Times Quick Cryptic No 1918 by Breadman

Author   rolytolyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Around average difficulty today from Breadman: I was 8 minutes on the button, coming back to finish in the top-left. Some, like 21ac, were easier to biff than to parse, and there was a good range of satisfying clues, like the neatly-worded 19ac and 9d. Very nice – many thanks to Breadman!

Across
1 Fizzy drink small, easy to reach (6)
SHANDY – S(mall) HANDY (easy to reach)
4 Just pants put on line (6)
LAWFUL – AWFUL (pants) put on L(ine)
8 Commander Mike to hand over navigational device (7)
COMPASS – CO (Commanding Officer = Commander) M(ike) to PASS (hand over)
10 Heated the Spanish accommodation (5)
HOTEL – HOT (heated) EL (the, Spanish)
11 Temperature having dropped, fear slip (5)
ERROR – T(emperature) dropped from tERROR (fear)
12 Again photograph changing shore at first over time (7)
RESHOOT – anagram (changing) of SHORE and then “at first” O(ver) T(ime)
13 Hard sweet idiot let fall (5,4)
LEMON DROP – LEMON (idiot) DROP (let fall)
17 Highly esteemed lady longing to probe teacher, English (7)
DOYENNE – YEN (longing) to probe DON (teacher) E(nglish)
19 Religious class absorbed by the Trinity (5)
THREE – RE (Religious class) absorbed by THE
20 Loner ordered to join army? (5)
ENROL – anagram (ordered) of LONER
21 Fly circles minute eatery (3,4)
TEA ROOM – TEAR (fly/dash about) OO (circles) M(inute)
22 Husband at home in resting place, running late (6)
BEHIND – H(usband) IN (at home) in BED (resting place)
23 Building material church folk accept finally (6)
CEMENT – CE (Church of England) MEN (folk) T (accepT “finally”)

Down
1 Charlie‘s vacuum cleaner? (6)
SUCKER – double-ish definition. I wasn’t sure of the first, but it’s there as a simpleton.
2 Naval chief revised chart to include variable London landmark (9,4)
ADMIRALTY ARCH – ADMIRAL (naval chief) and an anagram (revised) of CHART to include Y (variable, as in x and y)
3 Outline you need help to lift weight (7)
DIAGRAM – AID (help) “to lift” = reverse, GRAM (weight)
5 Legendary musketeer in combat, hostile (5)
ATHOS – “in” combAT HOStile
6 Well suited to the job, athletic pro scrambled up ropes (3,3,7)
FIT FOR PURPOSE – FIT (athletic) FOR (pro) and an anagram (scrambled) of UP ROPES
7 One’s fixed on banger maybe left on dish (1-5)
L-PLATE – L(eft) on PLATE (dish): banger meaning “sausage” in the surface and “car” in the cryptic.
9 Son called during trial — most odd (9)
STRANGEST – S(on) RANG (called) during TEST (trial)
14 Desert marathon perhaps an exhausting grind (3,4)
RAT RACE – to RAT = to desert, RACE (marathon perhaps)
15 Notice minister flipped on key part of speech (6)
ADVERB – AD (notice) VER (rev = minister, “flipped”) on B (musical key)
16 Protective wear Rachel half concealed on police force (6)
HELMET – racHEL (“half concealed”) on MET (police force)
18 Only distributed new fabric (5)
NYLON – anagram (distributed) of ONLY, N(ew)

46 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1918 by Breadman”

  1. of a slightly old-fashioned flavour.

    LOI SHANDY – an alcoholic fizzy drink did not occur to me – I was on the Ice Cream Soda wagon.

    FOI ADMIRALTY ARCH – where Ian Fleming worked from August 1939. I used to drive under it everyday, darn The Mall.

    COD 13ac LEMON DROPs – remember them? – And sherbet lemons? I believe ‘Bassetts’ still do ’em! I once lived nearby to ‘Swizzles Sweet Factory’ in New Mills, Cheshire. They’ve just moved to Middlewich. ‘Sherbet Fountains’ were best!

    WOD 18dn NYLON – New York and London combo, like publishers Thames & Hudson

    I was a slightly old-fashioned ten and a half minutes.

