A nice Quick Cryptic from Jalna today, if a bit tricky in parts – e.g. an uncommon wordplay device at 7A and an uncommon word clued as an anagram (I knew the word but not that meaning) at 1D. I was slow to start but the downs got me going and I finished in 5:47. COD to the neat 21D. Thank-you Jalna. 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! If anyone is interested in our previous offerings you can find an index to all 69 here.
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Charlie, more fashionable and cheerful (7) |
| CHIPPER – C (Charlie in the NATO phonetic alphabet) HIPPER (more fashionable). | |
| 5 | Regretting mostly creating havoc (4) |
| RUIN – RUIN{g} (regretting) [mostly]. | |
| 7 | Eggs are too set in the middle always (3) |
| ROE – aRe tOo sEt [in the middle always]. The always makes it clear you take the middle of each word rather than just sEt. | |
| 8 | Drink and face up to getting smashed (3,2,3) |
| CUP OF TEA – (face up to)* [getting smashed]. | |
| 10 | Disapproval results from quietly leaving stage (5) |
| ODIUM – {p}ODIUM (stage) without the P (quietly) [leaving]. | |
| 11 | Heads of firms often hold sway overseas (7) |
| FOREIGN – [Heads of] Firms Often, REIGN (hold sway). | |
| 13 | Express sorrow about each book finally showing signs of age? (6) |
| CREAKY – CRY (express sorrow) [about] EA (each) booK [finally]. | |
| 15 | Plan from ace American lawyer containing information (6) |
| AGENDA – A (ace) DA (American lawyer) [containing] GEN (information). | |
| 17 | Trade stoppage thus limits a degree of business (7) |
| EMBARGO – ERGO (thus) outside, [limits], A MBA (degree of business). | |
| 18 | Sample artworks latterly stored in gallery (5) |
| TASTE – Last letter, [latterly], of artworkS [stored in] TATE (gallery). | |
| 20 | Acknowledge the audience and prepare to play the cello? (4,1,3) |
| TAKE A BOW – Double definition, the second a cryptic hint. A bit of a chestnut, I think. | |
| 22 | Popular new place for an overnight stay (3) |
| INN – IN (popular) N (new). | |
| 23 | Protest using a string of placard emojis (4) |
| DEMO – Hidden in [using a string of] placarD EMOjis. | |
| 24 | Initially, rookie or youth, associate with great style (7) |
| ROYALLY – [Initially] Rookie Or Youth, ALLY (associate). | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Ornamental borders made from stucco are designed to convey height (10) |
| CARTOUCHES – (stucco are)* [designed] containing, [to convey] H (height). My LOI. I hadn’t come across this second meaning of the word, only the scroll-like architectural decoration. | |
| 2 | Some nice ‘n’ interesting old British folk (5) |
| ICENI – Hidden in, [some], nICE N Interesting. The Iceni were my local tribe in the Iron Age and early Roman era (or would have been had I been alive then). | |
| 3 | Frontrunner from UN maybe lacking empathy at first (9) |
| PACEMAKER – P{e}ACEMAKER (UN maybe) without the E, [lacking] Empathy [at first]. That’s a little tricky for a QC, I think, but can be got from the definition and checkers. | |
| 4 | Quickly remove fleece? (3,3) |
| RIP OFF – Double definition. | |
| 5 | Whistle-blower hiding up in safe room (3) |
| REF – Reverse hidden in [hiding up in] saFE Room. If you’ve not seen it before that cryptic definition for REF is one to remember. | |
| 6 | Spaniard or Portuguese rotting in a bier (7) |
| IBERIAN – [Rotting] (in a bier)*. | |
| 9 | Nominally, Naomi worked with Lenny (2,4,4) |
| IN NAME ONLY – (Naomi Lenny)* [worked]. | |
| 12 | Proper strategy to go after answer immediately (5,4) |
| RIGHT AWAY – RIGHT (proper) A (answer) WAY (strategy). Hmm. WAY for strategy seems a bit of a stretch. | |
| 14 | English married couple have a cuddle (7) |
| EMBRACE – E (English) M (married) BRACE (pair; couple). | |
| 16 | Clothes left out for friend from Australia (6) |
| COBBER – C{l}OBBER (clothes) without the L, [left out]. | |
| 19 | Calm, all the same (5) |
| STILL – Double definition. | |
| 21 | I try to follow enthusiastically at the beginning (3) |
| EGO – Enthusiastically [at the beginning] GO (try; as in have a go). | |
I thought this was going to be very difficult as I started going through the across clues, and didn’t see anything until agenda – but then I got all the remaining across answers in a clean sweep. This left the top rather bare, and I was hoping for some down answers, but I only got the chestnuts Iceni, ref, and Iberian. But eventually I finished, with cartouche and pacemaker being the most difficult.
