Times Quick Cryptic No 1929 by Teazel

Author   JohninterredPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

I enjoyed today’s Quick Cryptic from Teazel a lot. Teazel at his teaziest. It’s a bit tricky in places with a couple of cryptic definitions and a few cryptic hints; a good test of lateral thinking. It helps to know your old masters and your computer network devices too. Plenty of places to get stuck, then, so well done if you came through unscathed. This took me a good 2 minutes longer than yesterday’s, finishing in 5:38. How did everyone else get on?

Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is my turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the latest crossword, entitled “Staycation Time”, here. Enjoy! And if anyone is interested in our previous offerings you can find an index to them here.

Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, deletions and “” other indicators.

Across
1 In which one chooses not to be whipped? (4,4)
FREE VOTE – A cryptic definition referring to when, in parliament, you don’t have to vote on party lines. I needed the down crossers to spot this one.
5 Notice Mike appear (4)
SEEM – SEE (notice) M (mike). Not the meaning of “appear” you might expect from the surface.
8 Europeans come in to take action against Africans (8)
SUDANESE – DANES (Europeans) “come in” SUE (to take action against).
9 Highest standard, good and ancient (4)
GOLD – G (good) OLD (ancient). My first one in.
11 A vicar agog to recollect old master (10)
CARAVAGGIO – (a vicar agog)* “to recollect”.  Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571 – 1610)  “…was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of his life he moved between Naples, Malta, and Sicily until his death. His paintings have been characterized by art critics as combining a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, which had a formative influence on Baroque painting.” See some of his paintings here.
14 Runs external computer device (6)
ROUTER – R (runs) OUTER (external). A router is “..a device that connects two or more packet-switched networks or subnetworks. It serves two primary functions: managing traffic between these networks by forwarding data packets to their intended IP addresses, and allowing multiple devices to use the same Internet connection.” You may well have one in your house, as I do,  connected to the Internet via your phone line providing access to the internet for your various smart devices around the home.
15 What can destroy wall, or hold bricks together? (6)
MORTAR – Double definition, Very witty.
17 Midweek presumably not ideal for church clothes perhaps (6,4)
SUNDAY BEST – Definition with a cryptic hint.
20 Large group live very badly finally (4)
BEVY – BE (live) V (very) badlY (finally).
21 Check what I’m carrying; I have no idea (6,2)
SEARCH ME – Double definition, first a cryptic hint.
22 Somewhat heated, months after serious conflict (4)
WARM – M (months) “after” WAR (serious conflict).
23 Unauthorised passenger was to, after changing course (8)
STOWAWAY – (was to)* “after changing” WAY (course). Hmm. Not sure I understand the surface meaning.
Down
1 Something packing a punch is in the paper (4)
FIST – IS “in” FT (Financial Times; the paper). Neat wordplay.
2 Toy bear losing head in whirlpool (4)
EDDY – tEDDY (toy bear) “losing head”.
3 In which to transport quality champagne? (7,3)
VINTAGE CAR – Cryptic definition. A quality champagne might be declared a vintage. “Vintage Champagne means that it’s taken from just one year’s harvest. It’s not something that Champagne houses do every year, either—it’s reserved for particularly good years. Champagne houses generally only make three or four vintages a decade.”
4 After tour regularly examine north Italian (6)
TUSCAN – ToUr “regularly”, SCAN (examine). I’ve never thought of Tuscany as north Italy, but as central, but what do I know?
6 Stretch out at first in elegant manoeuvring (8)
ELONGATE – Out “at first”, “in” (elegant)* “manoeuvering”.
7 Not very good doctor about to introduce oxygen (8)
MEDIOCRE – MEDIC (doctor), RE (about) “to introduce” O (Chemical symbol for Oxygen).
10 One not really responsible for scarecrow perhaps (3,2,5)
MAN OF STRAW – Double definition, second a cryptic hint. A person regarded as having no substance or integrity – not a definition I was familiar with, although I recognised the term.
12 Go over part of East End showing weapon (8)
CROSSBOW – CROSS (go over) BOW (part of East End of London).
13 Upset a small pie (8)
TURNOVER – TURN OVER (upset).
16 Complain as old boy caught in stream (6)
OBJECT – OB (old boy), C (caught) “in” JET (stream).
18 Farm animal fed hot food (4)
CHOW – COW (farm animal) outside, “fed”, H (hot).
19 From ends of road have taken away refuse (4)
DENY – Last letters, “from ends of”, roaD havE takeN awaY.

