Times Quick Cryptic No 1939 by Felix

Author   JohninterredPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Well if this excellent quick crossword from Felix made you toil and trouble, the setter will have achieved his objective. Lots of lovely deceptively hidden definitions, and neat wordplay and surfaces. I particularly enjoyed 10A, 13D and 17D. A little trickier than an average QC, if my time of just under 6 minutes is anything to go by. And as for the clever theme… can you spot it? Lovely stuff. Thank-you Felix. How did you all get on?

Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is Phil’s turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the latest crossword 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 Skin of panther spotted, killed for food (6)
PREYED – Outside letters, “skin of”, PantheR, EYED (spotted).
5 Modern, heavyweight physicist (6)
NEWTON – NEW (modern) TON (heavyweight). Sir Isaac of the law of gravitation fame.
8 Don’t need to be arranged in a row (3,2,3)
END TO END – (don’t need)* “to be arranged”. Nice surface.
9 Defensive blunder by father leaves one hopping! (4)
FROG – FR (father) OG (own goal; defensive blunder).
10 Scent something sometimes blown in your face? (4)
NOSE – Double definition. The second a witty cryptic hint.
11 Unusual for a clef to get lost (5,3)
CLEAR OFF – (for a clef)* “unusual”. You would have a hard time pitching the music if the clef was lost, so it’s a good job it’s unusual.
12 Decent time obtained in pursuit (6)
CHASTE – T (time) inside, “obtained in”, CHASE (pursuit).
14 Venomous types putting two and two together? (6)
ADDERS – Cryptic definition.
16 Birds and pigs messed with lawn (8)
LAPWINGS – (pigs, lawn)* “messed with”.
18 Bait Mike put on end of line, twisting (4)
WORM – M (Mike in the NATO phonetic alphabet) after, “put on end of”, ROW (line), “twisting” -> WOR.
20 Building toy stage, round (4)
LEGO – LEG (stage) O (round letter).
21 Craziest club: try to get one admitted (8)
BATTIEST – BAT (club) TEST (try) containing, “to get … admitted”, I (one).
23 Language employed by Sheraton guest (6)
TONGUE – Hidden in, “employed by”, SheraTON GUEst.
24 Tenacious, if troubled (6)
DOGGED – Double definition.
Down
2 Upset, and not to perform musical piece (5)
RONDO – NOR (and not) “upset” -> RON, DO (perform).
3 Treaty’s set for continuous talks (7)
YATTERS – (treaty’s)* “set”. I’d not seen YATTER as a noun before, but it’s pukka.
4 Deserts peer, abandoning king (3)
DUE – DUkE (peer) “abandoning” the K (king). Due as in one’s rights, or what is owed to one.
5 Danger! Bus damaged car bumpers (5,4)
NUDGE BARS – (Danger bus)* “damaged”. Not a phrase I was familiar with, but obvious enough. “A nudge bar is constructed in a lightweight aluminium tubing or polycarbonate and designed to provide minimal protection against minor front-end collisions, scratches and bumps.”
6 Fighting to get hold of iron that’s very thin (5)
WAFER – WAR (fighting) outside, “to get hold of”, FE (chemical symbol for iron).
7 One for free initially being flogged at a reduced price? (2,5)
ON OFFER – (one for + f)*, Free “initially”, “being flogged”.
11 Tend to put in thick rope that can be washed (9)
CLEANABLE – LEAN (tend) in CABLE (thick rope).
13 Own house containing opening for electric lift! (5,2)
HEAVE HO – HAVE (own) HO (house) “containing” “opening for” Electric. Nice one.
15 Where some Cambridge students are drinking (7)
DOWNING – No not the name of a pub in Cambridge… Double definition, the first referring to the Cambridge College.
17 Abuse was rained on new girl at first (5)
WRONG – The verb. Was Rained On New Girl “at first”. Neatly deceptive surface.
19 Girl got up around one (5)
ROSIE – ROSE (got up) “around” I (one).
22 Little thanks given to daughter (3)
TAD – TA (thanks) D (daughter).

51 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1939 by Felix”

  2. I can’t remember what slowed me down, although NUDGE BARS was new to me. Maybe I was just sluggish all around. 8:01.
    2. The puzzle took me 12 minutes to solve but I was somewhat longer finding anything out of the ordinary as we have come to expect from Felix of late.

