Times Quick Cryptic No 2058 by Teazel

Author   rolytolyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I found this tough, and persevered beyond 20 minutes as I thought it might be nice to actually finish a crossword this week. Alas, I threw in the towel at 23 minutes and clicked on 23ac, made trickier by being a bit unsure of 19d. Tricky all around, in fact, and the grid was half full half empty at the ten minute mark. 1ac, 9ac, 3d and 16d also held me up towards the (notional) end. Lots to like, I’m sure, but I was in the market for something rather gentler today – hardly the fault of the setter, of course, so many thanks to Teazel!

Across
1 They apparently approve going fast, like this? (8)
CLAPPERS – cryptic hint, referring to going like the clappers, which seems to derive from a clapper being the tongue of a bell.
5 Confusion as this compiler joins ship (4)
MESS – ME (this compiler) joins SS (Steam Ship)
9 Argue about what to make a hole with (5)
AUGER – anagram (about) of ARGUE. And to be effective with this tool is to auger well. (Sorry)
10 Soldier’s secret? (7)
PRIVATE – double definition
11 Cold sweet pleasant, having omitted starter (3)
ICE – nICE (pleasant) omitting starter
12 Dawn, perhaps, for this train ticket? (3,6)
DAY RETURN – cryptic hint, dawn being the return of day.
13 Beaker allowed to touch mouth (6)
GOBLET – LET (allowed) to touch GOB (mouth)
15 Always in the right to turn back (6)
REVERT – EVER (always) in the RT (right)
17 Very tiny boat, music playing (9)
SUBATOMIC – anagram (playing) of BOAT MUSIC
19 Some Alaskan music? No, Jamaican (3)
SKA – “Some” of alaSKAn
20 Amount of work covered by colleague is a sensitive reaction (7)
ALLERGY – ERG (amount of work) covered by ALLY (colleague)
21 A little room, initially far distant (5)
ALOOF – A LOO (a little room) F (“initially” Far)
22 A sharp twist in relations with king (4)
KINK –KIN (relations) with K(ing)
23 Eighteen, for a golf course; why not indulging at the nineteenth? (8)
TEETOTAL – cryptic hint, and, like all good clues, simple when you see the answer.

Down
1 Charlie has utterly mad desire (7)
CRAVING – C(harlie) has RAVING (utterly mad)
2 Point of view that may be right (5)
ANGLE – between a cryptic hint and a double-ish definition, the second as in right angles.
3 In Peru cut short exciting trip once possibly (12)
PERADVENTURE – PERu “cut short” ADVENTURE (exciting trip). “Once” referring to the somewhat archaic use of peradventure.
4 Salesman always making refund (5)
REPAY – REP (salesman) AY (always)
6 In age, certain obliteration (7)
ERASURE – ERA (age) SURE (certain).
7 Lie finally in hide to see some birds in flight (5)
SKEIN – E (liE “finally”) in SKIN (hide)
8 Chairmen went off dealer in Bordeaux etc (4,8)
WINE MERCHANT – anagram (off) of CHAIRMEN WENT
14 Tiny look over northern city of old (7)
BABYLON – BABY (tiny) LO (look) over N(orthern)
16 Looking upset, finally accept reprimand (7)
TEARFUL – T (“finally” upseT) EARFUL (reprimand)
17 Part of leg mishit ball (5)
SHANK – double definition
18 Medal a Yankee wears, perhaps (5)
MAYBE – MBE (medal) that A Y(ankee) wears
19 Turn at the bar and cry (5)
SHOUT – double definition, the first as in: my shout = my turn to buy a round of drinks

76 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 2058 by Teazel”

  1. At 14 minutes I also found this hard although it was really only two intersecting answers that held me up for any length of time – SHOUT and TEETOTAL. I predict that AUGER (that spelling), PERADVENTURE and SKEIN will be unknown to some less experienced solvers.
    2. I really don’t think it’s fair to suggest that people who happen to be less experienced at cryptic crosswords also have a more limited vocabulary. It’s not the first time I’ve read comments like that on this blog and it’s just arrogant nonsense.
      1. I think what Jack meant was that some words, skein for example, are rarely seen apart from in crosswords, where they appear frequently. Experienced solvers are therefore more likely to spot them quickly. I’m sure Jack meant no disrespect.
          1. There were a couple of words here that were unknown to me before today. Ska is some type of music, I gather. And, shank is a term in cricket perhaps? These are simply not things that interest me.

