Times Quick Cryptic No 1888 by Joker

Author   rolytolyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I think around 7 minutes to get to the ‘Unlucky!’ sign, and then another perplexed minute or so staring at 9ac and 6d before clicking on the answer: at the time of solving the answers to these clues have been swapped round in the grid. So a technical F (as opposed to a DNF). It took me about the same time as yesterday’s done a bit beforehand, but this definitely felt gentler. My favourite was 8d: I’ll happily take a couple of random notes when it yields a surface as smooth as that. Many thanks to Joker!

Across
1 University can back assembly (4)
UNIT – U(niversity) TIN (can) back/reversed.
7 Showing a certain incorruptibility unusual for Proust (9)
RUSTPROOF – anagram (unusual) of FOR PROUST
9 Heavy burden very well carried by you once (4)
YOKE – OK (very well) carried by YE (you, once)
10 Poisonous bacteria girl found on fish (10)
SALMONELLA – ELLA (girl) found on SALMN (fish).
11 Tend to look back (4)
KEEP – PEEK (look) backwards
12 Manage commercial unit in church (10)
ADMINISTER – AD (commercial) I (unit) in MINSTER (church). Unit as in: the size increases by a one / a unit each time.
16 A person who adores quarrel over sender of items abroad (10)
WORSHIPPER – ROW (quarrel) over/reversed, SHIPPER (sender of items abroad)
19 One singing in reverential tones (4)
ALTO – “in” reverentiAL TOnes
21 One constituent is in bar supporting both parties (10)
BIPARTISAN – I (one) PART (constituent) IS in BAN (bar)
23 Target girl carrying nothing (4)
GOAL – GAL (girl) carrying 0 (nothing)
24 Argued violently about foolish person’s appreciation of kindness (9)
GRATITUDE – anagram (violently) of ARGUED about TIT (foolish person). The ” ‘s ” is possessive in the surface reading and a contraction of “is” in the cryptic reading (as in “is equal to”).
25 Call round (4)
RING – neat double definition

Down
2 Rope going up without delay on execution’s beginning? (5)
NOOSE – SOON (without delay) going up on E (Execution’s “beginning“)
3 A stress developed about parking invasion (8)
TRESPASS – anagram (developed) of A STRESS about P(arking)
4 Place of safety unknown in a squalid urban area (6)
ASYLUM – Y (unknown, as in x and y) in A SLUM (a squalid urban area)
5 Primarily urban precinct, territory of wealthy natives? (6)
UPTOWN – &lit, where the whole clue is both a literal definition and a cryptic element, here “primarily” means take the first letters of the remaining six words of the clue.
6 Model of Greek sea god only half complete (4)
POSE – POSEidon (Greek sea god) only half complete
8 Wallet for holding pound notes (6)
FOLDER – FOR holds L (pound) and D and E ([musical] notes).
13 I am papa’s naughty child (3)
IMP – I’M (I am) P (papa in phonetic alphabet)
14 Throttling killer disposing of line is not so normal (8)
STRANGER – STRANGLER (throttling killer) disposing of L(ine)
15 Boasting when leading Conservative is ousted and getting into an argument (6)
ROWING – cROWING (boasting) when C (“leading” Conservative) is ousted.
17 Know instinctively dweller in the far north retains temperature (6)
INTUIT – INUIT (dweller in the far north) retains T(emperature)
18 Marsupial so quiet climbing on the whole? (6)
POSSUM – SO, P (quiet) climbing/reversing on the SUM (whole)
20 Retinue try very hard without leader (5)
TRAIN – sTRAIN (try very hard) without leader
22 A container is slightly open (4)
AJAR – A, JAR (container)

58 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1888 by Joker”

  1. A similar experience getting several pink squares when I submitted. On checking the clues, there was no way there was any other interpretation. I assume they will get fixed when the sun comes up inb London.
  2. FOR ALL THE MONEY I PAY I CANT BELIEVE THIS WHAT A DISGRACE IM THREW WITH THESE PUZZLES PHOOEY GOOD RIDDENS CANT THEY HIRE A PROGRAMMER GREAT GIBBONS