      Read details of today’s Nina by clicking:
      [Hidden…]

      Today’s theme is from the Three Witches scene in Macbeth (Act IV, Scene I).

      The references I found, all in the Acrosses were:
      1 & 5 EYE (of) NEWT
      8 & 9 TOE (of) FROG
      10 NOSE (of Turk)
      11 has EAR, and I’d have sworn that ‘ear’ was in the mix somewhere but unless I’m going blind it isn’t, at least in my edition.
      Nothing at all in 12 unless you count (blinded) C{h}A{s}T{e} !
      14 ADDER(‘s fork)
      16 (howlet’s} WING
      18 {blind-)WORM(‘s sting)
      20 (lizard’s) LEG
      21 (wool of) BAT
      23 & 24 TONGUE (of) DOG
      There’s no ‘skin of panther’ in the recipe but it’s quite neat that the clue at 1ac gives a nod to what’s in store.

      Have I missed anything?

      Edited at 2021-08-13 01:11 pm (UTC)

  3. ….or maybe I’m getting better, at 6:58. Nudge bars an unknown, but it was the only possible answer; everything else was pretty straightforward. I don’t see anything much that would stump the SCC, but we shall see.

  4. I found this quite a challenge, particularly the northeast where 1 AC took a while. The first 3 down clues all gave me pause for thought & I only really understood 2d & 4d from the blog. I always thought just deserts was like pudding which threw me a bit. Had also never heard of nudge bars. I’m over 20 minutes today so firmly in SCC territory.

  5. Found this very hard going, and came up on my 20 min cut-off with -O-E for a double def at 10A. With dozens of words to try, I eventually threw in the towel.

    Some pretty tough clues in there: RONDO was not known,(I was confusing it with Rondeau). NHO NUDGE BARS or YATTERS or EYED=spotted. Was surprised to see LEGO® in there (and they are very protective of their trademark). Also for us Red Brick graduates, DOWNING college seems an obscure bit of GK.

  6. Our time of 15 minutes wasn’t particularly fast but it was an excellent QC and great fun to solve. A great mix of clues that kept us entertained.

    FOI: NEWTON
    LOI: PREYED
    COD: NOSE

    Thanks Felix and John.

  7. Struggled in lots of places today after a fast start. A pink square for ‘heave to’ which I remember not being comfortable with at the time. Having done the hard work to get ‘heave’ I’m not sure why ‘ho’ from ‘house’ was beyond me. Loved FROG which held me up to the end — became fixated on ‘fool’ or ‘foot’ as well as ‘father’ being ‘pa’. Always held up by DOGGED where I failed to pronounce the words differently so the double definition held me up. Found the cryptic for RONDO hard but I’d heard of one so I bunged it in. Massive groan for DOWNING — I once had a meeting with an academic there only to find the meeting had been moved to nearby pub where the he was enjoying oysters and champagne with a group of adoring students.
  8. The top half went in without too many problems but the bottom proved much more obdurate. HEAVE HO, LAPWINGS, WRONG, WORM AND LOI DOWNING all took time to unravel.
    I had a look for a theme when I saw Felix’s name and a second look after John’s prompt but it was far too clever for me.
    Just snuck in under target in 9.52, which I was pleased with and my favourite was FROG.
    Thanks to John and Felix
  9. Having gawped slack-jawed at _E_O for 5 minutes.

    I was looking for a NHO 3 letter word for “toy stage”, and for the whole thing to be a kind of building. If only I’d pushed “building” and “toy” together.

    Never a hope of getting the NINA despite having to do Macbeth many years ago at school.

    DNF.

  10. 25 min without parsing worm or rondo (NHO and had to check definition) For novices like me the wordplay was less obvious with new devices for word reversals and left field cryptics that were as plain as that thing on one’s face. Enjoyable and testing. Many thanks as ever
  11. Quite difficult. Got WORM only after blog revealed Downing which isn’t a familiar college.
    Clever NINA which I missed, of course.
    Liked NEWTON, LEGO. Guessed Frog
    Thanks all as ever, esp John.
  12. Got nowhere with this one. Too difficult for me, and not at all enjoyable. Try again next week.
    1. Please try my weekend offering, and let me have your feedback. You should find it more straightforward than this one.
  13. DNF … FLOPped on 9A …
    … which I suspected was wrong even as I put it in. But by then I was well over my usual time, even for a puzzle by Felix. A real challenge, and like many I NHO 5D Nudge bars, and was surprised by 20A Lego. 15D Downing also took time — and Cambridge was my alma mater!

