Times Quick Cryptic No 1908 by Breadman

58 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1908 by Breadman”

1. I biffed BRIGHTON ROCK from a couple of checkers, never bothered to parse it; also EXTREME, which I parsed post-submission. I don’t think the late, lamented dorsetjimbo did the QCs, but he might have been pleased with MUTED; he was evidently a Teddy once himself, and often complained about how setters characterized them as delinquents. 4:42.
   1. They were referred to formally as Teddy Boys and informally as ‘Teds’ or ‘a Ted’ singular – dorsetjimbo was never a Teddy!
      1. He always came across here as rather cuddly though!
2. Fortunately, I have seen several versions of the kittiwake clue, and know how to spell nissen hut – no it’s not like a Toyota shack. Oddly, it was Brighton Rock that was a bit elusive,
3. 9 minutes but with one error. I was going to say I never heard of the dog at 3dn but I see it has come up a couple of times before, most recently in a 15×15 in May last year, when I also didn’t know it. I should have got it from wordplay but I forgot that ‘terriers = TA’ was at one time a very familiar piece of wordplay that seems to have faded from regular use. Today I misremebered and thought it might be an alternative for ‘sappers’ = RE, but that wouldn’t fit with the checker so in desperation I plumped for another army regiment abbreviation, RA. I’m not having a good time with the QC’s at the moment so I’m hoping to redeem myself tomorrow.

   I never see TED in a puzzle without remembering Jimbo, and like Kevin I thought he would have been pleased with today’s usage.

   Edited at 2021-07-01 05:32 am (UTC)

   1. You remind me that I was going to mention ‘terriers’ as perhaps a bit arcane for a QC. Having the AKI I knew what had to follow, but only inferred that ‘terriers’=Territorial Army; I’m not sure I’ve actually seen it used. Of course TA shows up once a week in the 15x15s, although the term itself has been defunct for I forget how long.
      1. I’m not sure that ‘terriers = TA’ has come up much if at all in Times puzzles, but it was a regular when I was learning to do cryptics back in the 1960s (Telegraph then) and for many years afterwards.

         TA for Territorial Army doesn’t bother me at all – RE for Royal Engineers / sappers is another abbreviation that’s gone now since the regiment merged into something else – but these are historical references and even if they no longer exist they did at one time so that doesn’t invalidate their usage.

         Edited at 2021-07-01 05:59 am (UTC)

         1. I didn’t mean to imply that I had any objection to TA, certainly not in the 15x15s.
            1. Thanks, Kevin. Yes I was pretty sure you were okay with it but there are some who pick it up every time it appears and I reply in similar vein so it has become a sort of reflex action whenever the subject comes up.
4. All green in 15 but it was hard work. Spotted EASTER ISLAND quite quickly and tried to parse as an anagram of HOLIDAY LINDA’S but the lack of E’s and an S persuaded me to look again and saw holiday=easter. Needed the blog to unravel LOI AKITA and KITTIWAVE (and I still don’t really get the first part), didn’t know the TA nickname and had a brain freeze for BRIGHTON ROCK, party due to thinking ‘book’ looked like a promising second word and also made life hard for myself with NISSEN HUT where I had the start of ‘military’ not ‘the’ for my first attempt at unscrambling. Enjoyed BORAGE which was yet another thing I thought I didn’t know until it appeared. Felt like a crossword solver when MUTED and RIOJA fell quickly.
5. I didn’t find this as straightforward as our blogger in spite of knowing most of the GK. However 1930s novels are one of my many GK blind spots so I left BRIGHTON ROCK to the end, when it still needed some thought.
   I carelessly wrote in email for 17d despite thinking that it didn’t feel right and unsurprisingly then struggled with KITTIWAKE.
   Despite that I enjoyed the puzzle and had a couple of very satisfying PDMs with HARDINESS and RIGMAROLE. Finished in 10.26.
   Thanks to Roly

6. FOI: 6a. BARON
   LOI: 21a. MUTED
   Time to Complete: 54 minutes
   Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 22
   Clues Answered with Aids: 2
   Clues Unanswered: Nil
   Wrong Answers: Nil
   Total Correctly Answered (incl. aids): 24/24
   Aids Used: Chambers, Bradford’s

   On completion of my first trip around the grid, I had only answered four clues. After that it was a steady but slow plod through the clues before I was able to finish.

