Introduction
12:16 and I felt glad to finish! Tough Quickies are, to my taste, much more frustrating than tough 15x15s, as there are fewer ways to work your way into the grid.
Solutions
A brief summary of cryptic crosswords —feel free to skip— :
- Each clue has at least one “definition”: an unbroken string of words which more-or-less straightforwardly indicates the answer. A definition can be as simple as a one-word synonym; but it can also be a descriptive phrase like ‘I’m used to wind’ for REEL or SPOOL. A definition by example must be indicated by a phrase like ‘for example’, or, more commonly, a question mark (?). Thus ‘color’ is a definition of RED, while ‘red, for example’ or ‘red?’ are definitions of COLOR. Punctuation is otherwise irrelevant. Proper nouns will appear capitalized, but otherwise capitalization is irrelevant as well.
- Each clue may also have an unbroken string of words which indicates the answer through wordplay, such as: using abbreviations; reversing the order of letters; indicating particular letters (first, last, outer, middle, every other, etc); placing words inside other words; rearranging letters (anagrams); replacing words by words that sound alike (homophones); and combinations of the above. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but the general theme is to reinterpret ordinary words as referring to letters, so that for example ‘lion’s head’ indicates the first letter of LION: namely, L.
- Definitions and wordplay cannot overlap. The only other words allowed in clues are linking words or phrases that combine these. Thus we may see, for example: “(definition) gives (wordplay)” or “(definition) and (definition)” or “(wordplay) is (definition)”.
- The most common clues have either two definitions, or one definition plus wordplay, in either order. But a single, very misleading definition is not uncommon, and very occasionally a definition can also be interpreted as wordplay leading to the same answer. Triple definitions (and more) are also possible.
My conventions in the solutions below are to underline definitions (including a defining phrase); put linking words in [brackets]; and put all wordplay indicators in boldface. I also use a solidus (/) to help break up the clue where necessary, especially for double definitions without linking words.
After the solutions, I list all the wordplay indicators and abbreviations in a Glossary.
Across
1 Wasted energy involves everyone as a rule (9)
GENERALLY = anagram of ENERGY around ALL
6 Something valuable quietly presented to lord (5)
PEARL = P + EARL
8 Mechanic [showing] skill if joined by decorator (9)
ARTIFICER = ART + IF + ICER
9 Couple / who wrote American novels? (5)
TWAIN = double definition
This took me much longer than it should have.
10 Shortens / more than one agreement (9)
CONTRACTS = double definition
I could only think of ABRIDGES!
12 Numbers including crazy folk who can’t settle? (6)
NOMADS = NO.S around MAD
13 State [of] old character residing in British India (6)
BRUNEI = RUNE in B + I
16 Joining a couple of hundred, accompanied by / rebellious noises (9)
ACCESSION = A + CC + anagram of NOISES
18 The best / ointment? (5)
CREAM = double definition
19 Cleaner to fix / plant outside / entrance to bathroom (9)
NAILBRUSH = NAIL + RUSH around first letter of BATHROOM
21 Taken in [and] punished — not the first (5)
EATEN = BEATEN without the first letter
22 Boy, / turning ten, / always poetic [as] writer of verse (9)
SONNETEER = SON + TEN reversed + E’ER
Down
1 Looked [to have] organ around church (7)
GLANCED = GLAND around C.E.
2 Marking zero — that’s heartless! (6)
NOTING = NOTHING without the middle letter
Tricky, excellent, and my last in.
3 Apply to go up and down (5)
REFER = palindrome
I believe the sense here is, “What does that word apply/refer to?”.
4 Resin [supplied by] servant releasing key (3)
LAC = LACKEY without KEY
‘A dark red transparent resin’, according to Chambers.
5 North-country folk irksome Henry upset (12)
YORKSHIREMEN = IRKSOME HENRY anagrammed
6 Holy figureheads transformed into Spartans (6,6)
PATRON SAINTS = anagram of INTO SPARTANS
7 A / bad person / in charge holds me up at university? (8)
ACADEMIC = A + CAD + I.C. around ME reversed
11 Conservative on mission [for] mastery (8)
CONQUEST = CON + QUEST
14 Farmer, an / Argentinian who fought between rivers (7)
RANCHER = AN + CHE between R and R
15 Very small / interval — much less than an hour (6)
MINUTE = double definition
17 Sword penetrates a breast — just part of it (5)
SABRE = hidden in PENETRATES A BREAST
20 Where to drink during November (3)
INN = IN + N
Edited at 2021-05-26 06:24 am (UTC)
I hope everyone finds this one a little easier, it doesn’t seem that bad.
