Times Quick Cryptic No 2810 by Jimmy

Author   JohninterredPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

A gentle quick cryptic for a Friday from Jimmy today taking me about 4:30. I liked the cheese-lovers gathering, strudel lover and jumper purchasers best. Thank-you Jimmy! How did you all get on?

Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic.  This time it is Sawbill’s turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the crossword  here. If you are interested in trying our previous offerings you can find an index to all 114 here.

Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.

Across
1 Shortest-lived gathering for French cheese enthusiasts? (8)
BRIEFEST – Double definition, the second a cryptic hint – BRIE FEST (a gathering for French cheese enthusiasts).
5 Unwanted mail from American uncle, penning page (4)
SPAM –  P (page) in SAM, Uncle Sam, a common national personification of the federal government of the United States or the country in general.
9 Republican collared by peace advocate is teed off, possibly (5)
DROVE – R (Republican) in DOVE (peace advocate). A golfing reference, not someone getting annoyed.
10 We’re told a competitor’s coming (7)
ARRIVAL – Sounds like, [we’re told], A RIVAL (competitor).
11 See Wesley at regular intervals (3)
ELY – Alternative letters [at regular intervals] of WEsLeY. See as in bishopric.
12 Rebuke what people eschewing formal attire do (5,4)
DRESS DOWN – Double definition.
13 Maybe witch doctor’s fake article (6)
SHAMAN – SHAM (fake) AN (article)
15 Caught in relentless heat, hire protective cover (6)
SHEATH – Hidden in, [caught in], relentleS HEAT Hire.
17 Who you wouldn’t trust to give you a hand? (9)
CARDSHARP – Cryptic definition.
19 Like certain wines? Souse drained last of Barsac (3)
SEC – Outside letters of SousE [drained], and last letter of BarsaC.
20 Someone who prefers the best portion of strudel — it is tasty! (7)
ELITIST – Another hidden. {portion of] strudEL IT IS Tasty. Nice surface.
21 Eccentric rues eating bagel and French bread (5)
EUROS – A little tricky, this one. You need to know bagel can mean 0 – a term in tennis for a set lost 6-0… Put O (0; bagel) in [eccentric] (ruse)* to get money (bread) in France.
22 Not many in audition — what a relief! (4)
PHEW – Sounds like FEW [in audition].
23 Annoyed by gesture of respect, one may get fired (8)
CROSSBOW – CROSS (annoyed) BOW (gesture of respect).
Down
1 Burrowing animals — hounds or nags (7)
BADGERS – Triple definition.
2 Rhetorical strategy from Press Secretary, ultimately (5)
IRONY – IRON (press clothes) and last letter of SecretarY. A slightly odd definition, but the original meaning of irony is “the Socratic method of discussion by professing ignorance“.
3 Paul’s friend foolishly admitting one revealing lapse (8,4)
FREUDIAN SLIP – I (one) in (Paul’s friend)* [foolishly].
4 Husband tucked into Japanese wine and sweet drink (5)
SHAKE – H (husband) in, [tucked into], SAKE (Japanese wine).
6 One who incited drooling with a meringue dessert (7)
PAVLOVA – PAVLOV (one who incited drooling) A. Read here about Pavlov’s famous dog experiment.
7 Chap touring both sides of industrial city in Italy (5)
MILAN – Outside letters of, [both sides of],  IndustriaL in MAN (chap).
8 People making purchases going after awful rags, or little green jumpers? (12)
GRASSHOPPERS – (rags)* [awful], SHOPPERS (people making purchases). Nice one
14 Company with high-flying employees? (7)
AIRLINE – Cryptic definition.
16 Journalist spotted cutting implement (7)
HACKSAW – HACK (journalist) SAW (spotted).
17 Start of concert by that fellow on a piano, going for a song (5)
CHEAP – [Start of] Concert, HE (that fellow) A P (piano).
18 Dined on starter of radish, receiving pound in change (5)
ALTER – L (pound) in ATE (dined), and first letter, [starter], of Radish,
19 Cultivated bush is about right — for this? (5)
SHRUB – R (right) in [cultivated] (bush)*.  “This” meaning a shrub could be a cultivated bush.

83 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 2810 by Jimmy”

  1. I did this in 9:36. I thought it was very generous eg: cluing SAKE as ‘Japanese’ wine and PAVLOVA as ‘meringue’ dessert.

    I thought the hiddens were also signposted fairly, as were the anagrams.