    Edited at 2021-07-15 04:19 am (UTC)

  2. Under nine minutes for me. SHANDY and SUCKER (my LOI) had to wait until I had the rest all done.
  3. 8 minutes with a little time lost by having FRUIT DROP at 13ac until ADMIRALTY ARCH put paid to that idea although it could have been valid as one meaning of ‘fruit’ is a 1dn which might also mean ‘idiot’.

    The ‘New York LONdon’ thing is widely regarded as an urban myth now.

    1. Then I suppose that – PYLON – deriving from the Prestbury to London stretch of The National Grid, is a rural myth!

  4. Slightly outside target at 22:08, mainly accounted for by the LOI LAWFUL. After seeing the L at the end I had the Line accounted for, so was looking for the 5 letter word for pants at the start.

    WoD DOYENNE, which seems more widely used than its male counterpart, doyen.

    L PLATE took longer than expected, add it to the list of U-BOAT, I-BEAM, X-FACTOR, A-TEAM etc, there are quite a few when you trawl through the letters. Banger=car seemed a little unfair, since a banger is not characteristic of most Driving School vehicles. And not a great surface, either. How about “Ones fixed on Golf maybe…”, that’s what I learnt to drive with.

    COD THREE. Don’t often see numbers as answers and this was a PDM when it popped into the mind.

        1. The Doyen or Dean can also mean the senior member of a body or group. By custom the dean of the diplomatic corps in any particular country is the ambassador who has served there longest. So in a French-speaking country such a person, if female, would be the Doyenne.
          1. Erm, as per merlin’s excellent cryptic reply, if dozen equals twelve -then doyen must be eleven!
  5. 5.5 on the first pass of acrosses as I couldn’t see what sort of ‘drop’ I was looking for. Things picked up with the downs before ending with the top two: SHANDY and LAWFUL. I really ought to have worked out what ‘pants’ is normally doing in crosswords by now. Today’s reminder that I might need new glasses came when I nearly biffed ‘rum baba’ for ‘desert’. All green in a little under 11 — fast for me.
  6. It felt as if this was a slow solve as I was going through it but I ended up with a decent time. A bit sluggish to get going with FOI being HOTEL and then solved clockwise from there ending up back at the top. SUCKER and SHANDY took a bit of working out before finishing with LAWFUL where, like Merlin, I assumed the L from line was accounted for at the end of the word.
    Finished in 8.36 with COD to L-PLATE for the PDM and with TEA ROOM parsed post submission.
    Thanks to Rolytoly
  7. The curse of the loi struck to prevent a sub-20 — exactly the same problem as Merlin, with the trailing L in Lawful. Apart from that, a fairly straightforward solve with Admiralty Arch an early gift, having once been in a meeting there. I gave up trying to parse Tea Room, having failed to see that oo were … circles 🙄, so thank you Roly for sorting that one. CoD to the surface in 19ac, Three. Invariant
  8. An interesting puzzle with plenty of nice clues and accessible answers plus a few that stretched me. I’m thinking of DOYENNE, TEA ROOM (not parsed), and my LOI SHANDY. There were quite a few others that only fell when crossers were available. I liked THREE, DIAGRAM, L-PLATE, STRANGEST. No time because of an unexpected interruption but I’m sure I was over target. Thanks to Breadman for a very good QC and to Roly for clarifying a couple of parsings. John M.

    Edited at 2021-07-15 08:20 am (UTC)

  9. FOI: 12a. RESHOOT
    LOI: 19a. THREE
    Time to Complete: 49 minutes
    Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 16
    Clues Answered with Aids: 8
    Clues Unanswered: Nil
    Wrong Answers: Nil
    Total Correctly Answered (incl. aids): 24/24
    Aids Used: Chambers

    I found this to be a hard puzzle with, at least for me, some obscure clues. I relied heavily on aids today. Without them I would have not completed it. Did not really enjoy this one but persevered despite this.

    20a. ENROL – Somebody posted on the comments section of the online puzzle that one ENLISTS in the army, not enrols. I would have to agree with that.

    7d. L-PLATE – I manged to get this one, but the use of the word banger referring to sausage, as explained by the blogger, totally eludes me. What has sausage got to do with L-plates? I understand banger being an old car, but L-Plates are not necessarily found on old bangers.