Edited at 2021-05-26 01:49 am (UTC)
Edited at 2021-05-26 05:24 am (UTC)
5dn T’anagram of t’day!
FOI 1ac GENERALLY
LOI 11dn CONQUEST
COD 4dn LAC
WOD 8ac ARTIFICER
Time 9 minutes
(PS for the benefit of any actual Yorkshiremen reading this, it’s a joke, we love you really xx)
Yes I was trying to think how ‘une’ could be an old anything in BR…I and had a Doh moment on reading Jeremy’s blog. Always find Izetti tricksy. 28min and resorted to anagram aid for our Northern compatriots.
BTW I use Crossword Solver King App on android as I do the crossword on my phone
A long list if NHOs. ARTIFICER, SONNETEER, LAC, icer=decorator ( maybe in making an Ice Castle?). I also refused to put in REFER=apply, since I don’t see them as synonyms. NOTHING also late in, good clue, and I was slow to see that 1a was an anagram, “wasted” doesn’t leap out as an anagrand, and “energy” often =E, so I had not understood the clue. Final misdirection in this corner was “key” which often means a letter A-G, although Germans might allow H.
Oh, and it’s an ugly grid, starting with a “battleship” where 1 across should be!
COD BRUNEI
There really are hundreds of synonyms for “having had too much to drink”. Funnily enough there don’t appear to be anything like as many for its opposite, ie sober.
Cedric
CONQUEST was also tricky but in truth the whole grid was a bit of a slog as I was miles off the elusive wavelength.
I think I’ll review it again later when my frustration has worn off a bit so that I can appreciate the puzzle better. Finished in 17.33
Thanks to Jeremy
Still, I have now learnt that Lac is a type of resin (it is apparently secreted by insects called Laccifer Lacca, who live on lac-host trees), so a New Fact Learnt, which makes it a Useful Day.
Many thanks to Jeremy for the blog
Cedric
I decided to do the long outside clues first and they all fell very quickly, except for PATRON which I just couldn’t see until it was P-T–N! So I thought it would be fast from there with so many useful checkers, but alas for long minutes my grid remained like early maps of Australia, with lots round the edge and nothing in the middle. Needed all the checkers for both of NAILBRUSH and RANCHER (“Che” not clued as revolutionary? Shocking!), and CONQUEST took some winkling out too.
Hey ho, it may have been slow but it was fun!
FOI GENERALLY, LOI BRUNEI (I thought “British” would = “BR” not just B), COD SONNETEER, time 15:08 for 2K and a Not Great Day.
Many thanks Izetti and Jeremy.
Templar
Edited at 2021-05-26 08:39 am (UTC)
Get ready for a stream of complaints today from less experienced solvers — perhaps we’ll exceed the number of postings we saw yesterday (was that a record?).
Very clever but not really a QC IMO. This week’s offerings are becoming more and more testing. I wonder what Thursday will bring. I’m thinking of trying the 15sq first tomorrow! John M.
Note. Like others, I have found the T-Graph Cryptic hardly harder that the Times QCs this week.
Edited at 2021-05-26 10:18 am (UTC)
Liked LAC, SONNETEER. Lots of wild guesses otherwise, mainly right fortunately, or used CCD for e.g. ARTIFICER (??). Must also remember the new-to-me use of Argentinian = che. (normally it’s Red or rebel)
LOsI. BRUNEI, NAILBRUSH
Thanks for much needed blog, Jeremy.
Edited at 2021-05-26 12:23 pm (UTC)
NHO ARTIFICER, but constructed, didn’t see the anagram in ACCESSION for too long, contsructed SONNETEER.
Good stuff from Izetti.
10:05
This week sure has been tough on the QC front. What surprises me is that so far this week I have fared better with the Daily Telegraph cryptic crossword than I have here at the QC.
I have a Marathon Duo waiting for me in the refrigerator. Oh well, perhaps tomorrow.
Edited at 2021-05-26 04:44 pm (UTC)
Sadly I am on a total chocolate exclusion diet at the moment and accordingly, can look on only with envy.
Richard
Unfortunately it still says Snickers on the packet. I am just being stubborn. I still call Starbursts, Opal Fruits.
That is interesting to hear the possibility of Marathon coming back, perhaps seeing as we are now out of the EU. If that is correct then bring back Opal Fruits. While they are at it perhaps they could bring back Pacers, Fry’s Five Centres and Texan Bars.
