Times Quick Cryptic No 1948 by Tracy

Author   rolytolyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I spent a long time staring at my final two (5d and 10ac) before taking a break, and saw them fairly quickly on my return. So 13-ish minutes, in total, if you don’t include the intermediary whirrings of the subconscious. This would have been the perfect occasion to notice the puzzle was looking very much like a pangram, what with the Z and the J and the like, which it duly became after I was able to dredge up a four letter word for ‘gave up’. Hmn… they never seem that tricky after the fact, do they? Good fun – many thanks to Tracy!

Across
1 Hit wood on Birkdale’s first (4)
BASH – ASH (wood) on B (Birkdale’s “first”)
3 Taken by surprise, the old lady retired, exhausted (8)
AMBUSHED – MA (the old lady) retired/reversed, BUSHED (exhausted)
8 Thick soup cowherd prepared (7)
CHOWDER – anagram (prepared) of COWHERD
10 Completely gave up nicotine at the end (5)
QUITE – QUIT (gave up) E (nicotinE “at the end”). This is the original sense of the word. The OED has a 2001 quote from the Times, “The self-praise and gross exaggeration which we have come to expect from him had quite disappeared.” I wonder who they were talking about?
11 Love a rye — buy supply, with permission from you (2,4,5)
BY YOUR LEAVE – anagram (supply) of LOVE A RYE BUY. “Supply”, as the anagram indicator, being the adverb of “supple”.
13 Toy weapon on edge of seat (6)
TRIFLE – RIFLE (weapon) on T (“edge” of seaT)
15 Talk at length about GI’s cryptic puzzle (6)
JIGSAW – JAW (talk at length) about/going around an anagram (cryptic) of GI’S
17 Remarkable bar next to Hebridean island lake (11)
EXCEPTIONAL – EXCEPT (bar/save) next to IONA (Hebridean island) L(ake)
20 Large Italian male, loose-limbed (5)
LITHE – L(arge) IT(alian) HE (male)
21 Downfall caused by murder in a French gîte, primarily (7)
UNDOING – DO IN (murder) in UN (a, French) and G (Gîte, “primarily”)
22 Jewel box presented by King Lear, Cordelia ultimately rejected (8)
SPARKLER – SPAR (box) presented by K(ing) with LEaR (cordeliA “ultimately” rejected)
23 Enthusiasm shown during quizzes there (4)
ZEST – “shown during” quiZES There

Down
1 Talk spitefully about side with incisiveness (8)
BACKBITE – BACK (side with) BITE (incisiveness)
2 Anecdote beginning to shock Conservative (5)
STORY – S (“beginning” to Shock) TORY (Conservative)
4 Extra short on top of beer brings confidence (6)
MORALE – MORE (extra) short = ditch the last letter, on top of ALE (beer)
5 Downright incompetent? (11)
UNQUALIFIED – a quality double definition
6 Woman who expects to succeed? (7)
HEIRESS – cryptic definition, with a pun on succeeding.
7 Left after outstanding contest (4)
DUEL – L(eft) after DUE (outstanding)
9 Large drink on American’s bill to verify (6-5)
DOUBLE-CHECK – DOUBLE (“large drink”) on CHECK (American’s bill = cheque)
12 Mean to collect brief legal document towards the end of the day? (8)
TWILIGHT – TIGHT (mean/miserly) to collect WILL (“brief” legal document)
14 Lethargy shown in Iran tie, unexpectedly (7)
INERTIA – anagram (unexpectedly) of IRAN TIE
16 Trim conifer (6)
SPRUCE – double definition
18 One is blown to produce sound (5)
NOISE – anagram (blown) of ONE IS
19 Luxurious hotel not appearing to give credit (4)
PLUS – PLUSh (luxurious, Hotel not appearing)

42 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1948 by Tracy”

  1. ….because I checked every answer, being determined to avoid typos, but not a great performance. I do have trouble seeing answers with a Q in them! But it was actually the chestnut trifle that I couldn’t think of for nearly a minute.