    On the other hand I did, for once, spot the NINA. This happens only very rarely, so I declare it a Good Day despite the pink squares.

    Many thanks John for the blog, and I look forward to the Saturday Special tomorrow. A good weekend to all.
    Cedric

    Edited at 2021-08-13 09:02 am (UTC)

  14. Just avoided the SCC at 19:35, but never saw the Nina despite looking for one — I’m just not classical enough. LOI RONDO which I thought was a poem, but I see that it is also a musical composition. Only the vaguest recollection of NUDGE BARS, which I think are an alternative name for bull bars, or at least, I thought they were). I liked WAFER and CHASTE. Thanks both, and well-spotted, like the panther!

    Edited at 2021-08-13 09:04 am (UTC)

  15. Didn’t spot the nina until it was spelled out. Started with PREYED and worked my way around the grid, finishing with the unknown DOWNING. Managed to keep within my target though. I usually find Felix’s puzzles on the tricky side. 9:14. Thanks Felix and John.
  16. Having returned from holiday yesterday, an enjoyable solve on paper with a cup of tea-about 15 minutes.
    Did not spot the nina and still haven’t as not all comments read yet.
    FOI was TAD;LOI DOGGED. Favourites were FROG,END TO END and NEWTON.
    DNK NUDGE BARS.
    David
  17. ….’the Scottish play’, so that the NINA was in vain, the puzzle didn’t cause me any real problems, although NHO NUDGE BARS. I did this on my tablet, so my time might well have been sub 4 minutes on paper.

    FOI PREYED
    LOI NOSE
    COD DOGGED
    TIME 4:13

  19. Did this communally with some young relatives on a train to Edinburgh for my parents’ diamond wedding party, so no time. COD agreed as FROG by democratic vote.

    John/Phil — I’m afraid I won’t be able to blog the Saturday special this week because I’ll be out of radio contact. Sorry!

    Templar

  20. After yesterday’s crowd-pleaser from Trelawney we have a setter’s puzzle from Felix. Which is fair enough I suppose.

    Most of the NINA grids seem to come with some obscure clues, and this is no different. I bet you all sixpence that you’ve never used the words YATTERS or NUDGE BARS before in real life? The latter of which gave me a DNF as I stared at it for ages before giving up and using the “reveal word” option.

    Ah well. I’m sure I’ll enjoy Phil’s offering tomorrow. Have a nice weekend everyone.

    Edited at 2021-08-13 11:35 am (UTC)

    1. The sixpence is in doubt, as I have definitely referred to Mrs R ‘yattering on endlessly’, although I admit, never in her hearing!
      1. A postal order is on its way. I’ve used chattering, nattering, twittering, prattling, but I’ve never once heard someone say yattering. Still, you live and learn 😀
  21. 20 mins for me, although it was a 50/50 toss up whether 9ac was “Frog” or “Flop”. Luckily I picked the former, although I never really parsed it.

    NHO of 5dn “Nudge Bars” — sounded more like something Cadbury’s would make, and it took a while to understand the right definition of 4dn.

    FOI — 5ac “Newton”
    LOI — 9ac “Frog”
    COD — 10ac “Nose”

    Thanks as usual!

  22. Very difficult today. NHO NUDGE BARS and DNK DOWNING as a college. Biffed FROG as I couldn’t parse OG. Both the LAPWINGS and CLEAR OFF anagrams took longer than they should have. At least I can see the NINA now that it’s existence has been pointed out. 12:14
  23. Newton was a good old Trinity man so I was looking for more Cambridge/college related fare — especially with Downing — so I was way off the Macbeth scent…

    Very tricky for me this one — especially in the NW corner. LOI Rondo — vaguely heard of. Preyed, Yatters, Nose, Due all took time as did On Offer which I didn’t like(!)

    Annoyed that Adders didn’t spring to mind either.

    But I quite enjoyed this challenge so…
    Thanks all
    John George

  24. Thoroughly enjoyable and seemed to be taking a long time but I just squeaked inside 10mins. Didn’t see the nina so thanks to those who pointed it out.
  25. Yup like others it beat me. Couldn’t do the top left corner at all. The rest was fine apart from heave ho. Which I don’t think I would ever have got. Liked lots of the clues I got. Thanks all. Fred.
  26. This was well beyond my level of competence, I’m afraid. I gave up after 68 minutes of very hard graft, still with several clues unsolved, unparsed or incorrect.