    Time: 5:08

    Edited at 2021-06-03 02:27 am (UTC)

  3. What does the editor do for a living? It’s still too early to expect any corrective action, but one can hope. (David Parfitt has been, or was at least, ready to respond to any inquiry on the Club forum.) 4:27.
    1. I don’t look at the Forum every day but I’ve not noticed anything from either editor for weeks. I tried for at least a fortnight to get a response re the Saturday clue that foxed us all.
    2. The error has been corrected now and RR has apologised in the Forum but there’s no word about score adjustment as yet.

      I’ve taken the opportunity to reply asking him about STOCKBROKER BELT and will advise if there’s any news about it.

      1. The scores have been adjusted; I don’t see any response to my query from David Parfitt. And the editor’s response strikes me as rather offhand.
  4. 8 minutes. Since I always solve on paper I was not aware of the problems experienced by others re clues or answers being swapped. I wonder if we shall hear from one of the editors later, here or in the club forum. I can’t recall the last time either of them engaged directly with solvers. Queries about errors which seem to have become more frequent go unanswered these days. Are they still around, I wonder?

    Back to the crossword, at 2dn SOON does not mean ‘without delay’ as by its very nature a delay, however short, is involved. I found one justification for it way way down the entry in Collins but it’s marked as obsolete.

    Edited at 2021-06-03 04:21 am (UTC)

    1. I suppose it depends on what one means by ‘delay’. If I phone and order a pizza, I don’t expect it to arrive when I hang up; but if it arrives after an interval (not delay) of 30 minutes, it’s arrived soon after I ordered it.
  5. Let’s look on the bright side, with a score of 552 I am tied for the silver medal in the Crossword Club. That’ll not happen again, since the great verlaine routinely posts incredibly times (2:12 today)

    I spent a lot of time on LOI FOLDER, since many words fitted, and plenty of scope for misdirection: pound=LB, notes=LA,TE etc, wallet=FILE. Did not consider ABC etc, which gave another 49 pairs to check.

    7 a was a really tough anagram, even with 4 checkers.

    I didn’t see any chestnuts, apart from AJAR, which formed the basis of the first joke I learnt, “when is a door not a door?” I didn’t know what “ajar” meant until many years later. A word I never use, finding that “open” works just as well, as it does for hatch, window etc.

    COD INTUIT which I was please to see early.

    1. And the correction has downgraded me into my usual position, “79 of 100”.

    2. I find it incredible that it’s physically possible to read the clues and enter the answers in 2:12. I would like to see that actually happen. Maybe one of these speed solvers (say anyone less than 5 minutes) can video themselves doing it?

  6. I found this really tough going so was surprised to see that the average time would indicate that it was not overly difficult. Clearly the brain cell was on strike this morning.
    On my first run through the across clues I only got ALTO and the downs weren’t much better. It turned into a real slog so was relieved when I eventually finished, only to be presented with 4 pink squares – yikes.
    It eventually took me 17.57 with LOI BIPARTISAN.
    Thanks to Roly

  7. FOI: 1a. UNIT
    LOI: 21a. BIPARTISAN

    Time to Complete: DNF

    Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 13

    Clues Answered with Aids (3 lives): 16a.

    Clues Unanswered: Many

    Wrong Answers: Nil

    Total Correctly Answered (incl. aids): 14/25

    Aids Used: Chambers

    I struggled today. Some of the clues seemed really obscured to me.

    17a. INTUIT – I am a little annoyed here as I had INTUIT pencilled in, but it did not seem like a real word. I even looked it up in my CED and the word was not there, and so I deleted it.

    16a. WORSHIPPER – I used a life on this one and kicked myself when I saw the answer.

    This was one of those puzzles that when I got to a certain point, I knew I would not finish it. So, I threw the towel in. I wonder how I will fare with the 15×15 today.

    I attempted this online, so I think I came to it after the alteration.

