Times Quick Cryptic No 1943 by Orpheus

Author   TheRotterPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
One of my fastest solves for a while at just inside 8 minute, so I expect to see some fast times from the Greyhounds and Whippets.

I noticed a large number of the letter S in the grid on completion, and counting them, found 15 occurrences out of the 114 required letters.  With a frequency distribution of 13.2%, this is about double that expected for the letter S in standard English text.  I just thought you should know that!

Across

7  Thick-skinned type taking fruit by Italian river (5)
HIPPO – HIP (fruit) and PO (seemingly the only river in Italy according to Crosswordland.
8  Traipse around Virginia?  That’s hard work (7)
TRAVAIL – TRAIL (traipse, which can mean to straggle or lag) surrounding (around) VA (standard abbreviation for Virginia).  Travail means excessive labour or toil, but isn’t a word that I hear very often.
10 Genuine as our type, ultimately (7)
SINCERE – SINCE (as, because of) and ouR and typE (ultimately, last letters of).
11  Initially horror and despair engulf sufferers here (5)
HADES – &Lit (or is it Semi &Lit? I can never tell the difference) using first letters (initially) of Horrors And Despair Engulf Sufferers
12 Throw a party – and do some conjuring, perhaps? (9)
ENTERTAIN – Simple Double definition, I think – I can’t see anything else here.
14  Friend having drink knocked back (3)
PAL – LAP (drink) reversed (knocked back)
15  Tree that’s not quite stable (3)
FIR – FIRm (stable), not quite meaning to drop the last letter.
16  Non-Christian minister’s ties misrepresented in section of media (9)
PRIESTESS – Anagram (misrepresented) of [TIES] inside PRESS (section of media).  I wondered about whether or not a Priestess could be Christian, but my Chambers is quite definite – ‘Priestess – a female priest in non-Christian religions’.
18  Church official of greater seniority (5)
ELDER – Double definition
20  Family member spent so recklessly (7)
STEPSON – Anagram (recklessly) of [SPENT SO].
22 Go off at a tangent about son in rented accommodation (7)
DIGRESS – RE (about) and S{on} inside (in) DIGS (rented accommodation).
23 Leader of Mexicans in America less (5)
MINUS – M{exicans} (leader of) IN (in) and US (America).  This is a bit of a clunky surface.

Down

1  Derbyshire town developing leftish creed (12)
CHESTERFIELD – Anagram (developing) of [LEFTISH CREED].
2  Society dramatist welcoming second unmarried woman (8)
SPINSTER – S{ociety} and PINTER (dramatist, Harold, famous for The Birthday Party) and including (welcoming) S{econd}.
3  It’s nothing darling (4)
LOVE – Double definition.
4  In defeat he named a Greek goddess (6)
ATHENA – Hidden answer in {defe}AT HE NA{med}.  ATHENA was the Greek goddess of wisdom.
5 Huge amounts of corporal punishment (8)
LASHINGS – Double definition, reminding me of Billy Bunter and Famous Five stories, ‘… all washed down with lashings of ginger beer’.
6  Palid daughter getting stick (4)
WAND – WAN (palid) and D{aughter}.
9  Lack of enthusiasm, a disadvantage to shoppers? (12)
LISTLESSNESS – Cryptic hint – being without a shopping list could be a disadvantage when shopping.
13  Soldiers go separate ways, initially enjoying easy banter (8)
REPARTEE – RE (soldiers, Royal Engineers) with PART (go separate ways) and E{njoying} E{asy} (initially).
14  Affable countryman crossing lake (8)
PLEASANT – PEASANT (countryman) crossing L{ake}.
17  Demand little sibling enters in time (6)
INSIST – SIS (little sibling – short for sister) inside (enters) IN (in) and T{ime}.
19  Magistrate in Venice finally meeting man’s best friend (4)
DOGE – {venic}E (finally) ‘meeting’ DOG (man’s best friend).  Venice may be doing double duty, as the DOGE was the former name of the Chief Magistrate in Venice and Genoa, so it could also be part of the definition, as well as providing the necessary E.
21  English graduate digesting opening of major novel (4)
EMMA – E{nglish) and MA (graduate, Master of the Arts) containing another M, opening of M{ajor}.  The novel is by Jane Austen and has spawned many dramatizations and films.