31 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1929 by Teazel”

  1. I biffed CARAVEGGIO [sic], not correcting it until I got MAN OF STRAW; evidently that’s how I thought it was spelled, despite the absence of an E in the anagrist. DNK FREE VOTE, and I spent some time thinking about it until I inferred the Parliamentary sense. 5:55.
  2. Put VAN for CAR ar 3D on the basis that a van is used for transport, and VAN sounds like vin. Second choice was BAG, did not consider CAR.

    NHO MAN OF STRAW, but of course “straw man” well known.

    For North Italy starting with TU I was trying to invent a word for someone from Turin.

    COD MORTAR

    1. I put the correct answer, VINTAGE CAR, but was faced with several other choices — CAB, VAN, BAG, JAG, etc. So, a question for our blogger (or any of our other experienced solvers): Why is it CAR, rather than any of the other (reasonable) possibilities?
      1. I sympathise with those who put in VAN but I thought it had to be CAR as it’s a more common term with a specific meaning.. i.e. cars built between 1919 and 1930. Also I’ve seen plenty of adverts for Vintage Car rallies but not for vans etc. Furthermore, it is in Chambers under “vintage” and none of the others are. Hope that helps.
  4. Another hard work out, all green in the end after 21m of struggle. Six on the first pass of acrosses and then the bottom filled up nicely. The top began to move once I got CARAVAGGIO — built up from the ‘aggio’ at the end. An improvement on yesterday’s Kandinsky in that I knew I’d heard of him once I saw the letters left but I would never had been able to name him otherwise — thanks for the link to his works John. Should have got ROUTER earlier, when that went in TURNOVER, VINTAGE CAR and FREE VOTE all quickly followed. Those checkers allowed SUDANESE to go in to finish. I found both ELONGATE and MEDIOCRE to be very hard to crack.
  5. I do enjoy a good Teazel puzzle and this one lived up to expectations. Only had a vague memory of the painter so waited until I had all the checkers and then hoped for the best. A hold up in the SW with CROSSBOW, BEVY and TURNOVER prevented a really quick time but I was well within target so I can’t really complain.
    Finished in 8.08 with my favourite being MORTAR but with a tip of the cap to SEARCH ME and SUNDAY BEST
    Thanks to John for the blog and in advance for the weekend bonus puzzle

  6. 2 seconds under 20 minutes. Lots of write ins, more BIFD than usual, but slowed down by the lateral thinking cryptics. I haven’t found a way to detect these unless they are very obvious; I have to explore and rule out every other type of clue and then think outside the box. ‘Vintage champagne’ and not being subject to a ‘3 line whip’ being points in case. Do these clues stand out to our experienced colleagues through the absence of other cryptic signposting??? Hidden words (lurkers) in the clue are easier to spot but also often don’t have obvious pointers…. Thanks John and Teazel

    Edited at 2021-07-30 07:10 am (UTC)

  7. Cryptic definitions can be difficult. The more puzzles you do, the better you get. I tend to hunt for anagrams, hidden words and double definitions. I find insertion clues the most difficult.
    This was a tricky QC, but glad to get gone all correct in half an hour. My mediocre brain spent 10 minutes at the end on MEDIOCRE
    Nice blog
    Thanks setter.
    All correct this week!
    Regards
    Andrew
  8. … with some lovely surfaces. I find Teazel more varied than most — over the now 2 years that I have been doing the QC I have had several DNFs and slow solves on Teazel puzzles, but also a reasonable number of fast finishes. Today was a case of the latter as all done in 8 minutes. And pleasingly the “shrugometer” registered zero for a change for me, though I do agree with John that Tuscany is not exactly what one thinks of as North Italy.