    I’m glad CARDSHARP came up this week because I had nho previously, and I’m glad the See was ELY because I know no others. (ok i know the holy see now but that’s the only other)

    1. There are 42 sees in England. After ELY some of the easier ones to clue might be DERBY, LEEDS, LONDON, TRURO and YORK.

  2. 10:04. Lots of things to eat and drink! I thought CHIMP at first but the E crosser brought CHEAP to mind.

  3. 8 minutes. I was pleased to remember SHAMAN from a previous puzzle or two. I finished with a question mark over my last answer in at 4dn, wondering what sort of exotic drink SHAKE (probably pronounced ‘sharkay’ or ‘shackey’) might be. Felt stupid when the explanation dawned on me after I’d stopped the clock!

  4. An enjoyable QC and I’m not sure why I clocked in at 9.58, as I was solving it seemed quicker than that. Perhaps I put my foot in it by assuming at 23ac (CROSSBOW) that ‘one may get fired’ meant the word would end in D, so that and HACKSAW were slower to emerge than they should have been. Not seeing until the very end that LOI SHEATHE was a hidden didn’t help either. We had CARDSHARP somewhere else very lately so no delays there, and it was good to see our favourite bishopric after an absence of…days. Many thanks to Jimmy and John.

  5. Fast out blocks with 8 on the first pass of acrosses and then the downs went well too. CARDSHARP held out close to the end but it was SEC that added crucial seconds at the end – I was pretty sure that had to be the answer but couldn’t parse. I had ‘drained last of barsac’ as a removal instruction, so I needed afour letter ‘souse’ with a C to remove. Saw sense finally to finish is a still fast for me 8.26 – all green too.

  6. Just under 7 minutes for a pleasant solve. I doubt if I’d have got CARDSHARP so quickly had it not been in Joker’s puzzle just 2 days ago.

    Many thanks John for the blog and I look forward to the Sunday Special.
    Cedric

  7. Short but sweet. Thought I might be on for a sub 5 but my last two in – CARDSHARP and SHEATH – put paid to that.
    Finished in 5.48 with COD to the brie fest.
    Thanks to John

  8. 9:11. A straightforward run through, held up most by my LOI CARDSHARP which I remembered instantly from its recent appearance, but only after I’d finally seen it. I liked the BRIE FEST

  9. Slowed down by enjoying the Brie Fest right at the beginning, and LOI euros where we tried b for bagel although couldn’t get where that abbreviation would come from. Was wondering what kind of crust there might be on an ebrus before thinking that bagels look like o’s and then the penny dropped, CLANG. 16.15

    Hard to pick a favourite from lots to like, thanks Jimmy and John

  10. 7.07, pretty straightforward, got about 40% of across on first sweep then filled in the remainder as I worked through the down clues – LIO was 21a as a result of the bread twist not hitting first time round. I must admit I didnt fully understand how SEC was the answer but it fitted.

  11. PHEW! Having started well with BRIEFEST, SPAM and several of their dependants, I feared the SE corner was going to ruin all of my good work. I had reached just two-to-go in a very fast time (for me) when my mind went blank for a minute or so. Fortunately, SHAMAN came to the rescue just in time and AIRLINE followed quickly as my LOI.

    Time = 15 minutes, so a real confidence booster for me today.

    Many thanks to Jimmy and John.

  12. I really enjoyed this. Clever misdirection, a bit of untangling and a couple of well hiddens, particularly SHEATH where my first thoughts were around Hot=H. Spoilt for choice for COD with many to choose from, but in the end it’s between FREUDIAN SLIP and IRONY. No time as I fell asleep after 10 minutes, but I guess it was just shy of 20 minutes. Was meant to be driving overnight to Germany but got a reprieve till after the weekend, so slept like a log. Just as well I wasn’t driving!
    Thanks Jimmy and John

  13. Great Friday puzzle a modest 13 mins for me some lovely cryptics in there.

    COD: CARDShARP albeit think it appeared as an answer very recently- failing that enjoyed BRIEFEST

  14. 7:22 (Cornish defeat the West Saxons at battle of Hehil)

    Similar experience to everyone else. My COD was BRIEFEST.
    LOI was CARDSHARP, which may have held out longer had we not had it earlier this week.

    Thanks Jimmy and John

  15. Enjoyable and quite quick.
    Only slow on EUROS, DROVE and IRONY. Re EUROS – Played tennis all my life but NHO a 6-0 bagel set, but as a bagel is round I guessed ‘O’. Dimly enough, failed to see iron=press but biffed that one anyway. PAVLOVA very easy. Liked PHEW, DRESS DOWN, GRASSHOPPERS.
    Thanks vm, John.