55 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1943 by Orpheus”

  1. ….enabling me to finish in 5:36. In many cases, I saw the answer after reading just half of the clue, so certainly not challenging for experienced solvers. Doge, stepson, wand, pleasant – all seen many times before. The only one I struggled with was lashings, and that was just for ten seconds.
  2. Haven’t done one of these for a while, so hard to judge, but it felt like it might have been on the gentler side of average.

    Didn’t parse SINCERE, thanks Rotter. And ENTERTAIN seemed a little odd.

  3. Which I might point out is the time it takes for Verlaine to do the puzzle and make a sandwich.
  4. 8 minutes. Like our blogger I also looked twice at the definition of PRIESTESS as I know that the C of E (which I believe still just about purports to be a Christian organisation) has women priests, but I see that all the usual sources insist that a PRIESTESS is non-Christian, and some say pagan. I wondered if this was the result of recent PC pressures to forbid the use of words like ‘actress’ etc, but apparently it has always been the case.

    Edited at 2021-08-19 06:05 am (UTC)

  5. Definitely on the gentle side as I came in under 15 minutes. I didn’t think I knew any Derbyshire towns, but managed to pull up Chesterfield after getting a couple of across clues. That helped the rest fall into place. I did biff sincere and fir so thanks Rotter for the explantation on those two.

  6. Four days without a 1a — I’m really starting to miss them. Six on the first pass of across on the way to an all green solve in 11m. SINCERE and LOVE held out to the end. Pleased to parse SINCERE but felt a bit dim for needing both checkers for LOVE. Other hold ups had been with PLEASANT where ‘countryman’ had me scratching my head and PRIESTESS where I saw what was going on but what thrown by the S in the middle until more checkers arrived. Going on a train today for the first time in well over a year!
    1. I wouldn’t say that was dim at all — it was my loi 😅 Hope the train ride was pleasant!
  7. FOI: 11a. HADES
    LOI: 6d. WAND
    Time to Complete: 49 minutes
    Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 21
    Clues Answered with Aids: 3
    Clues Unanswered: 0
    Wrong Answers: 0
    Total Correctly Answered (incl. aids): 24/24
    Aids Used: Chambers

    An enjoyable QC with some tricky clues. I managed to get LISTLESSNESS and PRIESTESS quite early on, which helped. CHESTERFIELD had me thinking for longer than I should have. I saw FIELD, but the rest of the letters would not rearrange themselves correctly for some time.

    I answered 10a SINCERE., although much of the clue did not make sense to me, namely “as our type”. However, therotter explained it clearly, and now I see.

  8. I watched Verlaine complete a Times Concise crossword on his Twitch channel. He whipped through that in the same time it takes me answer my first QC clue.
  9. … definitely on the gentler side, with my first sub 6 minutes solve for many months. But not without some nice clues — very much enjoyed 9D Listlessness, not least because it is my turn to do the food shopping today and Mrs S always gives me a copious list and very precise instructions not to deviate from it. She on the other hand shops freehand in true 9D style, or as she puts it, she “just buys what looks nice today”.

    Many thanks to Rotter for the blog
    Cedric

    1. I have to admit to a similar process depending on who’s doing the shopping! And not just what ‘looks nice today’ but does it have a yellow sticker 😄 Super time btw!

      Edited at 2021-08-19 05:07 pm (UTC)

  10. Gentle going but held up at the end by PRIESTESS (the non-christian part threw me) and LISTLESSNESS. Like Mendesest I was surprised to see another grid without a 1a, so I’m guessing tomorrow will make it a full set. Like Rotter I can’t see LASHINGS without thinking of ginger beer and the Famous Five. Finished in 6.39
    Thanks to Rotter
  11. Liked LISTLESSNESS. No problems with anything else but I simply didn’t read the clue for PLEASANT and with all the checkers just bunged in PLEASING after seeing “affable”.

    More haste and all that

    Thanks Orpheus and therotter

  12. Yes gentler and a sub 10 for me which is a rarity. I BIFD many more than I usually do so I suspect it was the generous definitions that made this gentler. Many thanks
  13. A middle-of-a-sleepless night solve, which sent me to sleep afterwards.

    All done except for WAND which I simply couldn’t work out and now wonder why on earth not.

    And, like others, hesitated on PRIESTESS but it couldn’t have been anything else.

    Thank you Orpheus and Rotter.