  8. Pink squares at 8am…not yet fixed. Glad I’m not going bananas

  9. Completed this very quickly- loved 8d- in between feeding cats and making the tea. Then sat staring at 15d for quite a long time before penny dropped. Four in a row all correct!
  10. … as at first I could not get started, then a lot of answers came in a rush, then I really struggled to finish with my LOI 9A Yoke taking ages. Finishing line finally crossed in 13 minutes, and since I solve on paper, gremlins all avoided.

    NW corner really had me thinking — like Jack I thought cluing Soon as “without delay” a bit loose, and I also struggled to see Unit as a synonym for assembly. One can have an “assembly unit” I suppose, but the two words are far from the same or interchangeable. And then my LOI, and a brain-fade trying to find a word to fit -O-E. Found it eventually, and then out of interest checked on my computer — there are, it tells me, well over 130 words that fit that combination!

    But an enjoyable puzzle on the whole with several candidates for COD. For once I shall nominate a very short clue — 13D Imp — because it made me laugh and the surface is so smooth.

    Many thanks to Roly for the blog
    Cedric

  11. Answers still not fixed at 08:15. Thank goodness for this forum or I would still be scratching my head!

    Top to bottom solve, with few hold ups. Unusual for a Joker.

    FOI UNIT, LOI ROWING, COD INTUIT, time about 1.75K for a Very Good Day.

    Many thanks Joker and roly.

    Templar

  12. Lots of references today to ‘club’ and ‘forum’. I’m a newbie: how do I join them? Thanks for your help.
        1. It wouldn’t let me in. I think you have to pay to subscribe or something nasty like that.
  13. This was somewhat vanilla – with chestnut and salmonella sprinkles!

    FOI 1ac UNIT

    LOI 21ac BI-PARTISAN – near Belgrade!?

    COD 7ac RUSTPROOF – good use of/for Proust.

    WOD 4dn ASYLUM – reminiscent of Sarpy & Co’s address in Peckham.

    Roll on Friday!

    Edited at 2021-06-03 07:57 am (UTC)

  14. … pink squares at 9.15, so I’ve no idea of my timing which is annoying as I did rather better than usual today.

    But I find words shortened to one letter which so often seem illogical nearly impossible to decipher. i.e. w for wealthy

    COD WORSHIPPER.

    This is such an enjoyable site for comments, I know it encourages me to continue even if I find some puzzles are impossible. So it seems illogical that “them upstairs” are apparently not interested in us — why bother to produce the puzzles if they’re not going to follow up constructive comments?

    Thank you, Joker and Roly.

    Diana

  15. A similar story to plett11; I found this very tough going and was well off Joker’s wavelength today. After 19:14 I returned to LOI 11a to try to find something better than PEEP. In the end I was too worn out to do a proper alphabet trawl so I just bunged in PEEP and got the deserved Unlucky response.
    So one wrong today.
    Lots of good clues. My favourite was RUSTPROOF.
    David
  16. I haven’t read all the posts above but, having come to the QC late, I am not alone in being told that POSE and YOKE were wrong on completion. Clearly a slip-up but not yet corrected in the Times online edition and it is 10.10am. Thankfully, a rare occurrence but a pity because I was going well and would have liked to know my time. Good puzzle, though. Thanks both. John M.

    Edited at 2021-06-03 09:26 am (UTC)

  17. No idea of time because the ‘errors’ prevented my app telling me, but it felt quickish. After getting four pinks, I looked again at the two offending clues, and it was apparent that there could be no possible error in my parsing or answers, so i came straight here. It is very disappointing that these glitches slip through, and that no one will confirm that the problem lies with the app / programming / editing staff. It takes some of our solvers a matter of a couple of minutes to completely solve the puzzle, which implies that a simple Quality Control check of the published puzzle could be completed inside a minute or two of somebody’s time — why not do it?
    1. “a simple Quality Control check of the published puzzle could be completed inside a minute or two of somebody’s time — why not do it?”