Time: 9:21
15:21. CARTOUCHES took the longest even though I had the right letters and was aware of the word. I didn’t think of it meaning borders so that is my excuse. NHO COBBER but fortunately knew clobber. Put in royalty at first but then going back to parse it saw it had to be ROYALLY. I think Boadicea might have been a Queen of the ICENI but can’t say for sure as like blogger it was well before my time.
Ah yes. The famous warrior queen of the said tribe. I too remember her from my schooldays as Boadicea, but these days she is more commonly called Boudica or Boudicca. There was an entertaining article about her being tried in absentia for terrorism a years or two ago – see here.
Very interesting- pleased to see she got off “without a stain on her character”!(Researching her fellow anti-Roman patriot Caractacus , I see that he is now spelled without the middle c).
You “remember her from my schooldays”? Was she in your class?
I had something else on my mind just before I began this so I was slow to start and had difficulty concentrating fully. Other than CARTOUCHES (a word known to me but I had no idea what it meant) there was nothing in the puzzle that should have given me any trouble. 13 minutes.
My general knowledge has let me down this week. It seems there’s gaps in my grasps of sherry, film and architecture so CARTOUCHES held me up today, not least because it took a while to see what ‘convey height’ was doing in the clue. Ended up with ROE where I could see what was required but needed the starting R to know where to start – being fixated on ‘ova’ which neither fitted nor parsed nor made sense didn’t help.
Just over 9 minutes. LOI CARTOUCHES which I only knew of from hieroglyphics where several symbols are enclosed in a border. But that was close enough that it probably meant other kinds of borders too.
CARTOUCHES are what we in France stick into our printers to give us ink, usually at great expense! Almost the most expensive « per millilitre » liquid in the world.
Nowadays may be different but 20 years ago identical printer cartridges were cheaper in posh Paris stationers (Lamartine?) than in Currys/WHSmith here.
Do rrrf
?
I was flying and heading for a sub-6 minuter before crashing headlong into CARTOUCHES, ODIUM, ROE and CREAKY. I had to take a break before revisiting the latter three and then working out all the options for what I knew was an anagram (and of which letters) but of a word with which I am not familiar.
The ‘always’ of 7ac had me set on ‘ere’ as an answer, but of course even then I was getting my poetic ‘before’ and ‘always’ (‘e’er’) mixed up. Fool.
Thanks Jalna and John
8:51. Signs of a mis-spent middle age watching too many episodes of Antiques Roadshow – CARTOUCHES was one of my first in. I suppose COBBER is still used, but you don’t hear it much these days. I liked the idea of ‘getting smashed’ on a CUP OF TEA and the surface for EMBRACE; all very proper I’m sure.
Thanks to Jalna and John
Started with CHIPPER and RUIN and then made swift progress until hitting the buffers with ROE (answer was clear but had not idea how it worked), CREAKY and CARTOUCHES, where I found it hard to figure which end of the clue had the definition and where the final letter of the anagram came from. Time spent with pen and paper in hand juggling letters and much muttering under my breath finally got me over the line in a respectable 8.37.
Thanks to John
All of the above to finish in an on par 24.30. It seems that a clockwise completion ending up back at the top left has been the pattern of the week. LOI Cartouches, which is a nice word but reminds me of a pet irritation to see borders mis-spelled with an a.
Thanks Jalna and John.
13 minutes for me, though with an interruption as I was puzzling out my LOI Cartouches. Does the brain subconsciously keep working at an anagram while I field a call from my daughter? Should I adjust the time for the 2 minute call or not? Could she have unwittingly helped my train of thought? Too many questions this early in the morning …
A nice puzzle and only said LOI held me up significantly, as although I knew the word I only knew its Egyptian hieroglyph meaning. Embargo also not parsed completely, as I keep forgetting ergo as a word. Otherwise all done and enjoyed. I particularly liked the misdirection of getting smashed/drunk on an innocent cup of tea.
Many thanks John for the blog and I look forward to the Saturday Special.
