Times Quick Cryptic No 2928 by Asp

106 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 2928 by Asp”

1. Well, this was interesting, and I suspect some of our less able solvers are not going to be too happy. I was able to solve many of the clues quickly, but not all of them. Reversing our honorable blogger, I got sweeper readily enough, but could not think of carpet. I was also sure that the hole in the wall was going to be some sort of cheap restaurant. And since I just had cataract surgery a year ago, not being able to think of cataract was quite annoying.

   My solve was like a baroque concerto – fast, then slow, then fast again. But the central adagio was a little too long.

   Time: 15:55

   1. Never mind the “less able solvers”, others might not be too happy either. Mr Grumpy here.
      A horrible experience in the SW, but ultimately floored by FLORID, where I put FLARED, which also works – after a fashion, I suppose: FL(orid)A + RED.

   2. All right, I’m certainly one of our less able solvers, and this took me over 30 minutes to do, but I’m very happy with it. I think it’s an excellent puzzle and had a good time hacking my way through the difficulties. Of course I never heard of various things that are very British, but that’s pretty normal around here and all was gettable in the end. So there 😎

2. I thought this was really hard so only got about 50% before I gave up. With the explanation it seems easy but certainly was not

   1. Agree, only half done

3. A good workout. I don’t really mind these as I solve on paper and am never in a hurry. I got CARPET SWEEPER pretty well immediately from ‘person crying’, so that gave me ‘weeper’ and ‘carpets’ for rebukes came easily. No problems with it being a cleaner. CASH DISPENSER held out for a while as I couldn’t stop thinking about gang’s hiding places! Lovely. MINISTRY also held me up as I thought it would begin with MOD or the like before seeing the real definition. And I was sure 23a PERTURB would start with PRO for ‘expert’ before seeing the hidden. Chewy but good.
   Thanks MH and ASP. Great blog.

4. 10 minutes, a pretty standard solve for me with only EMPLOY and STEPSON requiring return visits to spot the parsing. I’d mention that I did not originate ‘aural wordplay’, although I think I was the first to use it regularly here. I pinched it from someone on Fifteensquared.

5. I found this pretty hard, but I still enjoyed (luckily wasn’t in too much of a rush today). I did have to rely on some biff-then-parsing, but was confident with everything except TATTLER. I enjoyed the many tight surfaces e.g. 4d/5d/etc.
   Thanks for the blog.

6. 14 minutes. I think this is Asp’s first puzzle since his appointment as The Times crossword editor. Just like his previous puzzles I thought this was on the hard side. I had trouble with many of the same clues as Mike, notably MINISTRY (tried starting with MOT), CARPET SWEEPER and identifying the correct definition for STEPSON. Missing the hidden for HERE didn’t help either.

   Favourite was the surface for FLORID.

   Thanks to Asp and Mike

7. Raced through the early half but the last few MOTET, STEPSON, FLORID and ROUTE really slowed things down. Lack of knowledge, oh that sort of issue, took a while to read the clue correctly and pure befuddlement. Ended up all green in 11.45.

8. I enjoyed it. CODs to TEDIOUS and TULIP.

   I was going to call The Mongoose and the Cobra, my latest novel, The Tulip … if you read it you’ll see why.

9. Tricky in places, particularly in the SW, but I made steady progress throughout.

   It took a while to see what was going with BLESS due to the slightly iffy (IMO) hidden indicator and FEEBLE, TASTE and STEPSON (my COD) also took a bit of working out.

   Started with CAMP and finished with FLORID in 8.37.

   Thanks to Mike and Asp

10. I thought this was a great puzzle from the Asp. All done in 12:54 but should have been so much better having written in TATTLER and MOTET early doors only to then delete them due to lack of confidence in the parsing.

    FOI CATARACT
    COD CARPET SWEEPER
    LOI ENSURE

    Thanks for blog Mike, shared many of your musings.

    In other news, I seem to have disappeared from the QUITCH the last few days. I did notice for Thursday 13 February I recorded a very anomalous NITCH of 2809 – is that even possible. I wonder if the two things are linked?