      Probably because an online puzzle doesn’t exist in its published form until it appears.
      And even checking is not perfect. As long as you have human beings in charge there will always be errors

  18. Note. I just downloaded this issue using the latest Times app and filled it in (now I know how Verlaine feels!) and it is OK. However the ‘Classic’ version of The Times online is still showing the errors. [Still not corrected at 11am]. Perhaps we stick-in-the-muds who don’t warm to the new online format are being pressed into using it anyway.

    Does anyone else dislike the new Times app? Every page seems to be filled with links designed to jog you into reading ‘related’ articles that someone has decided you should be pushed to read. It is even worse than the T-graph online.

    I prefer the ’Classic’ Times online format since I am still blessed with a mind of my own. No doubt it will soon be de-activated. I think it is called progress. John M.

    Edited at 2021-06-03 10:02 am (UTC)

    1. I find the worst aspect of the new format is that if you try to read “yesterday’s” paper, it keeps updating. As my husband reads the paper version, it’s difficult to discuss articles, as I can’t always find it online. We don’t get the current day’s paper until midmorning.
    2. Not a fan of the new iPad app. Vertical scrolling feels just like everything else I read on my iPad: LinkedIn & Twitter. The Classic App, with its proper newspaper columns, static advertisements, and sideways scrolling feels like a real paper.
      1. I agree. I think the new app appeals to butterfly readers who want to flick through the page and get an impression of what is in the paper rather than reading individual articles properly. I’m trying to fight that tendency myself — there is so much to read these days. I’m thinking of cutting my newspaper and magazine subscriptions (apart from The Times and Private Eye, of course).
        P.s. Merlin, your eyebrows, hair and beard have grown alarmingly during Covid. 😉

        Edited at 2021-06-03 02:32 pm (UTC)

  19. No issues with the puzzle but agree it’s not great

    Lots of straightforward ones but I managed to slightly dither over the rest even having to write out the anagrist for RUSTPROOF

    Thanks all

  20. Finished but looked up YOKE and FOLDER (a bit dim there) which finally gave me RUSTPROOF.
    Another late one in was BIPARTISAN.
    Struggled to get going at first with only the inevitable IMP appearing, along with AJAR, then INUIT and POSSUM.
    Thanks vm, Roly.
  21. A good start in the NW corner, but I really struggled with the rest of the longer across answers. Salmonella only came once I remembered Jackkt’s A on B = B + A, and Gratitude was a biff then parse solution. Administer and Worshipper had to be teased out, but at 30mins I ran out of steam and gave up on loi Bipartisan. CoD would have been 16ac, Worshipper, but having read the blog, 8d Folder now gets my vote. Invariant
  22. 20 mins for what felt like quite a wordy puzzle. Some took much longer than they should have however, such as 10ac “Salmonella”, 12ac “Administer” and 16ac “Worshipper”.

    Needed quite a few checkers before the “Rustproof” anagram sorted itself out and never did properly parse 21ac “Bipartisan”.

    Sorry to hear about the issues for those solving online.

    FOI — 1ac “Unit”
    LOI — 8dn “Folder”
    COD — 3dn “Trespass” — enjoyed the surface of this.

    Thanks as usual!

  23. 6:51. I found this tougher today, getting the wrong end of the stick on several occasions – which I often find with Joker’s clever surfaces.
    2 d and 14 d provided a slightly ghoulish element which mercifully did not develop into a Nina as far as I can tell.
    COD 7 ac “Rustproof” which delayed me a little because I was focusing on moral rather than physical purity even though I was aware of the letters of the anagram.
    Thanks to Roly and Joker
  24. No problems for me as I was a late solver and all was well with the puzzle in the Crossword Club. UNIT was FOI and GRATITUDE LOI. RUSPROOF appeared in my mind’s eye like magic after a couple of checkers were in. 6:35. Thanks Joker and Roly.
  25. Glad I missed all the fuss on the club website. I was under target but not as quick as our first responders! FOI UNIT biffed WORSHIPPER and BIPARTISAN and was delayed at the end by RUSTPROOF and FOLDER (COD). 8:34 Thanks all.
  26. Completed this very quickly- loved 8d- in between feeding cats and making the tea. Then sat staring at 15d for quite a long time before penny dropped. Four in a row all correct!

