Times Quick Cryptic No 1878 by Teazel

Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic
11 minutes, with four of those spent – for no good reason – on 9ac, 7d and correcting 12ac. A fine puzzle with good clues aplenty, my favourite I think being 18ac – many thanks to Teazel!

Across
1 Energy wasted upon gadget (3-2-3-2)
GET-UP-AND-GO – anagram (wasted) of UPON GADGET
8 Children’s character strange to find in New York (5)
NODDY ODD (strange) to find in NY
9 Hit rain, travelling: disappeared into it? (4,3)
THIN AIR – anagram (travelling) of HIT RAIN. I don’t know why I was so slow seeing this.
10 Author’s earnings from connections with ruling families (9)
ROYALTIES ROYAL TIES = connections with ruling families
12 Curtsey for your uncle? (3)
BOB as in Bob’s your uncle. Thankfully not BOW, then, which might just work as a loose cryptic definition in a lesser crossword, as in an obeisance made by an uncle would be a bow (probably). I’ve seen looser clues elsewhere!
13 Discover tragic figure, forlorn at the last (5)
LEARN LEAR (tragic figure) N (forlorN at the last)
15 Bottle comes in plainer version (5)
NERVE – comes inside plaiNER VErsion. As in to lose one’s bottle. In-depth etymology here.
17 Sort of shirt, one of a set of eighteen? (3)
TEE double definition, the second in golf.
18 Last drink? Cheers! (7,2)
BOTTOMS UP BOTTOM (last) SUP (drink)
20 Heart perhaps shown by referee (3,4)
RED CARD cryptic hint
21 Shy, having injured arm in this? (5)
SLING double definition
22 Fond glances from one in woolly coat? (6,4)
SHEEPS EYES – cryptic hint

Down
1 Army officers raced for corner shop (7,5)
GENERAL STORE GENERALS (army officers) TORE (raced)
2 Now notice is put up in miniature (5)
TODAY – AD (notice, bill, etc.) is put up/reversed in TOY (miniature)
3 Settle account, always after pressure (3)
PAY AY (always) after P(ressure)
4 Fool: a Belfast one? (6)
NITWIT – a twit from Belfast could be an N.I. TWIT
5 Needing to play, sad losing slide (9)
GLISSANDO anagram (needing to play) SAD LOSING
6 Inoculator’s incomprehensible speech (6)
JABBER double definition. So there’s no word ‘jenner’ for nonsense.
7 Where to find puzzles in paper? Advice here (7,5)
PROBLEM PAGES double-ish definition, the first whimsical
11 California city began to collapse into lake (4,5)
LONG BEACH – anagram (to collapse) of BEGAN into LOCH (Lake)
14 A good finish on a list of tasks (6)
AGENDA – A G(ood) END (finish) on A
16 For example, spots upcoming heavy meal (6)
STODGE – EG, DOTS (for example, spots) upcoming
19 Reflective and retiring, keeping at home (5)
SHINY SHY (retiring) keeping IN (at home)
21 Emergency call very singular (3)
SOS -SO (very) S(ingular)

67 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1878 by Teazel”

  1. No real problems until my last one in at 9D. I realized the second word was PAGES but it took me forever to see PROBLEM since I’d never heard of PROBLEM PAGES. So ended up taking nearly 14 minutes with about a third of them on that.
  2. Is that why PROBLEM PAGES are unknown Down-Under?

    7:45 mins

    FOI 8ac NODDY

    LOI 17ac TEE

    COD 12ac BOB

    WOD 22ac SHEEP’S EYES yum!

    Edited at 2021-05-20 02:46 am (UTC)

  3. I’d never heard of PROBLEM PAGES, so waited until I had all the checkers. Biffed 1ac from the hyphens, and TODAY. 4:03.
  4. A good to moderate seven on the first pass of acrosses but then very fast indeed until general knowledge let me down. NHO GLISSANDO or SHEEPS EYES and didn’t know LONG BEACH was a city or that it was in California. Also held up by being misdirected by RED CARD and just took a while to work out how the clue worked for STODGE. No bother with PROBLEM PAGES — my sister used to get all the teenage magazines! Still ended up under 11 which is fast for me.

