Times Quick Cryptic No 1902 by Trelawney

Author   plusjeremyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Introduction

4:16. Was really hoping for my second sub 4 minute time, but I just couldn’t crack 14 Down in time.

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   Look! Game includes new monster’s lair (4,4)
LOCH NESS = LO + CHESS around N

5   Hairstyle for every / mother‘s head (4)
PERM = PER + first letter of MOTHER

8   Thomas, we messed up a bit (8)
SOMEWHAT = THOMAS WE anagram

9   Excited in the past by golf (4)
AGOG = AGO + G

11   Leader of Samurai in tree by a Japanese city (5)
OSAKA = first letter of SAMURAI in OAK + A

12   Smoker’s accessory lost around hotel (7)
ASHTRAY = ASTRAY around H

13   Also carrying suitcase [for] island (6)
TOBAGO = TOO around BAG

15   River travellers not starting dessert (6)
AFTERS = RAFTERS without first letter

18   Idiotic lists we developed (7)
WITLESS = LISTS WE anagrammed

19   Procure license to conceal artifact (5)
RELIC = hidden in PROCURE LICENSE

21   Spoils instrument in retrospect (4)
LOOT = TOOL reversed

22   By oneself, holding hat [for] gangster (2,6)
AL CAPONE = ALONE around CAP

23   Metal unknown / in / Canada, at first (4)
ZINC = Z + IN + first letter of CANADA

24   Sweatier when swimming, so to speak (2,2,4)
AS IT WERE = SWEATIER anagrammed

Down

1   Suddenly attack ruffian hugging tree (4,3)
LASH OUT = LOUT around ASH

2   Mark to pause, initially carrying / bullets northwards (5)
COMMA = first letter of CARRYING + AMMO reversed

3   Modern England, few changes (10)
NEWFANGLED = ENGLAND FEW anagrammed

4   Spiritual healer[‘s] bogus article (6)
SHAMAN = SHAM + AN

6   Grenade is being tossed — get ready! (2,5)
EN GARDE = GRENADE anagrammed

7   Face / extremely greasy — [it’s] humid (5)
MUGGY = MUG + first and last letters of GREASY

10   Neighbourhoods beset by crime [in] global region (3,3,4)
THE FAR EAST = AREAS in THEFT

14   Tested for counterfeit currency? Not this one! (7)
BITCOIN = BIT COIN
Not exactly sure what’s going on here. I think the implication may be that you cannot bite Bitcoin to check if it is authentic. Not the finest execution perhaps of what is nevertheless a nice wordplay idea!

16   Hide Theseus and Ariadne, ultimately, / above minotaur’s home (7)
SECRETE = last letters of THESEUS and ARIADNE + CRETE

17   In addition, / charity [produces] sacred songs (6)
PSALMS = P.S. + ALMS

18   Liszt lawsuit holds back piece of music (5)
WALTZ = hidden reversed in LISZT LAWSUIT

20   Ladies and gents / beginning to exercise [for] free (5)
LOOSE = LOOS + first letter of EXERCISE

Glossary

Wordplay indicators

‘s = linking word
above = next to in down clue
around = containment
at first = first letter
back = reversal
beginning = first letter
beset = containment
by = next to
carrying = containment
changes = anagram
conceal = hidden word
developed = anagram
extremely = first and last letters
for = linking word
for = linking word
head = first letter
holding = containment
holds = hidden word
hugging = containment
in = containment
in = linking word
includes = containment
initially = first letter
it’s = linking word
leader = first letter
messed up = anagram
northwards = reversal in down clue
not starting = remove first letter
produces = linking word
retrospect = reversal
swimming = anagram
tossed = anagram
ultimately = last letter

Abbreviations and little bits

also = TOO
article = AN
face = MUG
for every = PER
golf = G
hotel = H
in addition = PS
ladies and gents = LOOS
look = LO
new = N
unknown = Z

46 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1902 by Trelawney”