Cedric
A good puzzle which went well for me until my last clue which stumped me. My knowledge of architectural and decorative terms is obviously seriously underdeveloped. I need to remedy this gaping hole in my general knowledge. I knew cartouche only in relation to gunnery and ammunition and as a military pass.
Thanks to both. John M.
14 minutes with a good 3 of them spent on the NHO COBBER (despite living in Australia for 5 years), EMBARGO and LOI CARTOUCHES. IN NAME ONLY also took a while to unravel.
31+ mins with the last 4-5 spent with a piece of paper trying to unravel CARTOUCHES which suddenly felt like the right word, so I have probably heard it somewhere along the way. Glad to see others having it as last one in.
There was no easy way of knowing how to reorder S,H,A,T,U into C-R-O-C-E- … is it CAR, CUR, CHR … does it end COES, COET, CHET, CHES? Looking again, the -TOUCHES ending maybe does help but you have to get to that.
As for the rest of it. Felt it was going to be a grind as couldn’t get to grips with the clues after a decent first pass. And then slowly but surely words began to bif in there and make sense. Even so as SCC approached I still had EGO / DEMO (need to remember this for protest); PACEMAKER (nice one), CREAKY, ODIUM, CARTOUCHES to do.
Liked ROE for its rare use of the middle letters. Far to many “take away a letter”s for my liking although I did smile at COBBER for the Aussie friend.
Thanks to all and have a good weekend everybody 👍
FOI, CHIPPER, led quickly to ICENI and PACEMAKER, but CARTOUCHES had to wait for all the crossers and pen and paper. No trouble with COBBER. 8:31. Thanks Jalna and John.
Like with many others, CARTOUCHES, ROE, CREAKY took time to unravel. A bit of a slog.
I think this was tougher than average but all very fair. My LOI was CARTOUCHES although I thankfully returned to check the parsing of 24ac where I had put in ROYALTY. The extra 30 seconds or so working this out was worth it and I avoided my frequent visit to the ‘One Letter Wrong Club’. This meant I crossed the line a few seconds inside target at 9.56.
How about the OWL club (One Wrong Letter club)? I wonder if, with use, we could get it into the TftT glossary.
P.S. I visited it (with EdIT for EMIT) yesterday.
I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve done it in the last month. I’m sure I’m not the only one to suffer from this syndrome! Perhaps those who decide what should be included in the glossary will consider it.
This seemed a bit easier than yesterday but it still took me 15 minutes. Like others I had to work out CARTOUCHES laboriously ,without knowing the English meanings. I know what it means in French. My LOI was actually ROE as I had left it whilst solving.
ICENI worth remembering; there’s more around than you might think.
David
A real struggle, flagged up by having to pass on 1ac/d and starting in the NE corner with Ruin. Hopped around the grid, picking out the odd answer here and there, before I had enough crossers to make a decent stab at the rest. Even then, loi Cartouches needed a lot of thought until I could vaguely recall the word. Finished in a very sluggish 27mins. It’s not been a good week. Invariant
Echoing much of the above, my first pass of the acrosses left the top half pretty empty so I tackled the downs bottom up. It was slow going…PACEMAKER took an age (never saw peacemaker) and CREAKY and ODIUM eventually gave me some help for 1d. CARTOUCHES (LOI) is a word I know but didn’t for ages connect it to the clue as that meaning wasn’t familiar. It was only after getting it that I sussed where the final letter came from. COD CUPOFTEA for the surface. All green but 32:38! Thanks Jalna and John.
Quickest of the week for me at 11 minutes, with no particular problems other than the less usual definition for CARTOUCHES. Even then, the answer appeared quickly after spotting the obvious anagrist – I just had to convince myself that it fit the definition. I needed to get ROYALLY before the second word of RIGHT AWAY would come – too many other options buzzing around my head. Thanks both.
I found this to be ridiculously difficult for a QC. Sorry Jalna, but I did not enjoy this QC at all.
Ditto. Well beaten by this one, even though some were write-ins.
Well, there are a number of easy clues you should have got, even if you didn’t finish. Two easy hiddens in demo and ref, the rather obvious take a bow, the simple compendium of crossword cliches inn.
If you want to improve, you should study the clues you didn’t get. The podium/odium thing, the middle letters clue, that famous tribe the Iceni – they’ll all be back again in a future puzzle. You’ll also be seeing the F.O. Reign in various forms, the Iberians who are often beheaded Siberians, ruin/ruing which can go either way, the MBA in embargo and other emba- words, brace meaning a pair, etc etc.