    Edited at 2021-05-20 05:20 am (UTC)

  5. Thanks Rolytoly. My quickest Teazel solve to date just over 12. BIFD red card and still think I’m missing something…?

  6. 24:03 for a 5 but nearer 6K. I think because I spent too long parsing. DNK Lear was a tragic figure assuming it referred to Edward and NHO Sheep’s eyes except on the table of a middle Eastern banquet. Even spent a minute parsing SOS. I thought TEE was a triple clue (also being contained in eighTEEn).
    Where else would Agony Aunts share their wisdom if not for the problem pages? After seeing some recent banal articles in TToL I wonder if that is next on the agenda.
    COD LONG Beach, final resting place of the Queen Mary, for including Loch which took a while to spot.
    Thanks Teazel and Roly
  7. My new iPad has arrived after its predecessor did not survive jumping off the table (never touched it gov) so I am reunited with the world in general and the QC in particular. Just under 16 mins, so fast for me, and much to enjoy from the neat anagram at 1A onwards. 4D was clever. Slight delay parsing 5D although the answer seemed likely early on with the first few checkers.
  8. FOI: 1a. GET UP AND GO
    LOI: 19d. SHINY

    Time to Complete: 47 minutes

    Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 21

    Clues Answered with Aids (3 lives): 5d, 11d, 16d

    Clues Unanswered: Nil

    Wrong Answers: Nil

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

    Aids Used: Chambers

    I thought I was in for a record time, or near to it, as my early answers just seemed to flow in. However, I came to a grinding halt with my final half dozen or so.

    5d. GLISSANDO – Never heard of this word, so I shall demand it is a made-up word. Even though it is in the dictionary. A musical word I believe. I seem to always come a cropper with musical jargon. I need my nephew to teach me a whole list of such words.

    7d. PROBLEM PAGES – This was one that held me up for a long time. Once I got PAGES, then PROBLEM came relatively quickly.

    18a. BOTTOMS UP – I had this pencilled in for a long time before having the confidence to fill it in with pen.

    15 minutes above my average time of 32 minutes, so I am quite happy with this one. Candy store proprietor: Open those doors!

  9. 10 minutes, within target but with only seconds to spare. Not helped by being stuck on 16dn which I must have read a dozen times throughout the solve but only on my last visit noticed that it said ‘heavy meal’ and not ‘heavy meTal’!
  10. A bit of a struggle …
    … as all completed in 11 minutes but not all parsed. I needed Roly’s blog to explain 4D Nitwit to me (it didn’t help that I thought the Fool gave me Nit, which left …wit unexplainable) and Poison Wyvern to explain 20A Red card. Thank you PW! Also, DK the phrase Sheep’s eyes but answer had to be given the checkers.

    Puzzled why the clue for 5D needs the words “Needing to …” or for that matter the comma. Made a slightly clunky surface and “Play sad losing slide” might have been neater? Also, surprised 21D SOS was shown as a 3 letter word not (1,1,1). Nobody pronounces it as a one-syllable 3-letter word!

    Many thanks to Roly for the blog
    Cedric

    1. It is my understanding (and I could be completely wrong) that SOS has, contrary to popular belief, never stood for anything, and hence I guess it would not be correct to clue it as (1, 1, 1) as though it were an abbreviation. People do seem to use it as a word too, e.g. “Sending out an SOS”. I have often wondered, however, why genuine abbreviations do not appear in the Times crosswords. Is there some convention which bars their use?
        1. According to Wikipedia it was chosen because of its simplicity in Morse code and the “Save Our Souls” meaning was never intended.
  11. A typically witty puzzle from Teazel, which I quickly tuned into as I made my way round the grid. My knowledge of musical terms has sky rocketed (from a very low base) since starting the QC, but I was still pleased that GLISSANDO didn’t hold me up for long.
    Finished in 6.13 with LOI the NHO SHEEPS EYES and my COD going to JABBER.
    Thanks to rolytoly

    Edited at 2021-05-20 08:33 am (UTC)

  12. I got 1ac and 1dn straight away, which helped enormously (though did anyone else toy with “General Staff”?). Paused to understand RED CARD (neat), no PROBLEM with the PAGES.