  1. I assumed that as usual ‘gangster’=AL, and wasted some time before seeing that it was the definition. Biffed THE FAR EAST. 4:53.
  2. 10 minutes, with 14dn so very nearly responsible for me missing my target. The lack of a question mark at the end of 1ac suggests that the setter may have a financial interest in the Scottish tourist industry! Once again we have the coincidence of a word I haven’t thought of for years, albeit a commonplace one, appearing in both puzzles.
  3. No pink squares for the first time this week, all green in 12. My only really big hold ups were staring at the gap that became SHAMAN at the very end and seeing how THE FAR EAST worked. Like others I enjoyed BITCOIN and to my credit I couldn’t think of any smokers’ accessories for a while. I’d tried to force ‘ash’ into what became OSAKA so that made LASH OUT easier than in might have been. Good one!
  4. Very enjoyable, particularly the excellent BITCOIN. I spent a bit of time wondering whether OATERS was some type of porridge based desert even thought it didn’t sound likely or a particularly pleasant way to end a meal. Like Kevin I initially assumed gangster would be wordplay for AL and was held up at the end by focusing on musical instruments for at 21a. The parsing or THE FAR EAST also needed some thought. Finished in 9.59.
    Thanks to Jeremy
  5. Had I worked out 1 and 5A faster, I think I would have been quite quick for me as once I got going, there were few hold ups. Also wasted some time trying to get MAZE into 16D… I liked BITCOIN, PSALMS and AS IT WERE but a nice puzzle generally.
  6. 8:58 is a Personal Best, beating a 9:20 on QC 1700.

    FOI LASHOUT followed by my technique of looking for odd letters as checkers, especially at the start. This led to OSAKA, and so on until LOI AFTERS. Generally parsed most of the, although like many THE FAR EAST needed this blog (excellent, again Jeremy)

    Agree with most: BITCOIN an outstanding COD.

    2. Well done.! Always feels good to record a PB. Onwards and upwards — into the 8th century next?!
  7. But with another typo or perhaps I just forgot how to spell TOBAGO. Decent time but I had to think twice for many of the clues when they might have gone in at first glance.

    Liked BITCOIN when I understood it but biffed it in as my LOI

    Thanks Jeremy and Trelawney

  8. Good puzzle. I was totally immersed and was surprised to see that I had edged into the SCC. No matter because I enjoyed it. I think that Trelawney was possibly well on the way to a nina but gave up before completing it. I’ll now go back to Jeremy’s blog to enjoy the best of the clues (BITCOIN was my COD) and rue my slow realisation of some of them. Thanks, both. John M.

    Edited at 2021-06-23 07:35 am (UTC)

  9. Is it just me or have the QC crosswords become a tad more difficult over the past two weeks?

    This is my second solve in a row, but that follows 10 days in which I did disastrously.

    This one took me 62 minutes, with the use of aids, which is at my slower end of average solve times. Perhaps it’s just me having had a few non-completions which may have given me a negative approach in my being able to solve.

    FOI: 9a AGOG
    LOI: 21a LOOT

    3d: NEWFANGLED – I didn’t even know this was an actual word, though I have heard it being used before.

    Hopefully this is the start of a better streak for me because I have to admit that over the past two weeks I have found myself becoming more and more discouraged.

    1. It seems to go in waves for me as well. Prior to this week (3 completions in a row, so far) I suffered 8 DNFs in the previous 19 days. Let’s hope our winning streaks continue for a while longer.
    2. I would agree — my own times have been creeping up but that hasn’t affected my enjoyment — to date at any rate!
    3. I also think they’ve been harder recently. Yesterday and today were the first two in a while where I haven’t struggled. Still takes me well over half an hour, though.
  10. BITCOIN really does deserve a standing ovation. Bravo!

    FOI LASH OUT, LOI & COD BITCOIN, time 08:17 all parsed for 1.7K and a Very Good Day.

    Many thanks Jeremy and Trelawney.

    Templar

    Edited at 2021-06-23 08:13 am (UTC)

  11. Started with OSAKA and constructed the rest of the NW from there. I then proceeded clockwise and finished with BITCOIN. Nice clue! 8:47. Thanks Trelawney and Jeremy.
  12. 11:46 today after delays getting my last two -AFTERS and LOI THE FAR EAST, which I had failed to parse. Like plett11, my first thought was BOATERS for river travellers; not many choose to go by raft.
    Some nice clues. I smiled at LOOSE and AL CAPONE; and BITCOIN very good.
    David
  13. Off to a slow start. I spent too long pondering the 1s. With my FOI PERM I moved at a reasonable pace in a clockwise direction. I enjoyed the smooth surface for the hidden RELIC and I am another who biffed THE FAR EAST. My LOI and standout clue was the marvellous BITCOIN. 8:16 or 1 second less than Templar for a Very Very Good Day!
  14. All done in just over 20 minutes. Felt like it should have been quicker with the amount of anagrams and hidden words in the clues, but maybe I’m just a bit slow this morning.

    Like most, particularly liked BITCOIN which went in with a smile, after a little time to think.