    1. Actually I have reappeared today with a slower par time presumably on account of said Thursday 13th time dragging the stats down – weird, I notice that you don’t appear if you solve the day after publication but certainly did yesterday and Monday before lunchtime on same day. Different devices maybe? I only have one Times CC login AFAIK the same across different phones and different laptops.

       Maybe time to buy @starstruck a coffee.

       1. We should all (well, those of us who enjoy the Snitch and/or the Quitch anyway) get in the habit of buying him a coffee every now and then, because it’s a fantastic service!

          1. I check the SNITCH now and again and find it interesting.
             However, it is of less value to me simply because the results are attenuated by the absence of many ‘less able solvers’ (thanks vinyl) who solve independently of the Club site and whose times are therefore not part of the calculation.
             Today’s value was surprisingly low, I thought.

             1. Actually, many of the times in the SNITCH are taking from postings in TftT. I solve on paper, but post my times here, and you will see me on the SNITCH.

          2. I agree. But this puzzle also illustrates one of the interesting quirks of the SNITCH, which is that because DNFs don’t count (I believe), the fact that I could not finish means that my already longer than usual time is disregarded. Ironically if I had got my last clue and posted what would then have been a long time, the SNITCH would have reflected this and gone up, despite being in a sense “easier” (because I finished it rather than scoring a DNF).

             This might explain why the SNITCH for this puzzle, which many are saying is tough, is only 117. Solvers who routinely do the 15×15 have found it a little more challenging than usual and are in the SNITCH calculation, solvers like me who found it a lot more challenging to the point of not finishing it are excluded.

             1. Good point, Cedric.

          3. you are a nice person….that is frequently apparent. : )
             Good prompt.

11. DNF with two unsolved at the 20 min mark. FLORIDA and STEPSON (I had STETSON).

    Was really struggling in the bottom half until I remembered we hadn’t had any hiddens, so I hunted for those and found BLESS, PERTURB, HERE.

    Very hard going.

12. Very chewy indeed. Moved steadily, if somewhat slowly, through the NW, NE and SE but then found the SW corner very tough. Struggled through it but all to no avail as I failed on ROUTE, which even with the three checkers R-U-E I could not see any answer to. I tried a wordsearch, found five possible answers, but none of them made enough sense. It would have been an 18-minute finish if I had plumped for one of the possible answers, but there didn’t seem much point in a wild guess so I left it as a DNF.

    Asp’s choice of hidden indicators is certainly innovative, and having just about accepted “suppresses” as an indicator in the clue for PERTURB, I really did do a double-take at “length of” in the clue for BLESS. I have long accepted that the list of words that can be used as an anagram indicator is almost infinitely long and varied – it seems the same might be true of hidden indicators too.

    Many thanks Mike for the blog; delighted this one was not on my watch!

    1. Yes, I was startled by “length of” too. Still not sure how it is supposed to work.

       1. I see it as “take a length of …”, bit like when a cookery recipe says take a pinch of salt i.e. remove only some of the salt from the pot.

          1. That’s (eventually) how I understood it. Or at least accepted that this is what was meant. But it is not exactly the clearest of indicators, and clues where one has to battle to make the parsing comprehensible are some way above my pay grade

             1. above pay grade and not much fun

       2. I accepted it by the same reasoning as New Driver when solving, but having thought about it and done a little research I’m not so sure. According to various sources, a length of something (e.g. cloth, rope, wood) is the whole of it from one end to the other. So it would seem to follow that ‘length of constable’s service’ indicates the whole thing unless there is something else in the clue into indicate only part of it, which there isn’t. However I wouldn’t die in a ditch over it!

       3. . . .at least you didn’t resort to counting the number of letters 🙄

13. Quite tough and a DNF with 2 unsolved after 25 mins – I just couldn’t see FLORID and STEPSON. Opting for RADAR instead of ROTOR held me up a bit as well. Needed the blog, thanks MH.

    Pi ❤️

14. Breezeblocked by STEPSON, even with all the checkers and fairly sure it would end ON: don’t like alphabet trawling and missed that meaning of issue, didn’t get what crushes was doing. Ho hum. Good clue, once I saw the blog!
    Some very well hidden hiddens, usually I pick those out quite easily but Asp’s hidden indicators are challenging.
    Plenty to wrestle with today so I’ll go and join our weary blogger at the SCC and buy him a drink, sounds like he needs it. And I’ll get you next time, Asp…

    1. Be careful, isn’t asp a snake?

15. 4:45. I enjoyed this and I was clearly on Asp’s wavelength as I breezed through this missing only 4 across answers on a first pass. ROUTE at the end had me head-scratching for the parsing until I spotted the homophone. Thanks Asp and Mike.