    FOI GENERAL STORE, LOI GLISSANDO (I thought “needing to play” was a rather cumbersome anagram indicator), COD BOTTOMS UP, time 08:08 which is 2K but I’m still rating this a Good Day.

    Many thanks Teazel and Roly.

    Templar

  13. Well under target, but was slowed up by STODGE and PROBLEM PAGES.

    Nice puzzle though, the anagram for GET UP AND GO was super.

    5:09

  14. I was going like a train — even GET UP AND GO went in smoothly — and I was almost done in under 7 mins (I know because the clock runs visibly in the new Times app) but then Daughter in Law asked for a ride into the station. A pleasure, but I never got back into my stride when I re-started. It took too long for me to see PROBLEM pages, BOTTOMS UP, LONG BEACH, and SHEEPS EYES, none of which was difficult. I ended up over target. Frustrating. Thanks to Teazel for a witty puzzle and to roly for a crisp blog. John M.

    Edited at 2021-05-20 09:20 am (UTC)

  15. Have been doing these puzzles on my iPad for a couple of years now, and gradually improving thanks to these excellent blogs and comments. Today’s time was 21 mins, held up by Problem Pages.

    Am in total awe of those who can solve these puzzles so quickly. As an experiment, I typed in the single letter A in every square of the grid using my index finger, as quickly as I could, and without any thought process. It took me 2 and a half minutes to fill the grid. I note that yesterday someone finished in less than 3 minutes, which would work out at about half a second of thought for each answer. All I can say is Wow!

    1. Welcome, incipiad! Yes I agree completely – if there’s one thing the neutrinos are good for (the idiots who cheat and type in the answers as quickly as possible and then submit on the leaderboard) it’s to show just how close to a perfect solve the genuine speed-merchants get.
    2. Yes, those people who fill in the grid in less than 3 minutes (and I see this on the 15×15 leaderboard too), actually complete the puzzle on paper. Then they go to the online version and type in the answers they already have as quickly as possible. I take no notice of the scores on the leaderboards.
    3. I am that guilty man ! Welcome Incipiad, and don’t worry about my fast times — I solve on paper, read and write quickly, and then enter online and wait for my time to match before pressing submit. Plus I’ve had over 50 years experience of solving cryptic crosswords.

      I hope you’ll have a go at my weekend puzzle that will appear in johninterred’s blog here tomorrow. I’m still a novice setter, but my efforts have been generally well received so far !

  16. 1a and 1d went in straight away which is always encouraging.
    Slow on GLISSANDO and LOI NITWIT but otherwise zoomed through.
    Liked TEE, RED CARD, SHEEPS EYES. BOB made me smile.
    Thanks VM, ROLY.
  17. Steadily worked through dredging up GLISSANDO from the depths. All fell into place nicely.
  18. Back to something like normality at 13 minutes for this nice puzzle from Teazel. GLISSANDO had to be dragged kicking and screaming from the cosy depths of my subconscious mind once all the checkers were in place, and SHEEP’S EYES were only vaguely remembered or prompted by the better recollection of doe eyes. As for others, PAGES preceded PROBLEM. Thanks both.
  19. 14:53. Similar to many here: for a long time I only had just half of the long down clues with General Something, and Something Pages.

    My COD, GET UP AND GO was such a great anagram it was hard to see. Usually odd or contrived words are a signal, I’ve given up on anagrinds since there are so many.

    ‘S’ = singular? I suppose in a dictionary? Eg data (s. Datum)?