            Skein came up recently in a crossword, but otherwise it would have eluded me. As it was, it took a while.

            Overall, today’s crossword was a fair bit too hard for me to complete it.

            I liked Teetotal. Very good! 🙂

        2. Maybe failing miserable as I did today has the compensation of learning some new words.
          I did know SKEIN but not PERADVENTURE. If you think about it, there are not many opportunities to learn new words. Even if the new words are rarely used outside crossword puzzles.
      2. He is always very mild mannered and polite.

        For example yesterday I just chucked in BUCKRAM from a couple of crossers and the definition. It’s not a word I have ever seen or used irl, but I’ve seen it umpteen times in crosswords. There are many similar words which setters use, either as part of a clue, or the whole answer, which are very rarely seen outside of crosswords, so the more you do, the easier it becomes.

        1. Completely agree that Jack is the last person to show disrespect to other solvers. Crossed wire.

          As to buckram … brush up your Shakespeare! (Henry IV Pt 1)

          “Nay, that’s past praying for: I have peppered two of them; two I am sure I have paid, two rogues in buckram suits. I tell thee what, Hal, if I tell thee a lie, spit in my face, call me horse. Thou knowest my old ward; here I lay and thus I bore my point. Four rogues in buckram let drive at me—

          In buckram?

          Ay, four, in buckram suits.”

          I think by the time Falstaff has finished the story he’s up to nine!

          Edited at 2022-01-27 10:02 am (UTC)

          1. …the mandatory Scottish play at GCSE, and nothing else…

            My reading is either history (pleasure), tax law & cases (work), or airport thriller paperbacks (guilty pleasure), current affairs — economist/private eye/newspapers

            I’d not quite go so far as to accuse myself of literary philistinism, but not far off. 🙂

            Edited at 2022-01-27 04:03 pm (UTC)

      3. I too feel I have to post in defence of jackkt. Jacktt has always been a friendly and encouraging person to those, like me, who are less experienced with cryptic crosswords. I am absolutely certain that no offence was intended by their remarks.
      4. Based on a sample size of one, I know that the possession of a relatively limited (unsophisticated? undeveloped? passive?) vocabulary slows me down quite markedly in these QCs and, except on very rare occasions, keeps me very firmly in the SCC.
      5. I’ve got a decently, large vocabulary – but in attempting Times crosswords, there are words coming up that I’ve simply never heard of. (PERADVENTURE today, I have heard of SKEIN and AUGER but would have said they were something to do with balls of wool and predictions for the future)

        So I’d agree it’s accurate to say people who are less experienced at Cryptics have a smaller vocab but that doesn’t mean it can’t still be extensive! Just like all those 2-letter words I don’t know for Scrabble mean experienced Scrabblers know more than me

    3. Weirdly two of the few clues I did solve were PERADVENTURE and AUGER, despite my lack of crosswordese.
  2. This was tough but again I persevered and got there in the end. All parsed in 27 minutes with a PDM at TEETOTAL and SHOUT both of which were among my last in.
    Don’t think I’ve come across PERADVENTURE before, but the word play was helpful.
    FOI: CRAVING.
    LOI: MAYBE.
    COD: SKEIN.
    WOD: ALOOF for the smile.
  3. A great crossword. Ten on the first pass of acrosses but with gaps on the left that stayed to the end. The NW had me totally stumped and grumpy until I saw I’d just been outclassed with AUGER (argue about, love it) and ANGLE. I was thrown by ‘in’ at the start of the PERADVENTURE clue and wasn’t confidence about what to do with ‘per’ and had too few checkers to help. Too long on the wrong sort of ‘hide’ too. Ended up with one pink square and two errors for ‘shann’ for SHANK which then made KINK ‘nink’. That’s twice this week. Not all green in 15.

    Edited at 2022-01-27 08:25 am (UTC)

    1. I was puzzled by that “in” and also the “in” before age in 6d. In each I was trying to fit a word in the letters PER and ERA respectively. Those clues held me up but I got there in the end without dropping into the SCC!! MM
  4. … but I eventually came home in just under 12 minutes, helped by recognising words like 7D Skein and 19A Ska from previous puzzles (neither being words I have ever met in real life). Last hold-out was the SE corner where for a long time I was looking at blank squares all round, and even after solving 16D Tearful I am not sure of the parsing — I note Roly’s suggestion though my take on it was “finally accepT” as giving the initial T.

