. I liked this one very much, with the neat surface description of a last meal.
5 Like quiet poisoner (3)
ASP – AS (like) P (piano = quiet)
6 Goodness! Note damaged headdress (7)
CORONET – COR! (goodness!), anagram (damaged) of NOTE
7 Turn over bread list (4)
ROLL – triple definition, and a nice one.
8 Need curious changes after a while (2,3,6)
IN DUE COURSE – anagram (changes) of NEED CURIOUS
13 Criminal spied rare hangings (9)
DRAPERIES – anagram (criminal) of SPIED RARE
14 King’s daughter succeeded after his sons? (8)
PRINCESS – S(ucceeded) after PRINCES (his sons)
16 Knocked unconscious, and available for inspection? (4,3)
LAID OUT – double definition
18 Keep shaking cart (5)
WAGON – to wag on might be to keep shaking
19 Butt, or small cask (4)
STUB – S(mall) TUB (cask)
21 Part of Plymouth, miles away from home (3)
HOE – M(iles) away from HOmE

49 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1868 by Teazel”

  1. It probably helped that ROLLER COASTER appeared a few days ago. 4:41.
  3. Another day another pink square. This time for ‘lain out’ in place of LAID OUT. Finished my coffee looking at Chambers and other sites to try to work out if I can claim a moral all green but since Google returns three results for “lain out for inspection” and over a million for “laid out for inspection” I think I’d better take the lesson and accept missing out on a fast solve. The pain is eased by the fact it wasn’t all that fast because the time it took me to unravel IN DUE COURSE took me to over ten minutes. Ten acrosses went in on the first pass which is a lot for me. Doing the acrosses first gave three cryptic definitions / hints in the first six clues — and two in succession — so it did seem that there was a lot of that going on at first.
  4. 38m 43s. FOI 1ac, LOI 24ac, COD 3d. Fairly smooth tour around the (symmetrical!) grid, with 9ac and the admirably misdirecting 3d lying fallow until near the end. Thanks Teazel and Roly.
  5. DNF. Only gave myself 20:21 mins as in a hurry, missed out on SAUCER and BATMEN, both fair and not hard. Sometimes, you just can’t see ‘em.

    I’ve not headed Plymouth Hoe for many years, and had to dredge that up, got confused with Hoo, as in Sutton.

  6. FOI: 1a. OASIS
    LOI: 19d STUB

    Time to Complete: DNF

    Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 20

    Clues Answered with Aids (3 lives): 20a, 19d

    Clues Unanswered: 15a, 16d

    Wrong Answers: 23a, 3d

    Total Correctly Answered (incl. aids): 22/26

    Aids Used: Chambers

    Started very well, but was totally stumped by 15a and 3d

    21d. HOE – Can’t believe how long this one took me. Much of my Navy career was spent in Plymouth, and so I was disappointed I did not answer this one sooner.

    12. HOUNDING – The Baskervilles immediately gave me this one.

    7d. ROLL – Initially the “list” slowed me down, until I realised it was a triple definition.

    A disappointing effort from me today. Perhaps it was the excitement of voting today. Well, that’s my excuse!

  7. I agree with rolytoly that there is a surplus of cryptic definitions/hints. I didn’t care much for HOUNDING, but otherwise all good. I liked DRAPERIES and SHINGLE, which I walked on at the Suffolk coast on Tuesday and will again today. 4:00.
  8. … and all done in just under 8 minutes. I biffed 20A Tooth and did not see the parsing until reading Roly’s blog; for some reason I thought “on the outside” not only referred to the outside of Tough to give us the TH but also the outside of the answer. This left me OOT to explain which not surprisingly was beyond me.

    Otherwise no hold-ups for a very pleasant and enjoyable puzzle. LOI and COD 13A Draperies where I spent some time thinking that hangings was as in executions. Criminally misled by Teazel!