    My cryptic def for Glissando — Harpy ? (9)

  20. Was convinced 13ac was LORNA (Doone) )from ‘forlorn at last’. Took ages to spot Learn although in retrospect it was obvious.
  21. Struggled a bit with this one (and was also interrupted a couple of times). Also had to biff quite a few, so thanks to Rolytoly for the explanations. Was slow to see how 4dn worked and never noticed that 1ac was an anagram. Didn’t have a clue how 20ac worked either, so all I can say is I was not on the wavelength (a nice euphemism for being particularly stupid). All finished and correct in 19 mins.

    FOI – 8ac NODDY
    LOI – 4dn NIT WIT
    COD – 18ac BOTTOMS UP

    Thanks to Teazel for a fine puzzle.

  22. An addition to my animal eye vocab. Cat’s eye, Fish eye, Doe eye, Tiger eye, Bull’s eye, Snake eye.. any more for my list?
  23. 20 mins for me, although this had its fair share of cryptic definitions and answers.

    I didn’t know Long Beach was a city in California either — I spent a bit of time trying to fit LA into the grid, and now I’m wondering whether along Beach actually is in the LA area.

    Enjoyed 4dn “Nitwit”, 8ac “Noddy” and 5dn “Glissando” — however DNK “Sling” for Shy.

    Been caught out by both 17ac “Tee” and 12ac “Bob” before, so was pleased to get them early.

    FOI — 3dn “Pay”
    LOI — 7dn “Puzzle Pages”
    COD — 6dn “Jabber”

    Thanks as usual!

  24. 3:27 today, my fastest time of the week but I see from the Times Club Leaderboard that Verlaine has clocked 1:36 – that’s an average of 4 seconds per clue!! All time record for non-neutrinos perhaps?
    Decided to start at SE corner for a change, FOI SOS and seemed to get on to the elusive wavelength right away. I’ve often wondered if where one starts a crossword has a bearing on the completion time. For example you may reach a clue with crossers in place that otherwise you might have struggled without that information. Not that you can exercise any control over the process I guess. Any thoughts anyone?
    COD 1 ac with a neat surface. Thanks to Roly and Teazel
    1. I always think there are “easier” sections or corners. I think the trick is to move on quickly if you start to get bogged down (wherever you start) and try a different part of the grid.
    2. I start with the easiest clue I can see and work with the checkers from there. Probably not the quickest way but I’m probably at the stage where it really helps to have a checker rather than being able to whip through from top to bottom and answer a bunch without checkers before going on to complete the grid

      Impressive time 👍

  25. We did both Thursday and Friday’s puzzles today – each one taking 10 minutes to complete. NHO GLISSANDO but it wasn’t too hard to work out. We spent far too long working out the PROBLEM part of 7D.

    FOI: GET UP AND GO
    LOI: PROBLEM PAGES
    COD: GENERAL STORE

    Thanks to Teazel and Rolytoly.

  26. Another early solve. Happily I have plenty to keep me busy this evening! Frustrated by 1a I turned to 1d and made my FOI. That helped with 1a (a good clue I thought). From then on a fairly fast solve for me. LOI 5d Glissando from all the checkers and a bit of dredging (not having any talent as a musician, nor singer). COD probably 2d Today but this puzzle was full of delightful clues/challenges. Needed Roly’s blog to properly parse 4d – I had nit— and it had to be. I’m another tempted by Lorna (well, it is there as a hidden) and had to pause before trying sling for 19d but found the correct answer pretty quickly. Many thanks to Teazel for am entertaining puzzle, and Roly for giving me help with 4d.
  27. I always enjoy Teasel’s qcs. This one was on the easier side, I thought. 8min 40sec.
  28. An under ten minute solve, unusual for me. FOI Noddy. LOI 1ac as I waited until I’d parsed it before putting it in. Always good to read the blog, I learn a lot from it. I didn’t see the golf reference in 17 ac, just the tee in eighteen being a type of shirt. COD Long Beach. My eye for the eye collector.
    Thanks, Roly and Teazel. GW.
  29. Wow. That was fast. A new PB at 6:19. And enjoyable too with good clues. I liked the topical JABBER — I’ve done my two visits to mine — and PROBLEM PAGES. COD to GET-UP-AND-GO
  30. ….GET-UP-AND-GO hasn’t quite got up and gone. Long time since I saw SHEEPS EYES, but it was clear enough.