    3D Peradventure is one of those words that I know exists, have never used and would not be sure I knew what it meant. But the wordplay was very clear.

    COD to 1A Clappers — nice to see some very colloquial words in the puzzle. I actually saw this almost immediately but declined to put it in as I thought “No, can’t be that” — then the checkers showed me it could!

    Many thanks to Roly for the blog
    Cedric

    1. ‘Peradventure’ is a word that may be very familiar to people brought up as I was on the text of the St James’s bible aka the Authorised Version, but I’m not sure I ever knew exactly what it meant.
  5. Just under 22 minutes and once again I had a DNF in sight. Needed a couple of one minute walkaways. PERADVENTURE will surely only be seen now in crosswords and heard in period dramas. SKEIN appeared recently – maybe in the “biggie”?- BABYLON, SHANK & ALLERGY all had me struggling. TEETOTAL a clever clue, albeit close to having to work slightly too hard despite itself.
  6. Going like the clappers until we came to an abrupt halt at 3D which took us ages to solve (by which I mean guess as we’ve NHO PERADVENTURE). That said, it was a great puzzle which we completed in 20 minutes.

    FOI: ICE
    LOI: PERADVENTURE
    COD: we really liked CLAPPERS AND TEETOTAL.

    Thanks Rolytoly and aTeazel.

  7. I found this quite challenging but seemed to be fairly close to Teazel’s mindset. It was a great relief (after yesterday) to finish this in just under 13 mins (all parsed) so under my target. I moved around the grid, as usual, returning late to 1a and 1d which I didn’t see at first. PERADVENTURE appeared in my head from somewhere, given a crosser or three, and my LOI, TEETOTAL, only came to me when SHOUT and all the crossers were in place. Three good clues, to join many more.
    Thanks to Teazel and Roly (it is rare for me to finish more quickly than our esteemed blogger). I have just enjoyed my reading of the blog and thought many clues were really clever. I must be in a good mood today….. John M.

    Edited at 2022-01-27 09:55 am (UTC)

      1. OB When you’ve been involved in a serious car-crash it would be better to use a more apt expression.
  8. I was glad that AUGER gettable from the anagram, or I may have entered the other spelling that means something quite different.

    So many top notch clues, but TEETOTAL was my pick of the bunch.

    8:50.

  9. A real grind for me – nothing particularly unfair on reflection but hard to get onto the wavelength.
  10. Wow, that was a toughie! No fewer than six missing after first pass of the acrosses – ouch. A really stretching, fun puzzle.

    FOI AUGER, LOI SHOUT (tried for ages to see whether “spout” would work), COD from a packed field GOBLET, time 14:27 (getting on for twice yesterday’s!) for an estimated 2K but still a Jolly Fun Day.

    Many thanks Teazel and roly.

    Templar

  11. I got through most of this without too many problems – trusting the wordplay for the unknown AUGER and PERADVENTURE – but got very bogged down in the SE with SHOUT and LOI TEETOTAL proving particularly stubborn.
    I nearly always find Teazel’s puzzles to be full of wit and clever clues and this was no exception but my favourite was DAY RETURN for the PDM. Finished in 10.52.
    Thanks to Roly
  12. Well into the SCC today, probably half an hour. FOI mess, thirteen on first pass. A DNF loomed – but I hit back and beat it off. I had aloft for aloof for a while until teetotal went in and made tearful obv, leading to PDM aloof, though I never did see the toilet till I came here. Allergy also biffed unparsed. COD subatomic. Very late in with clappers, enjoyed that and wine merchant. Thanks for the blog, Rolytoly, and for a very testing but ultimately crackable puzzle, Teazel.
  13. I started with ICE, ANGLE and AUGER. Then GOBLET, PERADVENTURE and CRAVING allowed me to see CLAPPERS. I then carried on steadily, taking SKEIN in my stride, having seen it in another puzzle quite recently. LOI was SHANK. 8:17. Thanks Teazel and Roly.
  14. Quite tough today and very pleased to succeed after a lot of effort and some help. Guessed AUGER (NHO) from the anagram
    and vaguely knew SKEIN from somewhere. A great clue for TEETOTAL.
  15. Tougher than last night’s brisket for me, and at 26 minutes, one of my slowest QCs ever. I really couldn’t find the right wavelength here, and after a frustrating run through the across clues, I only had MESS, ICE and SKA completed. LOI was CRAVING after CLAPPERS finally fell. There were times when I wanted to give up or use aids, but I’m glad I persevered and finally completed, it was well worth the trouble. Hats off to Teazel who wins this battle, and thanks to Roly for confirming some of my own slightly suspect reasoning.
    1. Interesting, rotter. As you have said before, our times normally tend to be pretty similar. However, our wavelengths were totally out of phase over the last two QCs — you were quick yesterday and I was very slow. Our times were numerically similar but totally reversed today. Quite some polarisation! I suppose polarised waves are not new to either of us. 😉