    Diana

  16. LOVE went in first followed by PO, then HIP joined the PO. Minus brought up the rear at 6:30. Thanks Orpheus and Rotter.
  17. Electronic grid today. I suspect it would have been about 15 on paper. I saw the double duty Venice as well.
    I had forgotten HIP as a fruit.
    Thanks again for puzzle and blog
    BW
    A
  18. A slow start for me but I accelerated as I moved south. Lots of answers dropped out without any fuss as a few crossers emerged. I might have been quicker if I had started from the bottom of the grid but I finished in the NW with clues that were really very straightforward. I ended up just outside target. Looking back, I wonder what my problem was…. Thanks to Orpheus for a good QC and to rotter for a good blog — well done for managing this in almost half my time, rotter. Perhaps having responsibility for the blog sharpens the mind? John M.

    Edited at 2021-08-19 08:38 am (UTC)

  19. 5 minutes so easily a pb. I wonder if my female clergy friends might become known as priestesses in time?
  20. On paper again today, but only because the online paper is unavailable to me for some reason.
    As noted this was easier than previous days.
    I was nearly finished in 8 minutes but was held up by PRIESTESS and LOI REPARTEE where I had been trying to justify RESERVES.
    10 minutes in the end. Could not parse ENTERTAIN which I returned to a number of times.
    David
  21. Thursday outing.

    LOI was PLEASANT, not for any particular reason. I am often affected by LISTLESSNESS when forced to accompany my wife shopping, so that was my COD.

    3:59.

    1. When I go shopping with my husband, he doesn’t enjoy browsing. Is that it, for you, too? 🙂
  22. Given its position, I started by persevering with the anagram at 1d — easy enough once I saw *field — and was then pleased to get all the offspring (albeit via the too tempting ‘and do some’ anagram at 12ac). After that it became a steady anti-clockwise solve, ending up in the NE. A comfortable sub-20 became a bit tighter with the Athena(!) and Travail hold-outs, but I still had a minute to spare at the end. CoD to this former Churchwarden’s Wand. Invariant

    Edited at 2021-08-19 09:57 am (UTC)

  23. At least there was a 1dn! (Even though I couldn’t do it till I had F-E-D at the end …)

    Crikey, some muy rapido times today. There was I feeling quietly pleased. Well done everyone!

    FOI TRAVAIL, LOI & COD LISTLESSNESS (I really liked that, excellent clue), time 07:14 for an estimated 1.5K and a Very Good Day.

    Thanks Orpheus and Rotter.

    Templar

  24. 4:28 this morning. I felt this was on the easier side (as times on the leader board seem to suggest) but got off to a sluggish start.
    Once I had identified the town with the crooked spire at 1d, I picked up speed.
    I’ve noticed I’ve developed a habit of applying “initial letter indicators” to the first following word only, which meant that 11 ac “hades” had to be revisited, at which point it became very obvious.
    COD 8 ac “travail”, a word which has increasingly become associated with my golf game over recent years!
    Thanks to the Rotter for an interesting blog and to Orpheus
  25. Hmmm…seem to be against the trend here. I found this a bit of workout from Orpheus and came in at 25 mins, although upon reflection I’m not exactly sure why.

    The two long clues down each side were fairly straightforward, but I got bogged down with 12ac “Entertain” thinking it was something more than it was. 5dn was a bit of a chestnut, but still took longer than it should have, as did 16ac “Priestess”.

    FOI — 4dn “Athena”
    LOI — 17dn “Insist”
    COD — 13dn “Repartee”

    Thanks as usual!

      1. I went down the mystical, sorcery route — thinking it was some grand wizard or something 😀
  26. Yes this was a quick solve but like Templar I didn’t see CHESTERFIELD for quite some time. I so wanted to put RHINO in for the thick skinned type but it just wouldn’t parse. COD to LISTLESSNESS. My LOI was PRIESTESS in 7:08.
  27. I didn’t find this as easy as Rotter, although several of the solutions were very obvious. Took a while over LOVE, SINCERE & REPARTEE and couldn’t see what conjuring has to do with entertainment.
  28. Another one where we seemed to take ages to get going and, on reflection, I’m not sure why. We’re not at the stage where we recognise all of the old chestnuts (though we did spot one or two) so we still have to solve many of them. However lots to enjoy and we completed the puzzle in 10 minutes.

    FOI: PAL
    LOI: SINCERE
    COD: LISTLESSNESS (although we enjoyed LASHINGS too)

    Thanks Orpheus and Rotter.