    FOI GET-UP-AND-GO
    LOI NITWIT
    COD RED CARD
    TIME 3:06

  31. Hi all — could someone please reply to this post! I’ve been having a lot of trouble with my email notifications. My wonderful daughter (her words) thinks she has fixed it but would like to test 😊😊
    Will post later. Many thanks
      1. Thank you so much Sloe Starter! As you can see, my WD’s fix has worked 😊😊

        On edit: WD28? She’s certainly at least as useful as WD40 😅

        Edited at 2021-05-20 04:35 pm (UTC)

  32. I did this much earlier today, but have only just had time to post. Following on from yesterday’s discussion, I went and found my stylus (thanks for the reminder Diana) and did this on my tablet – it was definitely quite speedy and I finished in 5:42, one of my best times ever! Perhaps I will have to continue with that format- but I do prefer pen and paper.
    I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle – lots of lovely surfaces and smiles along the way.
    FOI Noddy
    LOI Stodge
    COD Bottoms up (and I think I will go and celebratein a minute or two!)
    Cheers Teazel and good health Roly – thanks as ever 😊

    Edited at 2021-05-20 04:33 pm (UTC)

  33. Started well on this, but slowed down towards the end and finished in the SCC on 22:56. The positives in this are that, 1) It wasn’t long ago that me saying I slowed down and still finished in under 23 minutes would just never have happened, and 2) At least I finished, as the last two days I have only got round to starting the QC at nearly midnight and only managed about two clues before falling asleep. Anyway, I was mainly slowed down by the NHO GLISSANDO and the only vaguely heard of LONG BEACH. Never parsed GET UP AND GO so I agree with Merlin, an excellent anagram. Also liked RED CARD. Thanks Teazel and Roly.
  34. … but still in SCC territory. Along with Orpheus, Teazel is my most challenging setter and I still have only a 40% record against him.

    A slightly weird start with FOI being RED CARD down in the SW corner, but it all then seemed to flow. I worked through the whole of the lower half of the grid, then 1a and 1d came before finishing in the NE corner. My LOI was GLISSANDO, which I had NHO, and for which I needed all of the checkers. In fact, I incorrectly thought that ‘slide’ was the anagrind and ‘Needing to play’ was the definition. Shows what I know!

    I also misinterpreted 12a (I thought it was a hidden solution inside ‘eighteen’) and had not previously heard of the expression SHEEPS EYES. So, all in all, I think I was a tad fortunate today.

    Mrs Random would have recorded an almost identical time, had she not suffered the curse of the LOI with PROBLEM PAGES. However, she did get it in the end and she enjoyed the rest of the crossword, so all is well here.

    Many thanks to rolytoly (I needed some of the explanations today) and to Teazel.

    1. For the record, my time was 23 minutes, and Mrs R took 30 minutes.
  35. Very fast today at about hal a course
    Some great clues..did like jabber after all the covid stuff
  36. After a v enjoyable lunch with my daughter; two glasses of wine followed by a desultory shovelling of papers from one side of the desk to the other to persuade myself it was just a long lunch and not a half day’s leave, I intended to start today’s main fare and was pleasantly surprised to find how accessible it was.

    Half way through I noticed that the grid seemed a little smaller than usual

    Started with the accessible 3-letter words and worked round from there for a par-ish time

    Thanks Teazel for the enjoyable puzzle and rolytoly

  37. Streaked through this in barely five minutes, which I’m astonished about. Loved 4down NITWIT, my FOI, LOI 21ac SLING.

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