16. The first five across clues went straight in and I was wondering what all the fuss was about. Then I hit the wall and virtually everything thereafter was like pulling teeth. A good puzzle, though.

17. Very difficult and a resounding DNF.
    Some very clever clues but not a QC for me.
    Thanks for the blog.

18. I found this tougher than usual, posting a DNF in just over 14 minutes. The DNF was down to guessing the spelling of CATARACT wrongly (couldn’t remember if it was CATERACT or CATARACT). I also put ROUTE in without twigging the homophone, should have worked out what DELIVERED was doing in the club but didn’t. Also couldn’t parse TATTLER because, although I had heard of the magazine (but never considered reading it), I didn’t for one moment consider that it might be spelt “wrong”.

19. Well that has sorted the sheep from the goats, and I’m firmly in the goat category. I confess that I don’t have the patience to wrestle for long with a QC if I’m properly stuck (I’m much more persistent with a 15), so I gave up in a huff with the SW largely unsolved. Yes, I fully accept that I deserve your moral condemnation.

    Big, fat, technicolour DNF. Many thanks Asp and (in particular) Mike.

    PS it wouldn’t have mattered anyway because I had CORNER SWEEPER. Yes that’s a thing (you fit them to some brands of cleaning robot eg). I did think that “corners” for “rebukes” didn’t really work.

20. 37:06 for slowest solve of the year! But at least it’s a solve and my other positive was liking CASH-DISPENSER. And of course, thanks to Mike for the blog.

    Reached the last four in the SW in just under fourteen mins and then crickets until MINISTRY went in at around 28mins having been unable to get past treasury. STEM followed quickly and then a few more minutes of crickets before I tried -SON.

    It felt like a solve of fits and starts where whenever I got a checking letter, answers flew in. Too many clues felt like I need to find lesser-known vocab or do multiple steps, so something of a stepdown from the 15×15. Perhaps the new Puzzles Editor* could give Asp some tips on how to make these more QC friendly …

    * Doh – that fell flat – I meant Crossword Editor in my wry way

21. This seemed to take ages, relatively. Some clever hiddens, and the excellent STEPSON, plus fixation on ‘engineer’ being RE held me up.

    8’02”, thanks Mike and Asp.

22. Most of it was fair enough but the southwest corner was a challenge to me. If I had got Stem quicker it might have given me a way into Ministry but along with Bless the cluing was not helpful to me.
    Thanks setter and blogger though

23. DNF. Not on the wavelength. Forgot MOTET, failed on STEPSON, needed hint with STEM (oh dear).
    Managed the rest, eventually. But, dear Asp, this is a workout for the 15x15ers, rather than for ‘less able solvers’, as Vinyl somewhat disparagingly calls us.
    Yes, I agree with New Driver, the puzzles editor needs a word with Asp.
    However, I liked ECSTATIC, CANE, EMPLOY, FEEBLE.
    Thanks for much needed blog, Mike.

    1. Dear CW1,
       I don’t mind being called a “less able solver”, because I know I that I are one.
       However, a less disparaging alternative might be a ‘more capable non-solver’. That might feel a little kinder, perhaps.

       1. See below.

    2. Well, you’re the first person to be insulted by a euphemism! It’s a good thing HorryD isn’t still around…..

       1. If ‘less able’ is a euphemism for the SCC, I hate to think what a dysphemism would be.
          Just teasing – let’s just say ‘less able’ is less diplomatic than, say, less experienced.
          Random, keep going!
          Am just back from an interesting talk by Robert Harris. Now there’s an able chap.

          1. I agree with you, CW. ‘Less experienced’ is kinder, as we can improve with experience, whereas less able doesn’t offer such encouragement.

             1. 🙂

24. Sailed through until I reached the SW corner which took nearly twice as long as the rest. Obviously suffering from a poor night’s sleep as biffed ROUTE without parsing. COD STEPSON when I finally got the answer. Thanks Asp for a clever puzzle and Mike for great blog.