  16. From BRIEFEST to ELITIST in 7:10. In retrospect I’m unsure why I wasn’t quicker but I had quite a few laughs along the way.

  17. Lovely friendly puzzle, especially for a Friday – with Mrs M’s help for SHAMAN. LOI the clever FREUDIAN SLIP – too much time searching for Paul’s friend. Thank you, Jimmy.
    Oh by the way: wasn’t it only yesterday we had CARDSHARP?!
    Did wonder about “firing” a crossbow (Nealchi below).

  18. 10 mins…

    Definitely gentle, but still very enjoyable, with a fair number of clues leaving me chuckling. For some reason, I always think Sake is spelt Saki, thus 4dn took longer than it should.

    FOI – 11ac “Ely”
    LOI – 14dn “Airline”
    COD – 21ac “Euros” – but 1ac “Briefest” was a very close second.

    Thanks as usual!

  19. I enjoyed this. Did try brush instead of shrub at first but I quickly changed. PB at 14.27.

  20. 8:56

    Echoing the enjoyment of others and also that CARDSHARP (LOI) which took about a minute might have taken many more had it not come up a few days ago. I’m sure some of those puns/clues were old chestnuts but GRASSHOPPERS for little green jumpers was my favourite clue today. A very nice mix of generous clueing and good surfaces from Jimmy.

    For those who won’t be back tomorrow, have a good weekend 👍

  21. DNF

    Quite the week for careless mistakes. This one was all done in 15 after a minor holdup on CARDSHARP but faced with I_O_Y for my LOI biffed IVORY.

    DNK Bagel = O but French bread was obvious given the other letters.

      1. They loose or shoot them. Firing only occurs with a firearm such as a rifle. There is no explosive involved.

        1. In your usage maybe, but Chambers says fired means, inter alia, discharge of a gun, catapult, bow etc.

  23. Under 5 minutes, a very straightforward process today. FOI and COD BRIEFEST, great to start with a smile! I hadn’t seen “bagel” as an “O”, but having had my breakfast bagel with Philadelphia, raspberries and blueberries I was on the right wavelength.

  24. Gentle but fun. LOI BADGERS after 7 minutes.
    As noted by many another Cardsharp. This is a phenomenon which crops up quite often; a somewhat rare term becomes a crossword commonplace, at least for a while.
    COD to PHEW, my FOI.
    David

  25. Another more straightforward one, but again, very deftly clued.

    Favourites were BRIEFEST and the wonderful surface of the hidden ELITIST. LOI was the second hidden SHEATH.

    4:00

  26. Finished correctly in 35 minutes which is a good time for me. Good end to the week.
    Bagel for O was new to me. Though generally I encourage food based references in puzzles.
    So I also liked the BRIE-FEST clue.
    CARDSHARP is becoming a bit of a chestnut, we had this quite recently.
    I liked the clue for BADGERS – saw some in my garden a few months ago. Apparently they can be destructive but are usually harmless if left alone.
    SPAM – I think this word was introduced into the English language by the Pythons in the seventies. Happy days.

    1. Well in my (small) garden the badgers are welcome but the damage they do to the birdfeeders are NOT! Only the very strongest feeders are resistant, and even then not entirely.

    2. Email spam was so-called because of the Python sketch about it. The sketch joke is everything in the cafe comes with spam. I’d have assumed the canned food was already well known before they broadcast it.

    3. I suppose it wasn’t destructive and it would be difficult to prove the harm, but a badger brought a child’s drum into our back garden, banged it for about ten minutes and by the time I was sufficiently clad to go outside, he’d hidden it.
      Next night, same performance, I went out, he disappeared into a hole he’d dug, under our old shed.
      Argh. Next morning, using every hook and pole at my disposal, I tried to get hold of the drum. No joy.
      Night three, more drumming at one thirty am. I shouted through the window (I know, I know), he went under the shed without the drum and I was able to get it and put it in the wheelybin.
      Peace, at last.

  28. 9:37 with fully 3 minutes of that trying to solve SHEATH, which i eventually biffed but didnt parse until reading the blog… I feel rather foolish

  29. 6.06

    Gentle but fine stuff from Jimmy, delayed here by the speed my fingers can tap the letters in and dithering at the end over SHEATH failing to see the hidden.