    1. … have nothing to do with each other! See the glossary for a description of surface/surface reading: here the surface image is of someone staring at the remaining sausage on a plate.
    2. On bangers, ‘not necessarily’ does not mean ‘never’ so all that’s needed for the clue to work is for L plates sometimes to be on old bangers. This may well be the case if for example the learner has bought or been bought a cheap second-hand car on which to learn.
      1. Hi jackkt.

        Thank you for your reply. Yes, what you say does seem fair.

        1. Thanks p_w, I should also have mentioned that the clue says ‘maybe’ so that covers what is effectively a definition by example. Regards.
      2. Are bangers (cars) really a thing these days? I don’t think I’ve heard the term used since approximately the 60s. Not that that would preclude its use in a crossword, of course.
  10. A just about on target solve which started with COMPASS. I revisited the top line a few times but I couldn’t work out what was going on until near the end of my solve. I struggled also with LEMON DROP. I was not allowed sweets as a kid and I never had any money for the tuck shop near my high school. I do remember having a beer SHANDY as a teen although I preferred dandelion and burdock. My POI and COD was LAWFUL and my LOI DIAGRAM in 9:06.
  11. This was a rather good start to my day. L-PLATEs not required even though I’m an old banger. Wasn’t ADMIRALTY ARCH the starting point for ‘Genevieve’? My COD to TEA ROOM – as found at the NT.
  12. Enjoyed this – thanks setter and blogger. Don’t agree with the slang references – maybe more applicable in the US??? Where I was brought up a lemon drop was a kind of sucker.
  13. So slow today. Took me a long time to get on wavelength of an entirely precise style of clue which, to me, seemed often to have more going on than I could readily fit into the answer. Just read the clue…
    Just as I was starting to get the hang of it, I finished, so I will have to go back to some of Breadman’s previous to try some more. About 40 mins during which I enjoyed SUCKER, THREE and DOYENNE amongst others, eventually.
  14. I drew a blank on my first pass of the NW and my FOI was the hidden ATHOS, followed by HOTEL. I seemed to make hard work of things, and finished up over my target with DOYENNE LOI at 10:52. Thanks Breadman and Roly.
  15. I didn’t enjoy that much, finding it rather pedestrian with clumsy surfaces. Sorry to be Mr Negative.

    FOI LAWFUL, LOI SHANDY, no COD, time 9:06 for a dead heat with desdeeloeste and thus a Very Good Day!

    Thanks Breadman and roly.

    Templar

  16. 19 mins for me which felt good in the end as I had a slow start. A couple of clues had me screwing my face up though — 1ac “Shandy” and 7dn “L Plate”. Nothing technically wrong with either, but I went down the “soda” route as well (any drink could be fizzy if you really want it to be) and as has already been mentioned you don’t often see that many “bangers” around nowadays — let alone ones with L plates.

    Other hold ups were initially putting “run”’ in for 14dn and 4ac “Lawful”.

    FOI — 9dn “Strangest”
    LOI — 17ac “Doyenne”
    COD — 19ac “Three”

    Thanks as usual!

  17. All done but not all parsed by any means though the answers were easily biffable anyway.
    FOI shandy, usually made with warm beer and too little lemonade. Five acrosses on first pass but it all fell into place once I started on the downs, nineteen done on first pass overall. LOI tea room, unparsed. Others unparsed were doyenne, fit for purpose, adverb and helmet, kicked myself a bit over the last one after reading the blog, which enlightened me as usual. COD rat race, only trace of animal life today. Didn’t record a time. It was a steady solve, a kind of write-in, well-punctuated by cogitation.
    Thanks, Roly, and Breadman. GW.
  18. 4:23 this morning. Another fair and mostly straightforward QC.
    Solving the long anagrams at 2d and 6d quickly certainly helped with the time.
    MER at 20 ac “enrol”, as some others have mentioned earlier, but didn’t let it hold me up.
    COD 4 ac “lawful” which made me smile. Probably a truism for those anarchists among us.
    Thanks to Roly for the blog and to Mr Baker.
  19. just over 17 minutes for me today, would have been sub-15 except I had to have a very long hard stare at LAWFUL – where, as above, I thought the second L accounted for line – and FIT FOR PURPOSE which, despite all the crossers I simply could not see for far too long.