    Many thanks to Roly for the blog
    Cedric

  9. A gentle but enjoyable offering from Teazel, finished in 6.41 with LOI FLY and COD to SINUS as the surface reading made me smile.
    Thanks to Roly
  10. I found some traps in this one. I was reminded once again that biffing ‘obvious’ answers in the absence of proper parsing is not a good idea. When OASIS finally clicked, I was able to change 2d to STRAY and move back to the SE corner where PRINCESS only emerged after SINUS was entered. I ended up 3 mins over target feeling I should have done better. Not really on Teazel’s wavelength for too many clues today. SAY CHEESE was my COD. Thanks to both. John M.

    Edited at 2021-05-06 08:36 am (UTC)

  11. Excellent intro by Rolytoly – thanks – and to Teazel. It felt like a struggle but I looked up and realised it was still only 10 minutes. Wasn’t keen on the clue for Fly and even less keen on that for Hounding but all in all a good challenge. Thanks again!
  12. Has anyone else had problems with the online version of the QC today? No clues come up on my screen in the grid version and on the list version there are clues but I can’t type the answers in. Discombobulated!
  13. Finished and enjoyed. FOI OASIS. LOI SHINGLE, but didn’t hesitate long. PRINCESS and HOUNDING very easy.
    Liked FLY, BATMEN, SAY CHEESE, FINE TUNE.

    Thanks all, esp Roly. Feel much more encouraged today.

  14. FOI ASP. Then pretty good progress.
    I find it often matters the order in which you read the clues. I start anywhere I can and sometimes find relatively easy clues late on -today 1a and 1d.
    LOI ROLLER COASTER where I was thinking of painters and the wrong sort of boat. 10:52 on the clock.
    Favourite was PRINCESS.
    David
  15. I struggled. My solving abilities seem to have taken a holiday and I hope they return IN DUE COURSE which was my LOI in 15 minutes.
  16. Thought it was easy then got stuck on WAGON + SINUS – just could not see them. Oh well.

  17. Quick one for me at 18 mins. Held up by several of the down clues. Perhaps more shrugging would have helped. Triple definition of ‘Rolls’ was a bit excessive. A little light exercise from Teazel today which probably means tomorrow will be impossible 🙄

      1. … Butting through the Channel in the mad March days …

        Astonishing how poems learned as a child stick in the mind

    2. If you find WAGON, a bog standard cryptic clue, gibberish, you’re going to have trouble with these puzzles.
    3. Types of ship learnt about in Junior school in Leicester, about as far as it is possible to get from the sea in the UK include: liner, freighter, drifter, trawler, coaster, dredger, clipper, steamer, etc. Coaster is not at all obscure.
  18. But I came in under target, so not displeased. It just felt like I was always scrabbling for the answers, rather than them flowing into the grid.

    I liked WAGON and ROLLER COASTER, not so sure about HOUNDING, though the answer was obvious enough.

    5:42.

  19. OASIS was FOI and SAUCER brought up the rear. Wondered briefly what TOTTH might be until I saw that the outside of tough was at the end of the gear. Doh! FLY took a moment to register. 8:01. Thanks Teazel and Roly.
  20. Unusual morning solve again today…FOI 1a Oasis didn’t lead to any of the down clues until I was forced into thinking harder at the end. LOI 9a Early On. COD 3d Say Cheese – although a keen photographer, portraits are not really my genre but a PDM came along. Not sure I’ve seen or used Batmen, only the singular. Liked 15a. Needed Roly’s blog to properly parse 14d Princess. Thanks to both our blogger, and Teazel for a gentle but fairly inventive puzzle today.
  21. 12 minutes (rounded down a touch), so a reasonable day, although I feel it should have been a bit quicker as there was very little to hold me up. I did waste some time by entering OUT instead HOE initially at 21d (thought I’d seen a hidden in plymOUTh, away from home), but a glance at 20a disabused me of that theory, and anyway, my erroneous parsing failed to account for the ‘miles’. I also wondered if STUN could equate to BUTT in 19d. As a result of that confusion in the SW, TOOTH and BATMEN were LTI. Thanks Teazel and Roly.
  22. Gentle and enjoyable, still needing care in reading the clues. I was another who ended up trying to explain the oot part of tooth to myself, eventually concluding, wrongly, that it must be too, backwards, but why? FOI Saucer. Nineteen clues solved on first pass, very helpful. LOI stray. COD Early on. Thanks, Roly, and Teazel. GW.