      Edited at 2022-01-27 12:50 pm (UTC)

      1. A similar thought occurred to me John, when I saw your post above and your very creditable time. Let’s see how we do tomorrow.
  16. A fail today. NHO PERADVENTURE or AUGER. I should have got the CLAPPERS and CRAVING corner.
    Ah well, tomorrow is another day.
    I did get WORDLE in two this morning, so every cloud etc.
    Thanks for the blog
    BW
    Andrew
  17. Reading through the comments above, I take some comfort. I found this crossword very tough today. In fact, I feel that all of the crosswords have been very hard lately.
    1. I commiserate with you Poison Wyvern and have only signed up here to give support for those of us who can’t even get one of the “easy” ones on the first go round!

      I PBed a couple of days ago at 21+ mins but otherwise agree they’ve been difficult recently with numerous DNFs.

      1. Dear Mr/Mme Plates (great name, btw!),
        Very well done on your PB of a couple of days ago. Next stop: an escape from the SCC. I’ve been going at these QCs for 20 months now, and have managed only 11 sub-20s. However, each one is treasured in the Random household.
        1. I can’t take credit for the name – it was suggested when I posted anonymously a couple of days saying I’d sign up when I could think of a name!

          1hr43+ today. I guess my only redeeming quality is perseverance. Usually give up somewhere around the two and a half hour mark and start guessing/checking/revealing letters/words to finish off.

          Only four sub-60s so far having started just before Xmas.

          SCC … Snailpace Cryptic-solving Club?

          1. SCC : Slow Coach Club, but I prefer to think of +20 mins as Savouring Cryptic Clues. Why rush? What’s the hurry? Just enjoy!
          2. You should be congratulated on your perseverance, and since you’ve only been doing these for about a month, even more so for completing them at all 😊 It took me a good six months before I completed my first quickie without aids. BTW there’s no shame in using aids if they help you to see what’s going on. I’m sure, as you get used to the conventions of cryptic crosswords, you’ll be whizzing along soon enough!
        2. L-Plates was the suggestion of horryd (who is missing today!) – where’s the L-Plate avatar?
  18. After my cut off of 30 mins, I still had 1ac, 2dn and 3dn to complete.

    I just couldn’t get “Concord” out of my head for 1ac, even though I knew it wouldn’t fit — which gave me a brain freeze for the rest.

    Definitely a toughie this, with quite a few unknowns (ERG = work?). 23ac “Teetotal” eventually dropped after a bit of letter shenanigans.

    FOI — 1dn “Craving”
    LOI — dnf
    COD — 23ac “Teetotal”

    Thanks as usual!

    1. Erg = unit of work, or amount of work. Quite a small amount of work it seems — equivalent to a common housefly doing a push up.

      As per my comment further up about vocabulary, it’s one of those rarely used words (at least rarely used in my personal daily discourse), that just comes to mind if I see “amount of work”, or “work” in a clue, though “op” would also come to mind for “work” on its own.

      2. I mis parsed it as an amount (but not all) of ergo which I took as a the work synonym… got away with it. Had to look up peradventure. Finished in under 17 min

        1. Indeed, or “on” can be “cricket side”, or “leg”.

          It’s a minefield. Keeps me amused though.

  19. I was mostly done and dusted in 10 minutes but then I had to wait for inspiration for my last three. TEETOTAL was the first to become apparent and I loved it. Then I got SHOUT and finally a new word derived from wordplay to add to my ever expanding vocabulary i.e. PERADVENTURE. 15:44 Thank you Roly for explaining my one biff ALLERGY.
  20. Way off the wavelength today.
    Liked DAY RETURN, WINE MERCHANT, TEETOTAL (tho failed on the latter two)
    NHO SKA or SHANK = mishit ball, or ERG = amount of work, tho did biff ALLERGY.
    Thanks, Roly. Blog much needed.
  21. ….to go back over some of Teazel’s excellent clueing. Nothing was unknown to me, but I really had to work at breaking down the parsing. Biffing was not generally an option. Thanks to Teazel for a tough but scrupulously fair puzzle, and to Roly for his usual fine blog.