  29. Completing on a phone is just not satisfying.

    Last 2 wand and listlessness.
    Cod listlessness.

    Hades is Semi &Lit because of the tacked on “here”which is not part of the wordplay.

  30. Seemed to get through this quite fast with barely a pause but was surprised to find 12 minutes had elapsed at the end. Still quite a fast time for me though. Spent a little time trying to anagram “and do some” at 12ac until 2dn put paid to that, whereupon I saw it quite quickly. No other real difficulties.

    FOI – 8ac TRAVAIL
    LOI – 13dn REPARTEE, but only because it was the last clue I read
    COD – 9dn LISTLESSNESS

    Thanks to Orpheus for the puzzle and Rotter for the blog

  31. My usual twenty minutes, but it felt faster and didn’t seem difficult. FOI travail, LOI priestess. Did not fully parse/semi-biffed sincere, digress, spinster or repartee. Thanks, Rotter, for the full explanations of these, and the rest of the blog, and Orpheus for a friendly puzzle. GW.

  32. 38 mins. Had a lot of blanks after the first run through but then made slow but steady progress. Like others, my last 2 in were LASHINGS and PRIESTRSS. COD to 9d Listlessness which made me chuckle. Thanks to Rotter and Orpheus

  33. I cannot really complain too much today. 18 minutes solve.
    Thanks to Rotter for the blog — as others I couldn’t see why Sincere. (LOI). I thought that both Entertain and Listlessness left a bit of a Hmmm feeling…but otherwise generally fair to middling!
    Thanks all
    John George
  34. Particularly liked 1d as it was definitely a leftish creed seat when Tony Benn was its MP and I believe it is back in the fold now, after a brief flirtation with the Liberal Democrats. Not sure how left wing the current mp is.

    Agree 23d a bit clunky. Could have been “Mexican leader in …”, surely?

    Otherwise, easier than I have found Orpheus to be in the past, an enjoyable 30 mins or so..

    Edited at 2021-08-19 02:01 pm (UTC)

  35. I was surprised to read that most solvers above found this offering from Orpheus relatively easy. Maybe it was, but only when compared to other Orpheus QCs. I experienced a solution-drought around 20 minutes in, when I had about 7 clues still to solve. Three clues in a row – LASHINGS, PRIESTESS and one other (I forget which) – required the last resort approach of an alphabet trawl, but these opened up the grid and my remaining clues then fell quickly. My LOsI were DOGE and DIGRESS, and I finished in 35 minutes.

    Mrs Random continued her excellent run of form with an 18-minutes solve today, and she’s nowjust off to the garden centre to buy something for her Mum’s birthday tomorrow.

    Many thanks to Orpheus and therotter.

  36. Today’s quick cryptic 1943 by orpheus is completely different version from answers given on Times for the Times???
  38. I got off to a speedy start(for me) with Chesterfield only to be stumped by the final hurdle Priestess which I realised was a sort of anagram but sounded Christian and threw me. Hey ho I continue to learn and am eternally grateful to all bloggers and setters.
  39. 11:03, so a good time and by far the best of the week. I agree with others on the sad lack of 1A again.

    peasant/pleasant is a chestnut I think.

    12a ENTERTAIN: This seems a pretty weak clue, or I’m missing something clever

    LOI WAND

    COD LISTLESSNESS : what a great clue

  40. I tried to do the puzzle while waiting in the car as I was early for a funeral but I just couldn’t.
    Now staying at relations the answers came.
    Obviously my mind wouldn’t work earlier.
    Thanks all.
  42. Back with the whippets, just, after a series of slow solves recently. A mostly PLEASANT crossword from Orpheus with a teeny Greek theme going on. I took a little while to get started for some reason but completed in 10 mins. I liked HIPPO and LOVE but thought ENTERTAIN was bit meh. I didn’t parse SINCERE so thanks for that Rotter.
    FOI Pal — and I got that wrong initially by not reading the clue properly and putting Lap in!
    LOI Love — very slow to see what was going on there
    COD Listlessness
    Thanks Orpheus and Rotter
    1. My life would have been easier if I had ever understood what goes on with love !
  43. As a comparative newbies, enjoyed this. Only biffed SINCERE (now I know!). Helped by having lived in Chesterfield. Dave and Sal (never listless when shopping!)

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