    Mr T, you’re a word short in in the anagrist for by your leave.

  2. Straightforward, except that I totally missed the wordplay on NOISE; I thought of ‘one is blown’=NOSE; something seemed wrong about that, but I never went back to it. 5:41.
  3. Held up by JIGSAW – then I saw the pangram at last, which is unusual in a QC methink? Time 15:15mins

    FOI 1ac BASH some reverse engineering required

    LOI 12dn TWILIGHT couldn’t see the ‘TW’ combo

    COD 13ac TRIFLE more reverse engineering required

    WOD 8ac CHOWDER but few interesting words from Tracy – hampered perhaps by the alphabetic gymnastics?

    Good stuff though!

    1. Yes, I’d have thought so as well – a quick (and maybe not completely accurate) LJ search shows 10 pangrams in the 15×15 and 12 in the QC over the last four years, so a fairly even balance.
  4. This was a puzzle of two halves for me. Everything LH apart from the long word at 17ac was a write-in but the RH was much more tricky, especially the cryptic GI’s at 15ac. 13 minutes, making this the second consecutive day I have missed my target after a long run of successes.
  5. Nothing overly held me up today for a change.

    Liked MORALE and SPARKLER

    Thanks Rolytoly and Tracy

  6. All done in less than half yesterday’s time at 10 and a bit. Like Vinyl I took a while over LOI TRIFLE and like Kevin bunged in NOISE on the strength of nose blowing — although I did have all three checkers when it went in — so easy when Roly explains it!. TWILIGHT was tricky.
  7. FOI: 11a. BY YOUR LEAVE
    LOI: 6d. HEIRESS
    Time to Complete: 55 minutes
    Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 20
    Clues Answered with Aids: 4
    Clues Unanswered: 0
    Wrong Answers: 0
    Total Correctly Answered (incl. aids): 24/24
    Aids Used: Chambers

    I found the first half of this puzzle to be quite easy, but then I ground to a halt, with the last 4 really stretching my capabilities. In the end I had to open Chambers four times. At 55 minutes I am a little disappointed. However, it’s a solve with no errors. I see Verlaine is top of the board for the QC today. I always dismiss Abramowitz’s score. I am never convinced that theirs is an honest score.

      1. When I have time, I transfer my solve to the crossword club site, and I always take about abramowitz’s time, i.e. 1:30 to 1:40 to physically type in the answers.

        However, I then wait until my actual time before pressing submit..

    2. The fastest genuine solver today was Mohn – he used to blog here before he got too busy at work. He also wrote the JavaScript that the bloggers use to generate blog skeletons.
  8. TRIFLE last one in. Had to break off puzzle to make a GP appointment- you have to phone immediately after 0800 to stand a chance getting one. I thought at one point my BACKBITE might be wrong.
    Nice puzzle and blog
    BW
    Andrew
  9. I was also held up at the end by 5d and 10a, and that delay took me over my target time. I started off with BASH and didn’t have too much trouble, apart from EXCEPTIONAL, for which I needed all the crossers. I saw the anagram for NOISE. I missed the pangram as usual. Eventually submitted at 11:06. Thanks Tracy and Roly.
  10. My heart sank at the first read through, but I attacked it with vigour and checkers and eventually put my stylus down with a sigh of satisfaction.

    Too many were clever to enable me to pick out a single one, so just a large thank you both, Tracy and Roly.