    I found the NW corner the stickiest, with my last 3 being 1A Free vote, which gave the start letters eventually for 3D Vintage car and 4 D Tuscan, my LOI.

    And now on to another Saturday special. Many thanks in advance to John, and for the blog. A good weekend to all
    Cedric

  9. Although I did not finish this one (5 clues remaining after one hour), I enjoyed it so much more than Orpheus’ offering yesterday. Many of the clues yesterday were just pure nonsense to me, making it a rather unenjoyable puzzle.

    However, with this one today, even though there were some clues that eluded me, I did feel that they were just out of my reach. Perhaps if I had more time to dedicate today I would have managed to complete this puzzle. I doubt it though, as I would never had answered CARAVAGGIO. Not a name I am familiar with.

  10. Good puzzle and an OK end go the week, finishing in 13.59, a minute under target. Lots of nice clues; some easy biffs as the crossers emerged but all parsed. SUDANESE, ELONGATE, and MEDIOCRE top my list and my LOI was FREE VOTE. Thanks to both. John M.

    Edited at 2021-07-30 08:44 am (UTC)

  11. FIST, EDDY and TUSCAN led me to a FREE VOTE and off I went. A biffed MODERATE held up CARAVAGGIO. MORTAR put me right there. I was also held up at the end by BEVY and LOI, TURNOVER. 10:44. Thanks Teasel and John.
  12. Fourteen minutes, so well under my usual twenty, two days in a row. FOI seem with a bit of hesitation – could it really be? LOI man of straw, had all the checkers for ages but kept leaving it for later as could not see it, then finally, as there were no others to solve, no distractions, I had to concentrate and find it, and luckily it popped into my brain. I thought I had parsed everything but the blog gave me some nuances I had missed as usual. COD man of straw, then. Not much biology today, only a cow and a chow. Held up for a while by the bevy, router, turnover, crossbow section. Enjoyed the process even though I did wonder at times if I was on for a DNF. Thanks, John and Teazel. GW.
  13. Failed on FREE VOTE, TUSCAN and FIST. All clever tho I too don’t think of Tuscany as N Italy.
    Saw CARAVAGGIO straight away luckily. Liked MORTAR, CROSSBOW, SEARCH ME, SUNDAY BEST, TURNOVER.
    I thought of Bubble Car for champagne but it didn’t fit!
    Thanks all, esp John.

  14. Well I avoided the SCC, coming home in 18 minutes. I thought it might be longer until CARAVAGGIO fell, opening up MEDIOCRE, VINTAGE CAR and in turn FREE VOTE (LOI). I had FREE WILL in my head from first reading 1a, but couldn’t work out what whipping had to do with it. I even considered VOTE but didn’t immediately connect with the cryptic hint, but VINTAGE confirmed it and made me reconsider. Excellent blog and puzzle, thanks both.
  15. At 14 minutes, this was actually my fastest this week — I was just held up by the NW corner at the end, until SUDANESE dawned on me. I always enjoy a Teazel.
  16. Is “the paper” fair for FT? I thought it should have been “a paper” or “paper”.

    Anyway. Cracking good puzzle, much enjoyed. Delayed myself on CARAVAGGIO by not noticing for ages that I had typed MEDICORE.

    FOI FREE VOTE, LOI TURNOVER, COD CROSSBOW, time 09:48 for 1.7K and a Decent Day.

    Many thanks Teazel and John.

    Templar

  17. Missed SCC membership by a whisker today. This was partly because I could not, at first, parse SUDANESE and FIST so hesitated before writing them in. With 14, ROUTER, I was held up by a different reason, that being that, yet again (duh! ), I forgot that “runs” = R, and so was looking for a word that began with R and ended with S, those being the letters at each end of “runs” (“external “). Nope.