  32. A good puzzle I thought pitched at just the right level for a QC. I finished under target at 9.23, held up at the end by my LOI which was FREUDIAN SLIP. It was useful to have had recent clues for CARDSHARP and references to the Pavlovian dog experiments, so that both answers came more readily to mind.
    My total time for the week was 55.57 giving me a daily average of 11.11. The fact that I didn’t break nine minutes for any of the five puzzles suggests, at least to me, that there were no gimmes this week.

  33. Straightforward end to the week which I completed in 12 minutes (it actually seemed faster at the time). All parsed except EUROS.

    FOI – 1ac BRIEFEST
    LOI – 15ac SHEATH (didn’t see the hidden until I was writing it in)
    COD – 1ac BRIEFEST. Also liked BADGERS and GRASSHOPPERS

    Thanks to Jimmy and John

  35. 6:30

    Gentlish finish to the week. I was thinking after four minutes or so that this seemed a little tougher, but the answers flowed in pretty steadily with the increasing number of checkers. Finished with SHAMAN and AIRLINE.

    Thanks Jimmy and John

  36. I thought I was on for a (rare these days) sub-15, but looking back I needed quite a few crossers for Freudian Slip and Cardsharp (!), so at the end it was closer to 17min. Lots to enjoy along the way, though I was completely baffled by O for bagel, being unaware of the tennis connection. CoD has to be Grasshopper for the smile. Invariant

  37. PB for me in 5:11. The only ones I didn’t get straight away were Cardsharp (I always struggle on cryptic definitions without crossers, I need the wordplay to help usually), Euros (I always miss bread = money) and Alter (I wrote in ratel at first without understanding why, as it fit the wordplay).

  38. How did you all find this so easy? For me, 5 clues were gobbledygook, even after years of QC practice. Yesterday’s was easy by comparison. Very depressing.

    1. This is a thing that happens, probably to most of us. Though I haven’t been doing these for years yet, I don’t expect it to ever not happen from time to time. People racking up PBs right and left, and I am sitting there thinking how? how? how?

  39. 4.38. cracking puzzle I thought. Lots of variety of clues. Held up by sheath, as the clue began with the word Caught, I was looking for a word with C in it.
    COD to briefest as it made me smile.

  41. What an enjoyable end to the week! Not quite a PB but 8 minutes and counting. Loved the BRIE FEST and the CROSS BOW and all the clues today had an aha moment! Thank you Jimmy and thanks John, no doubt basking as I am in a sunlit, warm Suffolk garden.

  42. 14:25 with no errors. Very enjoyable with some smiles along the way, especially my COD BRIEFEST. FOI – SPAM, LOI – EUROS. Thanks Jimmy and John.

  43. Must have been easy! My first ever all green, after about three weeks of trying.

    Only took me about 60 times as long as the quicker solvers too!

    1. Congratulations! First of many. And if you want to get faster, just keep at it and keep reading the blog, it’s free tuition.

  44. 6.33 SEC was a biff. EUROS and CARDSHARP delayed me up at the end. Thanks John and Jimmy.

  45. 15:23 slowest than most, and here’s why.
    I treed to overthink Paul’s friend as Silas from the Acts of the Apostles.
    Thought the meringue was to do with Prousts Madeleine.
    Did not do the recent puzzle with CARDSHARP in it, so that was LOI.
    Worst of all was a casual BEAVERS for BADGERS.

    I was most distracted with 17a starting with “who” not “whom”. Surely “whom” is needed here?

  46. 6:52

    Gentle Friday for me. NW presented the only delays with the COD BRIE FEST supplying BADGERS (a missed chestnut) and LOI the slip.

    Thanks all.

  47. 14:33 and another one where I scratch my head and wonder what took me so long. I put the first six across clues in sequentially, and I think it gave me a case of nerves because I’ve never done a sweep all the way, so I had to skip SHAMAN and SHEATH, which after all are not hard. I didn’t know about the bagel but it worked visually anyhow. Didn’t care at all for AIRLINE but liked GRASSHOPPERS. Fun puzzle with just enough food for thought and a yummy dessert.

    Thanks to Jimmy and John!

  48. All green in 9:08, quick for me. Exactly like Steel City above, I got a case of nerves on SHAMAN after getting the first six acrosses in order. The brie-fest started me off with a smile and it stayed in place throughout.

    Thanks to John and Jimmy.

  49. After a surprisingly fast solve a couple of weeks or so AGO, 8:36 is now quite a bit off our best but nevertheless remains fast for US. It was helped somewhat by having already seen CARDSHARP very recently. COD BRIEFEST. Thanks to Jimmy and John.

Comments are closed.