    Diana

  11. The left side went in quickly but I met all sorts of hurdles on the right. My last ones in were AMBUSHED and HEIRESS. UNQUALIFIED took a while, as did JIGSAW (nice clues). I was well into the SCC today and found something a bit disjointed about the puzzle. It was almost like a re-run of yesterday when things just didn’t flow as usual — as if the setter was working in a slightly unnatural way.
    All became clear when Roly pointed out that it was a pangram. I do wish setters would resist the temptation to be very clever and produce pangrams, Ninas, and the like. They do distort puzzles. John M.
    1. If you look at all the answers, there is nothing really that unusual here – maybe jigsaw for puzzle. The times of the top solvers show that they didn’t find anything hard. I think it was mostly the cryptics that might have been a bit more difficult – I can’t really see why this one took me nearly twice as long as the presidential puzzle.
      1. I don’t know about the US, but here in the UK JIGSAW and ‘puzzle’ fit together very easily. The problem with that clue, at least for me, was the unexpected partial anagram indicated by ‘cryptic’ which alongside ‘puzzle’ took my train of thought into completely the wrong direction. Very good clue though.
  12. … with a few write-ins but many quality clues I thought, and several really quite intricate ones, such as 22A Sparkler. All done in just under 14 minutes, which is above my average for Tracy.

    Many thanks to Roly for the blog — and having spotted the pangram, I’m quite surprised to learn that there have been only 12 in the QC in the last 4 years. They seem more frequent than one every 3 months.
    Cedric

  13. ….the pangram, but I suspect it was partly to blame for me finding this more than a little difficult. I was well over target.

    FOI AMBUSHED
    LOI QUITE
    COD NOISE
    TIME 6:46

  14. I’m another who found the LHS relatively straightforward but the RHS much more tricky. UNDOING, UNQUALIFIED, JIGSAW, AMBUSHED and LOI MORALE all took some figuring out. Loved the surface for EXCEPTIONAL but it’s pipped to COD by QUITE. An enjoyable 8.39 solve.
    Thanks to Rolytoly
  15. FOI BASH and a quick start. But like others, some delays. TRIFLE took me an age. And my last two, JIGSAW and TWILIGHT moved the clock to 15 minutes.
    A good tricky puzzle. COD NOISE, but lots of good ones.
    David
  16. UNQUALIFIED and then QUITE were the two that held me up.

    Didn’t see the pangram. Stuff like that never really bothers me as long as the cluing is fair, which it seemed today.

    I did like EXCEPTIONAL and NOISE.

    7:38

  17. Just outside the target time, hence no historical allusion (maybe “2314 Britain leaves Kabul to end Eleventh Afghan War”)

    Top half acrosses went in fast but was slowed up by several tougher ones. Short anagrams such as GIS for “IGS” are quite rare, and tricky to deal with.

    At 12D I had MIGHT=”mean to” so “Midnight” looked possible if there was some Latin Legal document I didn’t know.

    I got in a mess with “YE”=”you old” at 3A (AMBUSHED)

    LOI SPARKLER as could not make sense of the clue. SAFE for “jewel box” looked possible, so took a long time to “lift and separate”. Not even sure which end to look at for the definition, with Shackled (=”rejected”?) fitting all checkers at the end. COD for great misdirection.

  18. I was well into SCC territory with this one although, now that it’s completed, I’m not sure why. Of course, I didn’t see the pangram — if I had, I would have got QUITE a bit sooner.
    One thing — and nobody else has asked this so it must be me being thick — but I’m not altogether sure why PLUS equals credit. Is it a banking / ledger thing?
    Many thanks to blogger and setter
    2. As an accountant, it’s not a specific accountancy term — however, “it’s a plus” is an expression that could be synonymous with “to give credit” or “a bonus.”
  19. When I put in the last letter I was expecting a time around 7 mins and was really surprised by what came up; it had felt faster than that, with only three of the acrosses left after first pass and then all the downs going straight in. However, I had had to write out the anagrist for BY YOUR LEAVE and I think that that represents a real delay.

    Anyway, still just within target and on a Tracy that always feels like good news, since his puzzles are always good and fair but tough. Great fun.

    FOI BASH, LOI SPARKLER (was looking for a “jewel box” … straight into the trap), COD EXCEPTIONAL, time 09:45 for 1.7K and a Good Day.

    Many thanks Tracy and roly.