    Lots of great clues today. I especially liked MORTAR, SEARCH ME, MAN OF STRAW and TURNOVER.
    Thanks, John, for the blog and thanks, too, to Teazel

  18. I guessed Vintage Car was more likely than Vintage Van but surely one is more likely to transport in a van than a car? Poor clue I thought.
    Play Up Pompey
  19. Needed a break to think about the last couple of clues (SUDANESE & TUSCAN) but a challenging and entertaining puzzle from Teazel.
  20. Nice puzzle which I managed to complete in 16 minutes. Not quite everything parsed though, especially 6dn. Thanks to Teazel and to John for shedding light where there was none.

    FOI – 9ac GOLD
    LOI – 1ac FREE VOTE
    COD – 14ac ROUTER

  21. … Wonders will never cease.

    My first in were GOLD, CARAVAGGIO, MORTAR and WARM, so a reasonable number of across clues to build from when I looked at the downs. Solutions seemed to occur to me fairly regularly and without any significant brain freezes (quite a rarity).

    I tend to find double definitions and cryptic definitions the hardest types of clue to solve, as I either see them or (more likely) I don’t. Today, I saw MAN OF STRAW and FREE VOTE, which left me with VINTAGE _A_ as my LOI. My first thoughts were VAN and then CAR (which, luckily, I went with), but I also alphabet-trawled CAB, JAG and BAG, all of which can’t be ruled out by the clue. So, a rather unsatisfactory clue to finish on, as it has several correct alternative solutions. One to avoid in a competition, I would suggest.

    Mrs Random has just finished in 26 minutes, thereby maintaining her natural advantage in this household, and she also didn’t know why it was VINTAGE CAR.

    Many thanks to Teazel and johninterred.

  22. ….it had to be a car, as explained earlier — nothing else merits its own dictionary entry, although to me a vintage bus is definitely a thing. I needed FREE VOTE before VINTAGE became apparent though.

    Nice puzzle from Teazel — no problems and eyebrows firmly anchored throughout.

    FOI GOLD
    LOI VINTAGE CAR
    COD FREE VOTE
    TIME 3:49

  23. Pleasant joint effort finished in 30m, our target. Quicker on the rhs, finishing in the nw. Solving freevote seemed to unlock the rest. Thanks Teazel and for the blog.
  24. Managed all apart from VINTAGE CAR in around 30 mins. As others mentioned above, really wanted to use van… Otherwise LOI FREE VOTE, FOI CARAVAGGIO (jumped straight out). Enjoyed SUDANESE and MEDIOCRE. Thanks Teazel and John. Off to try and finish yesterday’s QC now — too tired last night and brain was feeling decidedly underpowered!
  25. An enjoyable puzzle from Mr T today, with just about the right level of chew to make it interesting. Came home in 22:56, with LOI VINTAGE CAR going in only after I had finally managed to dredge up FREE VOTE. COD to CROSSBOW I think. Thanks Teazel and John.
  26. Attempted this one late, and wish I hadn’t as I still had about 5 clues to go before I chucked it in after 30 mins.

    Annoyingly, I’ve come across “Free Vote” before and I missed it again. Had some weird idea it was about caning your feet which didn’t help. DNK “Bevy” and put “Body” instead (not trusting the parsing) which scuppered 13dn.

    At least I knew “Caravaggio”, who I am led to believe was a bit of an iffy character in reality.

    FOI — 1dn “Fist”
    LOI — dnf
    COD — 1dn “First” — simple and clever.

    Thanks as usual!

    Edited at 2021-07-30 06:07 pm (UTC)

  27. 17:45

    I thought a PB was a certainty today. After 8 minutes all but 2 were complete. But then I went blank and more than doubled my time to dig out turn over and bevy. Most frustrating!

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