    FOI MESS
    LOI MAYBE
    COD TEARFUL (I tried hard to fit ‘rap’ in there)
    TIME 6:03

  22. Two big fails in a row after a sub 10 on Monday. Reminds me of an old school report, “lacks consistency”.

    COD TEETOAL, very good. Also thought DAY RETURN was excellent. It was just a day for admiring the setters art, not thus solvers skill.

    1. I don’t recall that appearing on my school reports. The most regular comment from my teachers was ‘must try harder’, so at least I was consistent in something!

      Edited at 2022-01-27 02:42 pm (UTC)

  23. 1he23 total today – 40mins this morning, another 43+ to compete this PM.

    FOI WINE MERCHANT
    LOI REVERT

    Found it a difficult one. Some of the clues just a touch too complex for me!

  24. 53 minutes of very hard graft ruined by a ridiculous spelling error. TEATOTAL looked wrong, and I got the golfing element of the clue, but I still made the error. Why, oh why? Hence, my 4th DNF in the past fortnight, each due to a silly mistake on one clue – and after such a battle.

    I found this very challenging. and was resigned to a DNF quite some time before the end. However, I kept plugging away and eventually solved my last few in – GOBLET, CRAVING, BABYLON, ALLERGY and REVERT – only to be undone by a clue I had solved much earlier.

    Mrs Random also found this puzzle quite a stretch, but she is now busy trying to catch up on the five QCs she has missed over the past week, or so.

    Many thanks to Teazel and rolytoly.

    Edited at 2022-01-27 04:14 pm (UTC)

    2. … was also what I thought it was, until it happened to crop up on my turn to blog (QC 1728) so I checked it out – here’s the clue and comment (not that it helped me much today, mind!)

      Abstainer, one calculating amount of Assam, do we hear? (11)

      TEETOTALLER – sounds like (“do we hear”) TEA (Assam) TOTALLER (one calculating amount of). I vaguely thought the word had something to do with drinking ‘tea’ vs alcohol, which obviously doesn’t work now I think about it: it is just a way of emphasising the word ‘total’ as in t-total abstinence and used by members of the Total Abstinence Society.

      1. Thankyou for the research and explanation. Mrs R was perplexed as to why I didn’t know the correct spelling, but she couldn’t explain why it was TEE…

  25. Really struggled today, with 1ac and 1dn very slow to come and the SE corner completely blank until I almost threw in the towel. Eventually finished in 31 mins with all parsed except allergy. Remembered ska from previous xwds and no problem with the remaining vocab.

    FOI – 5ac MESS
    LOI – 23ac TEETOTAL
    COD – 12ac DAY RETURN

    Thanks to Teazel and Rolytoly

  26. we often have a Skein of geese flying over our house, and I use an Auger in my workshop quite a lot, but I wobbled a bit on parsing today which didn’t augur well for a finish. I could not see Maybe, and I gave in at 35 min. It’s not the hard ones that get you down!
  27. DNF today — NHO Peradventure and missed Shank and Kink as well as Clappers and Craving and of course Teetotal.
    But on reading the blog I could see that this was a well crafted puzzle.
    (Roly — quick tweak to 16d for completeness)

    Thanks all

  28. But got there in the end
    Did like clappers
    Bit worried as that is 5 in a row

    Edited at 2022-01-27 06:45 pm (UTC)

    1. There’s something apt about the juxtaposition of the Floyd avatar and “didn’t know teetotal”…
  31. NHO PERADVENTURE or AUGER and have committed the meaning of ‘erg’ to memory — thanks rolytoly. All easy when you know how but just not on Teazel’s wavelength today… liked CLAPPERS and TEETOTAL 😆
  32. It is the key to learning foreign language – initially verbs can be busked! Load-up nouns and adjectives. COD 18dn Maybe WOD 1ac Clappers.
  33. Another DNF. I’d quibble about 23a, most golf courses have three tees per hole, that’s my excuse for not seeing it….
  34. NHO PERADVENTURE or AUGER and have committed the meaning of ‘erg’ to memory — thanks rolytoly. All easy when you know how but just not on Teazel’s wavelength today… liked CLAPPERS and TEETOTAL 😆
  35. Another DNF. I’d quibble about 23a, most golf courses have three tees per hole, that’s my excuse for not seeing it….

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