  23. FOI: 1A OASIS then relatively plain sailing (enjoyed EARLY ON) until entering STUN instead of STUB so struggled with BATMEN, which finally went in at 09:53. Alas, I had forgotten that I had skipped (and forgotten to return to) 3D. So a DNF for me (I made a very similar mistake by rushing at the end on the 15 x 15 today and checking that I had at least filled in all of the squares!)

    Thank you, rolytoly and Teazel

  24. 24 clues solved (or so I thought) after 12 minutes and a PB was on the cards. Then I got stuck on 7d, which required an alphabet trawl and a stupidly long time trying to work out what the word ‘list’ was doing in the clue. Was it ROLL for ‘turn over’ or ROLE for ‘turn’?

    A sub-20 was still up for grabs, however, when I came to what I thought was my last clue (23a: BATMEN). The trouble was that I had STUN for 19d and no amount of alphabet trawling could complete N_T_E_. Eventually, I saw that 19d may instead be STUB (although a TUB is not a ‘cask’, surely!) and another interminable alphabet trawl ensued. Unfortunately, Batman never occurred to me when compiling my list of superheroes, and I have NHO BATMEN for ‘military servants’. Therefore, about an hour after I thought I’d reached two to go (and a possible PB), I gave up in despair.

    Mrs Random finished in 17 minutes and simply couldn’t understand how I couldn’t find those solutions.

    Thanks to rolytoly and to Teazel.

  25. Fell into most of the traps mentioned above: STUN instead of STUB at 19dn, trying to parse OOT in the middle of 20ac, etc. However on the whole a fairly smooth solve except for 3dn which held me up for at least 2 minutes. All done in 15 mins although never parsed 14dn either. Good puzzle, my thanks to Teazel and Rolytoly.

    FOI – 1ac OASIS
    LOI – 3dn SAY CHEESE
    COD – 1dn OPEN FIRE

  26. Went for an early morning bike ride to Coniston in order to beat the weather, only for it to descend quicker than expected and leaving me soaked for the third time in a row.

    I found the crossword somewhat similar. For whatever reason I just couldn’t get into this — maybe it was the cryptic nature of the clues and definitions, or the brain fog from doing exercise (I often find doing the crossword after a strenuous workout is never a good idea), but I found it slow going.

    Saying that, I did finish after 35 mins and overall I thought there were some good clues.

    FOI — 1ac “Oasis”
    LOI — 3dn “Say Cheese”
    COD — 12dn “Hounding” — I liked it

    Thanks as usual!

  27. Enjoyed this puzzle – some fun clues that were a pleasure to solve. We came in at 14 minutes.

    FOI: SAUCER
    LOI: HOE
    COD: WAGON (made us smile)

    Thanks to Teazel and Rolytoly.

  28. I found this much harder than yesterday’s, which I completed in almost record time. Today the timer stopped at well over an hour, not helped by the fact I dozed off halfway through! So maybe I was just a bit tired. Anyway, I got there in the end after a painfully slow start, and thanks as always to Teazel for an enjoyable puzzle.
  29. ….I solved this too quickly on paper to submit it correctly online. I replicated my time — but with two typos.

    FOI OASIS
    LOI BATMEN
    COD SAY CHEESE
    TIME 2:55

    1. If I ever get even remotely close to your average times I can imagine having the same problem. Almost makes me have some respect for the neutrinos.
  30. Gentle today. Could well have been a PB but I was using a knife and fork at the same time so about 15. Hardly a biff in sight. Thought 15 ac might be Helter Skelter on first read so glad I waited for some checkers. As I was on pen and paper it would have been a bloodbath. Thx to all. Johnny.

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