Regardless of what you think I “should” have got, I found this one to be very difficult, but that doesn’t mean I did not answer any. Just because you may have found it easy, it does not mean that everybody else “should” have.
I don’t think vinyl’s point was that you should have found this crossie easy, merely that there were some easy clues. The suggestion that you study the more difficult ones and try and remember the setter’s tricks and anachronisms is a solid one. I do every day on the main cryptic. Surely we all want to hone our skills?
Yes we do. I got more than half correct. Once upon a time, I’d have got just one – INN. I have never completed a QC without cheating.
I don’t think the problem was the advice – it was the way it was communicated.
Using “should” creates an implied judgement – e.g. if you didn’t get it then you’re thick. No-one wants to be judged when they have had a bad outing – they already feel bad. Oughtism and musturbation two other things to avoid.
That said, I’m sure the advice wasn’t meant to be unkind – vinyl1 should know better 😉
Sure, PW has greatly advanced in solving skills, and I’d like to see him get even better. The only way to improve is to struggle with the more difficult puzzles, and try to push yourself to the max.
I personally struggled for two hours with that awful 15 x 15 on Thursday, determined to finish no matter what. That’s what you have to do. As a Mephisto blogger, I know there are things I don’t know, but I’m gradually learning some of them.
Really enjoyed this one today and thought I was on for a record until held up by the usual suspects, CARTOUCHES, ODIUM but also PACEMAKER. Ended bang on 20 mins so slightly longer than my recent form and I am not yet reliably out of the SCC. I think in reality I will never be as I enjoy fully parsing every answer and pausing to appreciate a good clue. Today RIP OFF was my COD.
Not sure 7a really needed ‘always’ as it would have worked just as well without.
Thanks John and Jalna.
Prof
Solved on phone in the passenger seat driving over Bodmin Moor. On the harder side.
All OK except for the top left. CARTOUCHES, and the acrosses off it. PODIUM was LOI. TAKE A BOW favourite, though there were lots of very neat clues.
8:55
I was fine with this until I hit the buffers at 1 down, CARTOUCHES. I had made it trickier by putting in the made-up word, OVE, for 7 across, for reasons which now escape me. Once I’d changed that to ROE, things started to look up but it still took me as long a sojourn in AnagramLand for 1 down as it took for the whole of the rest of the puzzle put together. Eek.
I agree with another poster here that there seems today to be more than the usual number of clues which ask you to think of a word and then take a letter away.
Good fun, though, today- I especially liked the (for me) unusual device used in 2 across, ROE, even if that, plus my own dafty-headedness, caused me to put in the wrong answer to start with.
With many thanks to setter and blogger
Like everyone else CARTOUCHES had us stumped for ages. My wife knew the word but only in the sense of it being a parchment paper lid used for covering sauces and soups. Otherwise an enjoyable puzzle.
11 minutes, with the last four of them spent on the familiar three in the NW corner – CREAKY, CARTOUCHES and ODIUM. I’m quite cross with myself, because I got CARTOUCHES, but miscounted the anagrist so didn’t enter it, and spent another minute or so trying to find another word! The surface for CUP OF TEA made me smile, but others were also pleasing inc EMBARGO, RIP OFF and IN NAME ONLY. It’s taken ages, but brace as an alternative for couple has finally got stored in the memory bank!
FOI Iceni LOI Odium COD Chipper – an old-fashioned word that I use quite a lot 😊
Thanks Jalna and John
Dnf…
30 mins for everything, but ended up putting “Carsouchet” for 1dn, as I’ve never heard of Cartouches (actually, that’s a lie – I’ve heard of it, but didn’t really know what it was).
I thought this was definitely on the harder side, with a number of clues that really needed digging out.
FOI – 5dn “Ref”
LOI – 1dn – dnf
COD – 3dn “Pacemaker”
Thanks as usual!
Had to go to the supermarket with 1d unsolved, despite much thought, but on return had a PDM with CARTOUCHES.
Could not parse EMBARGO. A bit slow and CREAKY, but now more CHIPPER.
Also liked AGENDA, TAKE A BOW, CUP OF TEA, FOREIGN, PACEMAKER, RIP OFF.
Many thanks, John.