  28. Very enjoyable puzzle today. COD to UPTOWN for a lovely &lit. Perhaps mistakes by the editors could be forgiven, there are much worse problems in the world

  29. Tricky one, though more because I’m a bit fuzzy today than any significantly difficult puzzling. Took about 35 mins before I gave up with 9, 10, & 21 across incomplete. Ho hum.
  30. This week so far has gone well for me with the QC’s — either I am getting better at them or they have been less challenging (and more in the spirit of ‘quick’)

    Very much enjoyed this puzzle, with 21A my favourite clue.

    Thanks to Joker and rolytoly

  31. I don’t really know how long it took as I came across ‘that’ problem — glad I’m not going crackers as those two clues had seemed very straightforward.
    It would have been an under 10 minute solve I think. Shame. But a minor issue in the overall scheme of things.
  32. I found this tough – I’m not sure why. It must be that wavelength thing again. Several went in unparsed or partly parsed and I really struggled with the anagram at 7ac. I also delayed entering 1ac because I can’t really equate unit with assembly. A long 27 mins for me today.

    FOI – 19ac ALTO
    LOI – 7ac RUSTPROOF
    COD – 10ac SALMONELLA

    Thanks to Joker and Rolytoly

  33. It’s too late to title this blog “Yoke? Oh… oh no!” Thankfully.
    –

    Nila Palin

  34. ….since I wasn’t anywhere near my usual level of sharpness, didn’t parse BIPARTISAN until after completion, and had to alpha-trawl my LOI.

    FOI UNIT
    LOI FOLDER
    COD KEEP
    TIME 4:26

  35. I was beaten by ROWING. I do not think there should be an “and” in the clue. i.e. Boasting, when leading Conservative is ousted, getting into an argument. (I have inserted commas to help with my understanding of the clue).
  37. The first half lasted 27 minutes, during which time I solved all but two of the clues. In spite of only getting three on my first pass, I managed to build on them and the four long solutions across the middle (SALMONELLA, ADMINISTER, WORSHIPPER and BIPARTISAN) all came in relatively quick succession after 15-20 minutes or so.

    Unfortunately, the second half lasted longer (30 minutes) than the first, even though I had only two clues to solve – POSE and KEEP. Both came to me right at the very end of that interminable half-hour. I just could not bring POSEidon to mind until after I had finished, and I could only think of ‘peep’ and ‘peer’ for a synonym of ‘look’ starting with a P.

    I think my head must be filled with excessive amounts of dark matter, much of which blocks the recall pathways for standard words and general knowledge. It’s all there … just inaccessible at times. Total time = 57 minutes.

    Many thanks to rolytoly and Joker.

  38. I put in tome as an answer as they are heavy and has me in
    Can’t blog under my user names as the system seems to have lost me
    Mark Davis
  39. Completed this morning but no time to post. 23:15. I taught a girl called Ella Salmon once and on the register the surname was written first. What were her parents thinking of? It made that clue a write-in though. Thanks Joker and Roly.
  40. Came to this after total defeat in the 15×15 27994 so poor old brain was pretty shredded. But, hurrah, made it to the finish line in about 29 mins. A struggle but even so… FOI 23ac GOAL which I took as a positive omen. LOI 15d ROWING. Phew. As usual I’m amazed and amused by those who describe this one as easy….
  41. Just completed a day late and my iPad version hasn’t yet corrected the errors — thought I was going mad till I looked at the comments! RUSTPROOF took me quite some time, but was my COD. Spent way too long on WORSHIPPER as I was trying to biff a person who adores quarrels! Did I use ‘biff’ correctly there?!
  42. We did this one this morning — I cut out and keep the crosswords from the newspaper for later delectation- we managed it once on Joker’s wavelength. Some even made me laugh. I thought the wallet one was folder because £ notes used to be called folding money and didn’t get the bit about the musical notes! 😂

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