Times Quick Cryptic No 1958 by Pedro

58 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1958 by Pedro”

1. Enjoyed but did not ‘Obtain’ a good time

   Overall loved this one, although like many others I could not parse ‘Pasta’. Now I get it I am chuckling.

   ‘Obtain’ was a DNF for me as I did not know ‘tin’ as money or ‘ob’ as old boy. Perhaps I went to the wrong school 😉.

   Agree with others that the ‘Here’s’ at the start of 15d is clunky. Better clue might have been simply ‘A politician before current measure’ which works well in my view.

   COD ‘Lobster’ for the lovely surface.

   Thanks Pedro and Roly.

2. …..also I meant to add – could anyone explain please how 13a works? I get that ‘in law’ is ‘legally’ but wouldn’t ‘sons’ give us two s’s on the end rather than the one required? Thx

   1. I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe (as per the blog) it’s just a shorthand for “son” and the singular/plural is irrelevant.

      There are quite a few words used in crosswords that are abbreviated to just their first letter. For example, in some grids you will see “with” just shortened to “w”.

      1. Thanks, it probably is that simple. However, in my experience of several years of QCs the singular/plural is followed specifically. So you would see ‘sons’ used to indicate double s. I can’t think of a use in language where ‘s’ might mean more than one son.

         1. If that’s the case then I’m not sure. Sometimes the clueing can be a little tenuous.
         2. Chambers and Lexico both have s. for son(s). I think to clue ss it would have to be specified as “two sons”. I’m sure we’ve has TT for two times, for example. And only in yesterday’s 15×15, daughters was used to clue d. The only instance I can think of it being used is in something like a genealogical record: s. 0, d. 2, type thing. But I take your point – I’ve just come to accept there are a ton of abbreviations and take it on trust that they exist outside crosswords!
            1. “Sons” can be parsed as s or ss (or sss, etc).
               See QC 667 by the late great Flamande for this counter example:

               Festival finished after meeting between father and sons (8)

               Edited at 2021-09-09 11:36 pm (UTC)

               1. 
                  Aah very good, great spot – I stand corrected. (Sorry for late reply btw, just saw this now)
3. Technically a DNF as I transposed the I and E in Aerialist. Another struggle outside my 20 minute target not helped by not seeing bedtime story until I had the checkers.
4. Dave and Sal thought this really hard and much harder than some recently . For example CHAGRIN stumped us for a long time having to come up with two new words. NHO tin for money nor aerialist. Fingers crossed for a better time tomorrow.
5. What a strange puzzle! It took me a while to find anywhere to start then I biffed nearly every clue finishing in under half an hour — not bad for me on a difficult puzzle but I had no idea how most of the clues worked. And I spelled 3D airealist which I DNK. Thank you Roly for explaining it all and to Pedro for what seemed to me an unusual puzzle.
   FOI in-laws
   LOI lunacy
   COD pasta
   Blue Stocking
6. Someone just said ‘KV’ as a warning in an ancient recording of ‘Allo ‘Allo !
   1. I imagine they said ‘cave’, which is pronounced ‘cavy’ (or KV). (Or was; ODE marks it as ‘dated’.)
      1. Yes, I would pronounce Cave/beware as Kah-vey but sons confirm they said KV at school though they all knew the Latin.

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