    RONDO: NHO this term and could not parse
    HEAVE HO: I thought of this (and HEAVE TO), but could not parse
    BATTIEST: I put DOTTIEST (DOT for club/hit)
    CLEANABLE: Unsolvable, as I thought I was correct with DOTTIEST
    DOWNING: Correct, but a pure guess, as Oxbridge colleges are in a different world to mine
    PREYED, DUE, FROG, NOSE, WORM: All took aeons to crack.

    Mrs Random has spotted my dejection and has (probably wisely) decided to defer her attempt until sometime over the weekend. She doesn’t want to compound my gloom by knocking it off in double-quick time.

    Thanks to Felix and to johninterred.

  27. I feel like I did a different puzzle from everyone else! I didn’t particularly enjoy it and couldn’t see the nina (of course). I studied Macbeth endlessly at school but it was so long ago that little remains, just the Tomorrow and tomorrow speech, and that’s about it! I thought I’d be sitting in Horryd’s premier coach class today with an 11 minute solve but am in fact still at the bus stop, as I got HEAVE HO wrong — no wonder I couldn’t parse it. And I didn’t parse FROG either. Not one of my best days 😕
    FOI Newton
    LOI Lego
    COD Nothing really jumped out at me
    Thanks Felix and John — sorry to be a grump

    Edited at 2021-08-13 05:31 pm (UTC)

  28. An annoying puzzle.

    I also had to contend with my wife saying “If these puzzles are so annoying, why do you keep doing them?” So wise! Plus she got nearly all the ones I couldn’t do!

    In the end, between us, we got all of them except FROG. I think lack of football knowledge was an issue here.

    Edited at 2021-08-13 05:14 pm (UTC)

    1. Sounds like Mrs Puzzled has the same outlook and the same encouraging way with words as Mr Random. It’s hard to argue with, I’ve found — but I still keep trying (and losing).
  29. Well I see our setter did indeed cause some bemusement. But I’d just like to point out that the Nina is well worth looking for and finding. Read all about the inspiration here. Thank-you again Felix!
  30. So frustrating. After severe struggles with the 15×15 lately, I’ve “retreated” here, which I don’t mean to be insulting but these usually match my ability. Except today, which was flippin’ tricky and made me think, “Is it me?” A real challenge. FOI 5Ac NEWTON, LOI DOWNING and only because nothing else fitted; didn’t understand the how or why until coming here. NHO – what was it – NUDGE BARS? And as for the Nina, totally over my head. All in a time of approx 30 minutes. Sometimes these things just make me feel more stupid….
  31. Way too hard for me – 7 clues unsolved. In 4d I would expect deSSerts rather than deserts if the parsing is correct.
    1. Due reward or punishment, something deserved. Freq. in get one’s deserts, have one’s deserts, meet with one’s deserts, etc. LME.
        1. Perhaps I’m being thick but I don’t understand your point. Perhaps you could start again and explain it fully from the beginning?

          Edited at 2021-08-15 05:29 am (UTC)

          1. Thanks, but not really, as I’m perfectly clear on the meanings of the two words, but I was (am still) under the impression that anon was suggesting there’s something wrong with the clue and answer, and I’m at a loss as to what that’s supposed to be.
  32. I did most of this very quickly whilst waiting in the car for my son but he came back just before I completed it. FROG was the only gap. I came back to it tonight, 15 hours later and still didn’t see it. Daft clue. John M.
  33. I found this tough, and didn’t see the theme. Manage all bar the SW corner yesterday morning, then had to go to Gloucestershire and pick up my son. Then after looking at it again, polished off LAPWING, HEAVE HO and LEGO very quickly.
    I often find leaving a puzzle for a bit and then coming back to it helps
    Regards
    A
    1. Normally having a breather works for me too, but not today! Struggled with FROG (kept trying to make ‘flea’ work…) NOSE and HEAVE HO. I was very slow to get going and never really felt on the right wavelength. Didn’t spot the NINA, but then I wasn’t really looking! Gave up during my second sitting which is quite rare for me. Many thanks to John for the explanations, and to Felix. A bit too tricky for me but still very enjoyable. If I found them easy I wouldn’t keep coming back for more!

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