    SE corner gave me the most trouble with LOOSE as LOI – not come across ladies & gents = loos before so went in with a shrug, but makes sense in retrospect. Another to add to my growing list of QC trivia.

    Thanks setter and blogger.

  15. 24 mins for me, but feel yet again I should have been quicker. An enjoyable puzzle I thought, with just the right spread of easy to more thought provoking clues. In addition, the grid filled up gradually from top to bottom in a pleasingly, aesthetic way.

    Main hold up was 10dn “The Far East” and 15ac “Afters”. The former was one of those clues where the result just plopped out after careful piece by piece construction — even then it took a few seconds for my brain to actually recognise the answer. For the latter, I initially kept wanting to put in Otters.

    FOI — 5ac “Perm”
    LOI — 15ac “Afters”
    COD — 14dn “Bitcoin” — excellent clue.

    Thanks as usual!

  16. 11:30 for a good, quick (for me) solve. FOsI PERM, SOMEWHAT, LOI LOOT, COD BITCOIN, WOD WITLESS. This was a nice puzzle from Trelawney, thanks to Jeremy.
  17. I only got 14D because it was a headline on the financial page opposite the crossword — what a coincidence!

  18. BITCOIN was excellent. Trelawney take a bow!

    I was slightly held up by biffing ORCS NEST of all things for the monster’s lair. Unfortunately it worked with all the down down clues off it except 1D, which I had to think about, before realising that I really should have taken more care with parsing 1A!!

    THE FAR EAST was biffed, but it’s really a very good clue too.

    Despite the hold up caused by idiocy at 1 across, i came in just under target.

    5:54.

  19. About the right level for me!
    Smiled at BITCOIN, LOOSE (POI), TOBAGO
    LOI AFTERS (PDM in the kitchen)
    Visited Crete in days of yore so no problem with the minotaur, another witty clue. Like others, I couldn’t parse THE FAR EAST.
    Many thanks, Jeremy, for helpful blog as ever.

  20. FOI agog LOI Loch Ness – I thought it was some kind of nest for a while. COD The Far East. Had two goes at this, both of about ten minutes, one whilst being distracted by chatting to a service engineer, the other after a visit to the shops. Enjoyable puzzle. Did not parse Bitcoin. Thanks, Jeremy, and Trelawney. GW.

    Message to PW – sorry to hear you are feeling discouraged. Just enjoy what you can do and keep learning. Crosswords can be frustrating, I think we do them for the feeling we get when we (sometimes) finish them. Best wishes.

  21. 5:16, just over target due to a holdup with LOI 14 ac “Bitcoin”, a currency concept I admit I haven’t been able to get my head around, so I feel a bit of a 19 ac!
    Also biffed 10 d “The Far East” but the “F” in the crosser with “afters” gave me a fair amount of confidence.
    I always enjoy Trelawny’s puzzles with their witty clues and as well as Bitcoin, I also appreciated 3d “Newfangled”, with a surface that is open to some debate I would imagine!
    Thanks to Jeremy and Trelawny
  22. My feeling after finishing this crossword was that it seemed quite tricky, and I was mighty relieved to have got home in just 35 minutes (good for me). AGOG was my FOI, but that was the 9th or 10th clue I’d looked at (I rarely work sequentially) and around 4 minutes had passed by then. After that, I was jumping around the grid trying to work off the latest checkers.

    My main hold-up towards the end was trying (in vain) to solve 1a when I had L_P_ N___. Strangely, I had entered POMMA into 2d (reasoning that ‘to pause, initially’ gave the P) and it took me a while to realise my error. Correcting to COMMA led me quickly to LOCH NESS, SHAMAN, ASH TRAY and THE FAR EAST (my LOI). However, I was loathe to put down my pencil, and my time includes the 2-3 extra minutes it took me to parse this clue.

    Mrs Random appears to be on a roll this week. She finished in 20 minutes, confident that she hadn’t made any errors, but still unable to explain why THE FAR EAST, BITCOIN or PSALMS were correct.

    Many thanks to Trelawney and plusjeremy, as usual.

    P.S. After Mrs Random’s recent recommendations to me to read ‘Beowulf’, ‘The Iliad’ and a range of other classic literature (and also to learn Latin), I thought I would suggest two of my favourite books to her – Eli Maor’s ‘e: The Story of a number’ and ‘Gamma: Exploring Euler’s Constant’ by Julian Havil. I got short shrift, I’m afraid, even though they’re already in my section of the bookcase.