    Particularly enjoyed SUCKER, DIAGRAM, LEMON DROP, and TEA ROOM (where circles = OO is a new device for me!).

    Big thanks to setter and blogger

  20. straight in to the crossword club again – makes me very nervous of typos.

    LAWFUL was my LOI. I liked L-PLATE, because the surface made me think of myself as a kid, if there was one sausage/any food item left, and hoping no one else wanted it, and probably drooling like a hungry dog..

    4:51

  21. I couldn’t see ENROL for ages- probably because I spelt it in my mind with two Ls. I found this quite tricky and had to dart about randomly to get a foothold. DOYENNE and ADVERB were last in.
    Thank you for the blog, and thank you setter.
    A
  22. Rare lunchtime solve. Felt sluggish — probably the result of polishing off last night’s dhal. Just couldn’t get the pretty easy/obvious ADMIRALTY ARCH and also had a very sloppy ADVERT which made my LOI BEHIND impossible for the longest

    All fair enough — thanks Breadman and Roly

  23. All done and dusted in 22 minutes today, which is jolly fast for me. My FOI was ADVERB (the fourth clue I looked at) and solutions seemed to come reasonably quickly after that.

    I smiled at LEMON for idiot (Mrs Random would say that it describes me, much of the time) and, like some others above, I nearly got caught out looking for a synonym for ‘pants’ to fit _A_F_. I biffed a few clues, such as ADMIRALTY ARCH, but still managed to parse all of them before putting down my pencil. My LOsI were SUCKER (a little hesitantly), SHANDY and DIAGRAM – all in the NW corner.

    Mrs Random is with her parents again today, so she will probably tackle the puzzle tomorrow.

    Many thanks to Breadman (for the confidence boost) and to rolytoly.

  24. Stuck on LAWFUL – gave way and looked up Just. FIT FOR PURPOSE then fell into place.
    Brain must have been foggy after 5m walk.
    FOI COMPASS.
    Liked SHANDY, L PLATE, HELMET, RAT RACE, THREE.
    Thanks all, esp Roly.
  25. FOI ATHOS; LOI DIAGRAM.
    No big problems; held up by SHANDY which was clever.
    No time as watching golf whilst I solved.
    A good QC which required some work to finish.
    David
  26. Agree with our blogger today …
    … that this was a nice puzzle which was well-pitched for difficulty. All done in 13 minutes, which as it was done on my phone I shall adjust by at least two minutes in my mind for correcting fat-fingers, navigating the clues and so on.

    I also agree that it was a puzzle with a high number of biffable clues. Several for me and gives the second round of enjoyment when the penny finally drops and the parsing emerges. LOI 9D Strangest was the last on both counts, both to enter and to parse.

    Many thanks to Roly for the blog
    Cedric

  27. A pleasant enough solve today, but – like Templar – I didn’t find it enthralling. For some reason, as so often, I struggled to start with 1A – glad to see I wasn’t the only one today. Oh, I nearly forgot – 12 minutes.
    FOI Hotel
    LOI Shandy
    COD Fit for purpose
    Thanks to Breadman and Roly

    Edited at 2021-07-15 02:44 pm (UTC)

  28. ….LEMON DROPS, away above the chimney tops, that’s where you’ll find me”.

    An OK puzzle, apart from ENROL, which is just plain wrong.

    FOI COMPASS
    LOI SHANDY
    COD LAWFUL
    TIME 4:03

  29. Like a few others I struggled to get DOYENNE, even though it is very gettable in retrospect! A good challenge today.
  31. but was determined to finish and finally all were correct in around 40 minutes. Pleased to parse every clue as I went along today. Time consuming for me were SHANDY, LAWFUL, L PLATE and SUCKER (COD). Delighted to see ‘Rachel’ forming part of a clue, and with correct spelling too! Very enjoyable and helped put a difficult work day firmly in its place. Thanks to Breadman and Roly.
  32. I got nowhere with this one. And even the few I got I didn’t really understand why. I guess it goes that way sometimes? Fred
  33. Completed on 16 July — busy week.

    Good puzzle with some clever and amusing clues — got us thinking.

    FOI: SHANDY
    LOI: THREE
    COD: LEMON DROP

    Thanks Breadman and Rolytoly

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