   Initially I had entered OVERALLS fore 11d, but that messed with 18a and 21a before I realised my mistake. A re-read of the clue revealed the answer.

   I have never heard of a NISSEN HUT, but it seemed the logical choice. After I had entered the answer I Googled it, and what I saw reminded me of the first time I ever visited HMS DAEDALUS in my Navy days. They had a lot of similar-shaped buildings around the airfield. I am not sure if they were actually Nissen Huts.

   An enjoyable puzzle, with some clues that made me think hard.

   1. There were Nissan Huts at Daedalus, certainly when I was teaching there as a not-so-young Schoolie in the early 80’s, one of them was my Materials Science classroom. Happy days!
   2. HMS Daedalus is now Fareham’s new airport, for private aircraft and various shops have moved in, around it.
7. Didn’t know LOI AKITA but TA terriers rang a bell. I even bothered to check for typos but was undone by a carelessly biffed ROOFLESS. When I saw the pink square I thought “ah, rootless”. Wrong again. It’s one thing checking for typos but helps if you read the clues properly as well…

   Otherwise I found this on the gentler side but none the worse for that

   Thanks Breadman and rolytoly

8. A good puzzle. I started very slowly in the upper half of the unusual grid and made much better progress from the bottom. Some fascinating clues but many had me off balance. Only when crossers emerged did I really start motoring and see the longer answers (but too late to avoid being almost 5min over target). Thanks to Breadman for a good workout and to roly for a succinct and helpful blog. John M.

   Edited at 2021-07-01 07:41 am (UTC)

9. BRIGHTON ROCK was last. Otherwise, it all seemed to flow quite nicely. As with others AKITA was not fully parsed, though in retrospect I’m aware of the term terriers for the TA.

   4:40

10. 10 minutes,but one pink square …
    … as I had Roofless for 7D. It seemed a more natural word than Roomless, but I should not have been satisfied with the misparsing of Fess as an assumed alternative word for disarray.

    On the other hand I NHO 6D Brighton rock (got from wordplay alone), and only a lucky guess got me 3D Akita, as I DK the dog or terriers as a nickname for the TA. So you win some and lose some.

    Kitti as “sound made by cat” also needed thought, as I was merrily led into mew, miaow and the like before I realised that this was an unusual way of indicating a homophone.

    Many thanks to Roly for the blog
    Cedric

11. A gentle offering from Breadman today resulted in a 9 minute completion time. Lots of clues that made us smile – nice way to start the day.

    FOI: INHERIT
    LOI: HARDINESS
    COD: BRIGHTON ROCK or KITTIWAKE

    Thanks to Breadman and Rolytoly.

12. DNF. I got AKITA but I failed on KITTIWAKE which was not helped by me forgetting the ROCK of BRIGHTON ROCK. I recall being held up in the NE corner but then the unravelling of IT BEATS ME took some time. I wasn’t a particular fan of the cluing in general…too many names. About 14 minutes before I gave up.

    Edited at 2021-07-01 08:46 am (UTC)

13. Nothing to scare the horses this morning and much to enjoy. I particularly liked RIGMAROLE, the parsing of which made me smile. The Japanese dog AKITA, rang the vaguest of bells, as it were, but I’d never heard of terriers to signify the TAs. One to remember. Thanks, rolytoly, for that! One small thing — the parsing of EASTER ISLAND is Easter = holiday, plus an anagram of Linda. Thanks so much for the blog. And thanks too to Breadman.
    1. Thanks – well spotted. Very late getting to comments today but will edit now for any stragglers.
14. Not too difficult today. I started with SEE, AKITA and BORAGE, then slotted IT BEATS ME in. I then made steady progress ending with BRIGHTON ROCK. 7:37. Thanks Breadman and Roly.
15. 11 minutes of fun, with FOI IT BEATS ME, LOI YEMENI and AKITA vaguely remembered, but not the TA=terriers bit. I was pleased to spot BRIGHTON ROCK from the first letter and helpful clue. I remember it more from the film than from the novel, although I did read it when dutifully working through Graham Greene’s oeuvre many years ago. Thanks Roly and Breadman.
16. I didn’t find this gentle at all but I’ll defer to the majority- must be a wavelength thing! Enjoyed it though. I assumed it was Easter Island but was slow to read Holiday as Easter. thanks all
17. A good challenge today, but NHO AKITA.
    1. You should read up on the true story of Hachiko, an Akita dog!
       1. Also see the film which starred Richard Gere and Chico, Layla, and Forrest – the three Akita’s. ‘Grey Friar’s Bobbie’ teppanyaki!