    1. I think Mrs Random’s reading list is rather tough – you could try a lite version of the Greek Myths, say. Though I consider myself fairly well read owing to spending long periods abroad with nothing much to do, I have never attempted Beowulf. Am now listening to classics on audiobooks which I find soothing! A bit shocked you haven’t learnt Latin yet though.
      1. Thankyou for the ‘lite version’ suggestion. Sounds sensible to me.
        I’m a little concerned about the mounting pressure to learn Latin, though. It wasn’t available at my school, and I haven’t met many ancient Romans recently to converse with (with whom to converse?). How long will it take? Maybe a couple of evenings, hopefully.
        1. I think I studied Latin for about seven years at school, but it doesn’t seem to have stuck very much. You could try a diy course via gramophone records.
      1. Thankyou and yes, I agree. I have already read it. MdS is such an engaging communicator. My return recommendation to you is ‘The Man Who Only Loved Numbers, by Paul Hoffman. It’s a sort of biography of the late Hungarian pure mathematician, Paul Erdos. Very readable!
  23. Seemed tricky to start with but things started to fall into place as I dotted around the grid. After reading comments above, I’m quite pleased with myself that I managed to parse 10d, albeit post insertion. I saw that AREAS would fit the bottom crossers and biffed the rest but then saw THEFT to see how it worked.

    Got stuck on 15a – AFTERS, needing an alphabet trawl – didn’t have far to go!

    Didn’t time myself but probably around 40mkns over lunch.

  24. We seem to have hit a slowish patch – but have enjoyed the puzzles immensely so we’re OK with our times. Today was no exception and we came in at 17 minutes.

    FOI: SOMEWHAT
    LOI: SECRETE
    COD: BITCOIN

    Thanks to Trelawney and Jeremy.

  25. This was nice’n easy Mr.Teasy-Weasy! Raymond Bessone (Remember him?)

    WOD 5ac PERM

    COD 3dn NEWFANGLED -I’ve never some across OLD-FANGLED!

    LOI 15ac AFTERS

    FOI 13ac TOBAGO my old home from home

  26. Why do Olympian winners bite their medals? They know they are not gold but only gold covered chocolate! Will OSAKA prevail or TOKYO?
  27. ….to Ed McBain yesterday will not be surprised to learn that this puzzle, which was not really any more difficult, took me over half as long again to complete. I had real trouble with LOCH NESS (I’d stupidly put in “nest” without the first word, and that really did screw things up for some time !).

    FOI PERM
    LOI AFTERS
    COD BITCOIN (but really liked AS IT WERE)
    TIME 4:49

  28. A steady top to bottom solve, though I needed Comma to kick start Loch Ness and then Lash Out. Loot and Bitcoin then threatened my attempt at a sub-20, before 16ac Afters completely scuppered it, as I associate rafting with white water activities — ‘River’ conjures up a far more sedate punt. Bitcoin was good, but the construction of 10d, The Far East, makes it my CoD. Invariant
  29. Another racing start, but unlike yesterday I only slowed down a little at the end to record a 7th best ever (but first ever 12 something) 12:50. LOsI were SECRETE and PSALMS. Never did manage to parse THE FAR EAST though. BITCOIN went in fairly easily as I’ve recently started dabbling in the crypto market. I’m down about a third in a month, but I’m sure things will turn around soon. This time next year etc. etc. COD to MUGGY, WOD to NEWFANGLED, although I think Horryd’s “oldfangled” might be even better. Or could you say something is merely fangled? Thanks to Trelawney and Jeremy.
  30. Checking in late today …
    .. as I am on holiday (younger readers may need to have this term explained, it’s been so long) and was driving all morning. A fine Trelawney puzzle and a 12 minute finish just the ticket to relax after too many miles of motorways.

    Much enjoyed 14D Bitcoin — very clever, as many have already said, and a worthy COD. LOI was 10D The Far East, which was biffed but not parsed.

    Many thanks to Jeremy for the blog
    Cedric

    Edited at 2021-06-23 04:18 pm (UTC)

  31. 3 sittings today… but just could not get BITCOIN. Also couldn’t parse LOOT as thought ‘instrument’ was a ‘lute’ and was looking for a homophone indicator in reverse! Very enjoyable though. Many thanks Trelawny and Jeremy. Still a newbie but getting slightly better — ever onwards
  32. Took me a while today, but got there in the end after a break to think a couple of clues over.
  33. Done in 12 minutes with one ear on Germany-Hungary with a goal each within a minute! FOI 5Ac PERM, LOI LOOSE at 20d, though I didn’t get why, tbh. A simple set of clues – all very logical. Thank you!

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