I need to change my name to The Typo King. Fat fingered RFF on my way to 09:18. Enjoyed that (until the DPS moment); love the surfaces for CUP OF TEA and EMBRACE.
Many thanks Jalna and John.
Templar
DPS moment… nice neologism. I too dread the pinks squares when I get them.
14/26.
That is pretty good for your level, as this puzzle was quite difficult. One of these days, you are going to finish one.
13/24 for me. Thought this was very hard even after reading the answers.
That’s good for today Ian. There were some tough ones to get. Keep going!
23.30, slow today. Last four in were CARTOUCHES, PACEMAKER, CREAKY and EGO, which being little got overlooked.
Really struggled with 1d and LOI 10a. So 40 minutes in all. Creaky took time. A lot of items to unpick in the right way, so generally a good challenge except for Cartouches…
Otherwise probably would have been 20/25 minutes. Oh well a new word learn…. And Iceni new to me although it had to be…
Thanks all
John
A fairly speedy (for me) 11:54 today. I knew the word CARTOUCHE existed, but would really have struggled to define it. That was my POI after spending a while switching letters around to make something that was at least a known word. But my LOI was EGO, where it took me ages to spot that the definition was just “I”.
Thanks to Jalna and John, and to everyone here for all the definitions of CARTOUCHE!
Very pleased to finish all correct in 26 minutes today. Last 5 were spent on the NHO CARTOUCHES. Also, couldn’t parse EMBARGO and never saw I as the definition for EGO.
Many thanks to Jalna and John.
I enjoyed this crossword, and found it an enjoyable challenge. My LOI CARTOUCHES was a struggle, and I needed to do the anagram on paper, which I usually try and avoid. 11.27.
hardish today.
Held up by cartouches..joke here for some setter with vehicles and walls
DNF – another one!
A dismal end to a decidedly average week. The first 5 across clues had me floundering and I only got started with FOREIGN. I then got almost all of the remaining across clues before deciding to attempt the downs bottom up. A surprising run of 9 ‘sort of’ write-ins followed.
Struggled a bit when I went back to the across clues, but was then left with 1dn. Thought ‘stucco are’ was an anagram, but couldn’t see where the 10th letter came from. Gave it 20 mins plus, but couldn’t see it. Eventually put in CARPORCHES! Had worked out that it probably began CAR and also worked out that it probably ended with CHES. I have never come across CARTOUCHES.
I do have some sympathy with PW’s comments above on the degree of difficulty. Unless my skills are going into reverse (always a possibility), the level of difficulty seems to be to have gone up a notch or two recently. I thought I was my making progress, but now I’m not so sure.
Thanks for the blog John and I hope you all have a good weekend.
Unlucky GA – clearly not alone is struggling on CARTOUCHES.
Your answer reminded me of the old joke about the man who employs a [choose your minority group person] to paint his porch. A few hours later, the painter says to the employer “I’ve finished doing the painting so that’ll be £100 please”. The employer is very pleased to hear it’s been done so quickly and gets out his chequebook and while he’s writing the cheque says “Did all it go smoothly?”. The painter replies “Oh yes, it was very easy. There was one thing though … I surprised you thought it’s a porch because it’s actually a Ferrari” 😆
As for difficulty. They have seemed more complicated since November yet I can’t say for certain as my ability has definitely been improving. I’m tempted to say there’s been a lack of straightforward biffables ones. Anyway February ahoy next week – you’ve almost got a month of stats already!
Thanks L-Plates. It’s quite rare for me to see a word that I genuinely have never come across, so I will file it away for future reference.
I did like your joke. Made me chuckle.
I had a laugh at my own ingenuity – if that is the word – at coming up with a passable if incorrect word for 1dn yesterday. I knew it was wrong but had just the faintest hope that it might be correct.
I agree that there have been few ‘simple’ QCs of late. What I have found frustrating is the number of occasions when I have had a fantastic run of write-ins on a QC, but have been foiled by one or two clues at the end. Yesterday was a prime example. Rather like a football team having a good match and then conceding a goal in injury time.
21:50
Should have been under my 20 minute target but just couldn’t parse LOI EGO and only entered it because no other letter fit.
Definite DNF, not a clue about 1d CARTOUCHES even though I had spotted the anagram. Also I’m not sure I’ve used “CHIPPER” for cheerful since the middle of the last century! Or is it now in common usage, perhaps in the Home Counties?