          Edited at 2021-07-01 09:53 am (UTC)

18. I struggled to get started on this and then found it tricky throughout.
    But I finished in 12:58 with LOI 15d following the cryptic instructions carefully: Health centre =AL; place HER inside that =that woman; add A. An unlikely looking AHERLA appeared.
    “Unlucky” said the computer, and I immediately saw SHERPA.
    David

    1. Apparently it’s a town in Ireland — nearly caught me as well
    2. Yes, I also constructed AHERLA to start with, but moved elsewhere and came back to the clue later.
19. All over the place today – got no rhythm

    I love Graham Greene but – 6dn BRIGHTON ROCK is the most depressing read (1938)! The Film (1948) was banned in New South Wales. even though it had a slightly happier ending, which Greene hated.

    FOI 1ac IT BEATS ME!

    LOI 13ac YEMENI(s) – poor beggers!

    COD 5dn EASTER ISLAND – a bit of quality from the settee!

    WOD 14ac RIGMAROLE – louisajaney and I smiled together!

    Interestingly Peter Nissen (d.1930) designed the Nissen Hut and Alfredo Pizza the New Orangery at Kew. The Quonset Hut is the American equivalent of the former, and Pizza Hut the latter.

20. AKITA got from wordplay. Always thought the novel was 1940s, but I think that’s the film with Dickie Attenborough.
    All correct. Nice puzzle and helpful blog
    Regards
    Andrew
21. Should the blog be altered for the parsing. Holiday = Easter + anagram of Linda’s ?
    1. Indeed it should. M. Rolypoly appears to have gone on holiday!
22. Raced through but stuck on Middle Eastern YEMENI – feeble because I once lived nearby in days of yore.
    Remembered NISSEN HUTS, always vaguely thinking they were spelt with an ‘a’.
    EASTER ISLAND helped as did BRIGHTON ROCK, not my favourite Graham Greene novel. Just counted – we have 16 Greene Penguin paperbacks with print too small to read these days, alas. ‘Brighton Rock’ cost 2s6d.
    Smiled at KITTIWAKE, OFF COURSE, RIGMAROLE, RIOJA.
    Was puzzled by terriers meaning TA but it had to be.
    FOI IT BEATS ME.
    Good to have an easier puzzle. Thanks vm, Roly.

    Edited at 2021-07-01 10:19 am (UTC)

    1. Yes agreed on Brighton Rock – it was the first one of his I tried, ages ago. I didn’t finish it, and it put me off him for quite a while. I think I eased myself back in with some short stories and quickly saw the error of my ways.
       1. My favourite is The Quiet American.
23. Started quite slowly and thought this was going to be tricky without the help of 6d. However the unknown dog helped to unlock the grid, and with a few checkers Brighton Rock became obvious. Then it was just a matter of following the cryptics… although Aherla (15d) was a step too far. A pleasant 18min solve, with CoD to the word play in 11d, Overcoat. Invariant
24. Another single-pink day, with ROOTLESS rather than ROOFLESS. A classic half-parse, where I saw ROO, and the definition with many checkers so banged it in. I was more concerned about the NE corner with the NHO BORAGE and AKITA.

    Nissan/Nissen confusion gave me a pink square last time out, therefore I was pleased to have avoided that trap today.

    I read Brighton Rock a couple of years ago, I don’t think it has aged well.

    LOI YEMENI, a lot of Middle East nationals to check-off first, with some concern that Middle East might just be “ME”

    I thought the expression was “Beats Me”, so was surprised to see “IT” at the front. Seems like hyper-correction from the “that’s not a sentence” pedants.