25. Very tricky and guesswork required to finish in 27:21 (phew!). “Length of” = hidden word?? Not seen this before. Struggled with STEPSON, BLESS, ROUTE, TEDIOUS……. Hope that the Polygon is easier today!

26. I started well and appreciated some very clever clues but then reality kicked in. I think too many clues were just too close to a 15×15 level.
    There was much to enjoy (once I had recovered) but, on this showing, Asp is just too clever to be setting QCs and not clever enough to understand the level that many regular QC solvers are at. I persevered but ended up with a ‘biggie’ time at over half an hour (and with help needed for a couple, so a DNF).
    When I need a challenge at this sort of level I have a go at the 15×15.
    If Asp is now Crosswords Editor (as BletchleyReject tells us above), I now understand why so many QC solvers have noted a general increase in difficulty recently.
    Congrats and respect to all who posted good times above.
    Many thanks to Mike for a valiant effort and a very good blog.

27. I started fairly quickly but got bogged down after the half way point. Spent too long trying to fit CHAR as the start to 4dn thinking I must have made a mistake with TATTLER, eventually the penny dropped. MINISTRY was my LOI and took me some time, but I fortunately then revisited 20dn where I had ROUGE as a synonym for foundation. Rather than shrug my shoulders and assume I was missing the point somewhere, I persevered with the parsing until ROUTE at last made sense. A tough day with a finish of 15.18, but I certainly won’t be alone in finding this extra tough.

28. Simply a day to forget…

29. I thought the word camp in this context was deprecated…non PC and all that.
    I biffed Tattler and the Cash part of cash dispenser.
    I could tell before I started that my brain was still asleep.
    Visit to the SCC?

    1. SCC = Slow Coach Club i.e. 20+ mins

30. Interesting comments above.
    I started well but then I felt like I was walking through quicksand.
    My last two were CARPET SWEEPER and STEPSON (on which I spent much time).
    18 minutes in the end. I needed my 15×15 hat on for this.
    Good puzzle but hard for a QC.
    COD to CASH DISPENSER.
    David

    1. Well done, D1. May I borrow your 15×15 hat, as I don’t possess one?

31. A comprehensive DNF, despite starting well with CAMP and ECSTATIC going straight in followed by four of their intersecting Down clues. I was still making progress as the doors of the SCC opened, but with 8-10 clues remaining that was more-or-less that.

    I struggled along for a further half-hour or so, but eventually lost the will to live and gave up with four clues left unsolved. Those were STEPSON, TASTE, STEM and ROUTE (or was it ROUgE and in each case why?). The last three clues I solved were FEEBLE, BLESS and MINISTRY – all also in the SW corner.

    Why has Asp not yet managed to tailor his or her QC offerings to the typical QC/non-15×15 audience? I haven’t missed a QC since I started out in June 2020, but (sadly) I will have to be more selective from now on.

    Many thanks to Mike H.

32. DNF. Not too bad to start with, but really struggled in the SW despite having Stem and Ministry. Feeble and Bless eventually fell, but had to use aids for Taste and Stepson. Might have got them on a better day, but had lost interest by then. CoD to the brilliant Bless, albeit through gritted teeth. Invariant

33. Too much for me, gave up after 40mins with 8d and whole SW corner not done.

34. DNF bigtime.
    Sailed through the North, and apart from 20d Route (never got it) only the SW was pretty empty. I came here to get 22a Taste which enabled me to tidy up the SW. So total fail on 2 clues.
    Never noticed that the TATLER magazine was misspelt. Not a thing I would read.

35. 14.41

    But I did finish! And no pink square 🙂

    Some very good clues even if they did require a high level of mastication – CASH DISPENSER and CARPET SWEEPER in that category together with the very good DD TASTE. That together with STEPSON completely breeze blocked me at the end for an awful long time.

    Thanks ASP and particularly Mike who has gamely blogged notwithstanding his struggles – chapeau

    1. Do I detect a cyclist?

36. This is the first time I have commented.
    I found this the most challenging QC for a while and the most engaging.
    I have been increasingly concerned that the tightening definition of QC applied by commentators risks limiting innovation and experimentation.
    Well done Asp!