    Templar

  20. I was left with the same two as our blogger at the end and wished I’d paid more attention to the pangram as the ‘Q’ of quite would have been in earlier. As it was I was not QUITE over my 10 minute target – coming in with 18 seconds to spare. COD for the smile undoing gave me when I clocked murder was do in. Thanks all.
  21. 32 mins for me — spent a bit longer than I normally would as I’m currently on the bone shaker diesel travelling up the west coast of Cumbria, so I thought I’d keep going past my normal cut off time. (Plus I kept getting distracted by the views)

    Enjoyed this and thought there were some nice clues — including 3ac “Ambushed”, 12dn “Twilight” and 15ac “Jigsaw”. Main hold up was in the NE corner with 5dn “Unqualified” and 10ac “Quite” taking longer than they should have. 22ac “Sparkler” felt a little convoluted.

    FOI — 1ac “Bash”
    LOI — 5dn “Unqualified”
    COD — 17ac “Exceptional”

    Thanks as usual!

    1. That’s a great train trip, though when I did it it was slightly spoiled by the filthiest windows ever seen on a train, rendering the views somewhat difficult to appreciate (or even see).
      Cedric
      1. I can happily report they were clean for once.

        Unfortunately the train was rammed from Workington onwards due to the races at Carlisle, so the latter third was an uncomfortable experience (not that there’s too much to see once you turn inland)

  22. The pangram definitely helped me on the way to an 11 minute finish. Once I spotted a selection of more unusual letters, I realised only Q was missing – that helped with 5d and 10a (both great clues I thought) and speeded things up a bit. Funnily enough, I had the opposite experience to Templar on 11a – I saw the answer before I’d finished reading the clue. That doesn’t happen very often! TWILIGHT, SPARKLER and PLUS took a while. SPRUCE has often been my UNDOING in the past, but today I remembered it – QUITE EXCEPTIONAL!
    FOI Bash
    LOI Plus
    COD Noise – very nifty
    Many thanks Tracy for the fun and Roly for a great blog

    Funny about the neutrinos – they post their AMAAAZING times on the clubsite but NEVER visit here. Strange that 😉

    Edited at 2021-08-26 11:16 am (UTC)

    1. See above – the fastest real solvers are Verlaine, Mohn, Aphis, and Jason. The famous Magoo apparently doesn’t do the Quickie, but would post a similar time. All have posted here except for Jason, but he did very well at the Times Crossword Championships, when they were held.
      1. Sorry if I didn’t make it clear — I was reacting to PW’s comment! Probably should have replied under his post. The Snitch certainly makes it very clear who are the genuine solvers 😊
  23. Had to look up Downright which gave me UNQUALIFIED and hence Undoing. But QUITE dim of me to miss 10a.
    Started off really well in top half and SW but SPARKLER took a while. ZEST easy. TWILIGHT unparsed gave me JIGSAW.
    Wish I had noticed Pangram. Oh dear, I see biffed Marble instead of MORALE. Silly mistake.
    But a good puzzle. Thanks, Roly, as failed to parse several. Liked Do In for murder.

    Edited at 2021-08-26 11:38 am (UTC)

  24. 6:10 this morning, over target due to a “brain freeze” at the 5d “unqualified” / 10 ac “quite” crossing. Funny how the neural circuitry sometimes refuses to connect for whatever reason!
    Needless to say didn’t spot the pangram through the red mist!
    Thought this was a typical Tracy QC — testing in parts but very fair.
    COD 22 ac “Sparkler” where the need to separate jewel and box was of course essential.
    Thanks to Roly for the blog and the pangram spot and Tracy.
  25. Very hard and another DNF – TWILIGHT and PLUS proved too much and aids needed for a couple of others. Thought some clues very convoluted.
  27. Tackled this earlier this morning, but was then out for nearly all the day, so these comments are very belated. Like others, the 5d/10ac combination was my last pair and responsible for about five of the 26mins I took to do Tracy’s puzzle. A tricky enough pair, but my real problem was writing Heriess for Heiress. I only realised my mistake when I was left with Qur*e for ‘completely’. CoD to 22ac, Sparkler, which was quite a challenge until I corrected 19d, T(h)ick. Invariant

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