    COD KITTIWAKE

    1. It was in fact ROOMLESS – double pink!?
25. After 25 mins only had 3dn to get, but just couldn’t see it (and didn’t know the dog). Forgot terriers is a name for the TA, so my potential answer of “Akirg” just wouldn’t fit with 10ac.

    Other than that, quite enjoyed this. Luckily 6dn “Brighton Rock” came to me (after thinking it might be some Jeeves and Wooster type posh houses thing) and 5dn had to be some form of island. Had a few issues with 2dn, thinking initially it might be the non existent herb of Bobega, but that sounded more like a character from Star Wars.

    FOI — 4dn “See”
    LOI — 3dn — dnf
    COD — 10ac “Rigmarole” — it certainly was a bit of one working out the parsing, but good none the less.

    Thanks as usual!

    Edited at 2021-07-01 10:46 am (UTC)

26. I was surprised by how few knew ‘terriers’ for members of the Territorial Army, as in my day they were never called anything else — but on checking, I realised that would have been over 50 years ago.
27. I don’t often post here as I am really not that quick! And simply use the QC as a warm-up for the main event, in order to get up to speed.COD to Nissen Hut which we have had a few times. Today I reversed my usual modus. I thought 6dn BRIGHTON ROCK was oddly clued, by using the date.
    1. Your contributions are welcome, pedwardine. Being quick is not a requirement for taking part in the discussion. Just enjoy solving at your own pace and join in when you feel like it!
28. A fine example of a QC, with no convoluted wordplay, very few extraneous linking words, and smooth surfaces. Except maybe 8a – is this inspector playing rugby or something?
29. I found this quite tricky, finally finishing in 27 mins, albeit with a number of interruptions. Must have been the wrong side of 20 mins of actual solving time though. Some enjoyable clues, so thanks to Breadman. Thanks also to Rolytoly for clarifying a couple which I had not stopped to parse. NHO the dog and took a while to bring the 1930’s novel to mind.

    FOI – 6ac BARON
    LOI – 3dn AKITA
    COD – 10ac RIGMAROLE

30. ….ROOMLESS was really a word, but the parsing said it had to be. Straightforward otherwise.

    FOI IT BEATS ME
    LOI MUTED
    COD EASTER ISLAND
    TIME 3:33

31. I have removed the above comment as it was uncalled for. Some of us were remembering a dear departed colleague and contributor and we don’t need feeble attempts at humour at his expense.
32. Having done National Service, terriers and nissen huts came easily, quick solve for us at abt 15m. Perhaps brains in good order having just returned from sunny N Wales. Last 3 puzzles completed up there without aids, so pleased with that.
33. Quite a late solve for me today, owing to hosting my parents for the first time in 2+ years, but absolutely delighted at completing successfully in 31 minutes (jolly fast for me).

    Getting 1a (IT BEATS ME) early really helped, and I hopped around the grid to utilise any new checkers as they appeared. RIGMAROLE is a great word, as was the clue, once I saw its’ whole parsing.

    YEMENI was my LOI (it was a great PDM when I got it), but AKITA was my last one to parse, as I hadn’t heard of either the dog or the nickname for the TA.

    Many thanks to Breadman and to rolytoly.

34. A gentle puzzle with some great clueing
    Single course
35. All went well until I got stuck on the dog. Then I dozed off and when I came to I guessed that the Royal Artillery might have been known as terriers. So a DNF in 32:28 for me. Nice puzzle though.
36. About 20 minutes. Steady solve and much enjoyed. Fair.
37. Indeed, or dreaming of a holiday perhaps. I’LL DO A SHANDY is all I can get out of the letters I suggested, and I don’t want that! Will belatedly edit.
38. NHO the AKITA dog but figured it from the clue, my LOI and the only real hiccup here in a ten-minute solve. FOI IT BEATS ME. I wish there was a middle ground between these and the 15×15 which so often defeats me!
39. ROOFLESS here … what a twerp …

    Thanks roly and Breaders

    Templar

40. Regarding comments on the TA, an old pal referred to them as SAS ( being short for Saturdays and Sundays !!)

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