PS> I ate the Marathon Duo yesterday. It was just too tempting.
Struggled to start, struggled to finish. Was it the grid or just too cryptic, I am not sure. Either way my head was just not in tune with Izetti and a DNF.
Well done everyone. Thanks Jeremy.
Edited at 2021-05-26 09:07 am (UTC)
FOI – 6ac PEARL
LOI – 11dn CONQUEST
COD – 2dn NOTING
Thanks to Izetti and Jeremy
Am not competing, so not cheating anyone.🙂
Diana
For 13ac, spent an age trying to work out whether it was the obscure state of “Itishi” or “Shindi” — until I finally realised it was neither. Perhaps if I’d got the two long anagrams earlier I would have been a lot quicker.
FOI — 6ac “Pearl”
LOI — 8ac “Artificer”
COD — 13ac “Brunei” — deceptive!
Thanks as usual.
Similar story to others here – many NHOs, lots of tricky wordplay and unfamiliar usages that completely passed me by, cunning surfaces that misdirected me skilfully.
Gratified that it’s not just me having trouble this week, but happily admit to being completely outwitted so far.
FOI 5d “Yorkshiremen” and then a steady solve with a slight delay over the anagram for 6d “Patron Saints” where “figureheads” in the definition had me visualising statues for a while, which wasn’t helpful.
I thought each clue was neatly and cleverly structured, COD was 2d “Noting”.
Thanks to Jeremy for the blog and to The Don.
Is there any way I can block a certain person here from seeing and replying to my posts?
Unfortunately there is a moronic person here on TftT that I would rather not have to deal with.
Thanks.
I would really like the puzzles editor and setters to recalibrate their difficulty checker.
Just to reiterate something I’ve heard the editor say on numerous occasions: the Quick cryptic is supposed to be faster than the 15×15 — not necessarily easier, although of course it will have to be easier in ways so that it can be solved faster. Some of those ways include: more obvious wordplay than the main, more standard vocabulary, more hidden words and anagrams, etc.
Just as with the main puzzle, some Quickies are easier, some or more difficult. Many main puzzles I can solve in 10-15 minutes, some take closer to 30, and some very difficult ones take me an hour or more (or I can’t solve them at all). Similarly, many Quickies I can solve in 5-8 minutes, some take more like 12, and some very difficult ones have taken me 20 or more (or I can’t solve them at all).
If you are truly looking for a beginner’s-only experience, the Times Quick Cryptic will have much to offer you, but the editor’s aims do not fully align with your needs. Keeping that in mind will hopefully make you less frustrated. I might suggest you set a time limit for yourself, and feel comfortable about putting the puzzle down after your time is up. After all, there’s always another puzzle tomorrow!!
All the same, the storytelling was — as usual — top notch today. The Don can really make you wonder what might happen next!
FOI Generally (so I thought I was off to a good start, but slowed down right away)
COD Yorkshiremen (quite a few friends and family from God’s Own County)
DNF after 16 minutes because of that pesky mission
Many thanks Izetti and Jeremy
ps I use The Crossword Solver when stuck — I find it easy to use and pretty reliable
Edited at 2021-05-26 05:53 pm (UTC)
David
Never heard of sonneteer before but able to work it out
Failed miserably yesterday so happier this evening
Apart from my FOI (GENERALLY) just about every clue felt like I was having my teeth pulled out – and this coming on the back of Orpheus’ horror show of yesterday and an hour-long solve on Monday. ‘Quick Cryptic’ is most definitely a misnomer in my opinion, and I just feel too brain dead now to discuss (or even think about) any of the clues.
Mrs Random finished successfully in 44 minutes today, but even she said it was very tricky.
What is going on at the moment? Is it a conspiracy?
Many thanks to plusjeremy and (I suppose) to Izetti. Roll on tomorrow.
FOI ARTIFICER
LOI CONQUEST
COD YORKSHIREMEN (you can tell me owt, but happen I’ll not believe thee !)
TIME 8:13
Some of the clues needed a 15×15 mindset but minimal anagrams and double defs meant it was more up my street
The long ones were all accessible and they gave me enough checkers to tease out the rest
For what it’s worth, I have absolutely no hesitation using aids once I’ve spent say 15 minutes on the QC or say 45 minutes on the main fare. I chalk it down as (a) a win for the setter and (b) learning experience
Thanks all