    1. Welcome, do keep commenting!

37. I am a little out of sync with the commenters here as I solved this offering from Asp steadily. Yes I was slowed in the SW particularly by the double definition TASTE (my LOI) and my COD STEPSON. I also quite like that discern shapes is an anagram of cash dispenser. ROUTE required a PDM. Thanks Mike…I think you just had a bad day! 8:11

38. 14:18

    Struggled in the NW rather than the SW. Despite FOI CAMP, I had nothing else there with everything else done. Then I entered SEARED for 8d StatE A-RED, which fortunately gave me ROTOR, MOTET, CATARACT and TATTLER, so returned to 8d and thus LOI FLORID.

    Tough but great fun, thanks Asp and Mike

39. Lots of blanks down below after my first pass of the acrosses and downs. Eventually filled in the top half and then concentrated on the rest. TASTE, MINISTRY and finally STEPSON held me up most. 9:43. Thanks Asp and Mike.

40. The first few across clues went straight in and I was hopeful of a fast time. Unfortunately the bottom half seemed much more difficult and I initially struggled to get a foothold there. However I finished in 21 minutes which was ok for what was obviously a tough puzzle only to find that I can’t spell cataract, so technically a DNF. I was baffled by length of as a hidden indicator and also by delivered as a homophone indicator which meant I failed to parse route.

    FOI – 1ac CAMP
    LOI – 20dn ROUTE
    COD – 15dn STEPSON. Also liked 11ac ROTOR.

    Thanks to Asp and Mike.

41. DNF. Threw in the towel at 15 with TASTE and STEPSON outstanding. Nice puzzle though, thanks Mike and Asp. (btw an answer in the 15×15 today reminded me of oink’s porcine references and I thought for a moment I was in the other puzzle, if anyone knows what I mean…)

42. Flying start into brick wall

43. DNF STEPSON. Yes, this took me a while but I enjoyed every long minute. Some great clues, especially TATTLER and FEEBLE. Had no idea how to parse ROUTE or FLORIDA – thanks Mike (dearie me 😆). Wasn’t sure about CATARACT in waterfall sense but seemed to fit definition. Biffed then parsed MINISTRY (very clever). COD has to be STEPSON for misdirecting me totally. I for one am looking forward to the next Asp offering to keep me on my toes. Thanks Mike.

44. A nice puzzle I thought, but having taken seven minutes, this was two minutes outside my target, and therefore I found it relatively difficult.
    I took time to see “delivered” as a homophone indicator, but it is a good one.
    I liked the use of “length” as a containment indicator.
    Stepson was good, but COD to Florid as it made me smile, even though it was a very wry smile.

45. Thoroughly enjoyed this one – the SW corner held me up for a couple of mins at the end, but still home and hosed in 8:04, so not bad. Needed the blog to sort out BLESS – didn’t see it as a hidden even after the (biffed) event! COD STEPSON. Thanks Asp and Mike.

46. 14:40 I was going to give up after 10 minutes or so but then things fell into place nicely. I had CAUSE ( homonym of Course?) first instead of ROUTE but that was silly.

47. SCC too. 25:15
    Motet (if that’s her name) steps on route and carpets weeper….
    not sure whether to applaud or cry…

48. Blimey, just like Mike! Nearly 20 minutes slower than my Monday solve and a now infrequent entry into the SCC which I believe I coined together with (Old) Blighter a few years back. Forgive me if someone else takes credit for it. Hopefully, not being unhappy will save me from being a “less able” solver. Perhaps not!

49. I struggled with this for the best part of an hour before – with some aids – completing it. The toughest QC I’ve come across in ages. SW corner held me up, but so did TATTLER, CATARACT, FLORID. STEPSON probably held me up longest – and I still hadn’t completely parsed it until I read the blog. Not a good day!

50. Joining our blogger Mike in the SCC if I’m allowed in with 8d unsolved: would never have got FLORID (although various shades of red came to mind, eg CLARET) before CASH DISPENSER ruled that out. Enjoyed the wordplay with backwards BEEF and French LE to give FEEBLE. And STEPS ON was inventive! Liked MOTET and ROTOR. 25 minutes or more but very enjoyable – thanks Asp and Mike

Comments are closed.