A decent Fridayish Quick Cryptic from Breadman today. One or two tricky bits took me 3/4 minute over my average time to 6:16. Did anyone else get hung up on making an anagram of GAME I LOST for 19A or take a while and need both checkers for 20D? Thank-you Breadman. How did you all like it?
Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is my turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the crossword entitled “The Kitchen Garden” here. Can you find the thematic references and the related song and children’s TV series? If you are interested in trying our previous offerings you can find an index to all 148 here.
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Sport that Lion developed involving resistance (9) |
| TRIATHLON – R (resistance) in (that Lion)* [developed]. | |
| 6 | Doorkeeper and drug dealer leaving quietly (5) |
| USHER -{p}USHER (drug dealer) without [leaving], the P (quietly). | |
| 8 | Unusual flies circling old chap’s insular UK location (4,2,3) |
| ISLE OF MAN – O (old) in [unusual] (flies)* + MAN (chap). | |
| 9 | Saying taken from go-ahead agency (5) |
| ADAGE – Hidden in, [from], go-aheAD AGEncy. | |
| 10 | Party platform ignoring last thing affected by Reform (4,5) |
| STAG NIGHT – STAG{e} (platform) without the last letter, [ignoring last], + (thing)* [affected]. | |
| 12 | Woman’s concealing corroded radiator? (6) |
| HEATER – ATE (corroded) in HER (woman’s). | |
| 13 | Fix fight against European (6) |
| SCRAPE – SCRAP (fight) + E (European). Scrape the noun. | |
| 16 | Reportedly study good article on gold musical instrument (4,5) |
| REED ORGAN – REED sounds like [reportedly] READ (study) + OR (gold in heraldry) + G (good) + AN (indefinite article). | |
| 18 | Type of paint Gloria half used outside in stages (5) |
| GLOSS – First 3 letters of GLOria [half used] + outside letters of StageS. | |
| 19 | Game I lost unfortunately leading to a rage (9) |
| SOLITAIRE – (I lost)* [unfortunately] + A + IRE (rage). | |
| 21 | Son Kelvin that is heading for ruin — someone going downhill fast? (5) |
| SKIER – S (son) K (Kelvin, the unit of absolute temperature) + I.E. (that is) + first letter of, [heading for], Ruin. | |
| 22 | Total in writing correct (9) |
| DOWNRIGHT – DOWN (in writing, as in “He had it down on paper”) + RIGHT (correct). | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Samples tagliatelle on vacation somewhere in Italy (7) |
| TRIESTE – TRIES (samples) + T{agliatell}E without the middle lettes, [on vacation]. Nice surface. | |
| 2 | Quite afflicted state (3,3) |
| I’LL SAY – ILL (afflicted) + SAY (state, the verb). | |
| 3 | Ancient character’s a spiky thing (5) |
| THORN – Double definition. The first definition referring to the letter in the Old English, Old Norse, Old Swedish and modern Icelandic alphabets, as well as modern transliterations of the Gothic alphabet, Middle Scots, and some dialects of Middle English. It is equivalent to the modern “th”. | |
| 4 | Meat reduced to pound (3) |
| LAM – LAM{b} (meat) [reduced]. | |
| 5 | No news there, I broadcast, still in ignorance (4,3,5) |
| NONE THE WISER – (no news there I)* [broadcast]. Another nice surface. | |
| 6 | Writer in university’s meeting editor without permission (12) |
| UNAUTHORISED – AUTHOR (writer) in UNI’S (university’s) + [meeting] ED (editor). | |
| 7 | Violent, aggressive person owned box containing ecstasy (8) |
| HEADCASE – E (ecstasy) contained in HAD (owned) + CASE (box). | |
| 11 | Cheerful Simon regularly observed 51 plants (8) |
| GLADIOLI – GLAD (cheerful) + alternate letters, [regularly observed], of sImOn + LI (51 in Roman numerals). | |
| 14 | Tory visitor avoiding United crowd (7) |
| CONGEST – CON (Conservative; Tory) + G{u}EST (visitor) without [avoiding] the U (United). Crowd the verb. | |
| 15 | Travel up with Heather casting amorous glances (6) |
| OGLING – GO (travel) [up] -> OG + LING (heather). | |
| 17 | Aquatic mammal having excessive energy on river (5) |
| OTTER – OTT (over the top; excessive) + E (energy) + R (river). | |
| 20 | Vulgar animal noise (3) |
| LOW – Double definition. I need both checkers to see this. | |
No let up for the QC crew!
I should add that I think we’ve had some pretty good puzzles in this little stretch. Not all difficulty is created equal, I’ve been enjoying these on the whole, but I’m sure there are a few people waiting for a sub-100 QSNITCH.
I would certainly like a few a bit easier!
Some of the answers were quite obvious, some were not. Clues like Isle of Man and none the wiser were very biffable, but I struggled with downright and, of course, solitaire. Getting unauthorised provided a pair of key starting letters, enabling me to finish off the final quadrant.
Time: 11:04
I have no solving time to report as I fell asleep and lost track. That wouldn’t have happened if I had been rattling through it, but I was struggling to find answers. On resumption I completed the grid eventually. ILL SAY had me baffled for ages using a device we don’t usually see in a QC and not that frequently in the main puzzle either.
Nice, chewy puzzle, cleaning up with ILL SAY.
8:06
15 minutes. Yes, I tried to make an anagram out of ‘game I lost’ at 19a, not helped by the crossing letters being included in that potential anagram fodder, so SOLITAIRE was my LOI. Others like SCRAPE, I’LL SAY and DOWNRIGHT weren’t immediately obvious so this was never going to be a speedy solve. HEADCASE is a word I don’t think I’ve seen in a crossword before and was another only solved with the help of crossers.
No grid tricks, as Breadman sometimes provides, that I can see.
Thanks to John and Breadman
I did a lot of biffing, evidently; I don’t remember much. SOLITAIRE was my LOI, so I never tried to anagramise it. I didn’t think HEADCASES were particularly violent; I thought they were, to quote ODE, ‘mentally ill or unstable person[s]’.
Maybe’s it an English colloquiallism but I’ve only ever heard “he’s a bit of a headcase” said about the bloke down the pub who wants to pick a fight with everybody.
Begbie in Trainspotting would have to be the canonical “headcase”.
I think Begbie was more than just a headcase.
HEADCASE is used as a slur. In my view a very unpleasant, demeaning, and unacceptable one.
Here, it goes even further – associating mental disorder with violence.
I find this term very offensive. I am disappointed it got through the editor.
Just because an insult exists, it does not necessarily make it suitable for a crossword in The Times.
It’s a crossword, not a public address, and isn’t aimed at anybody specific. I can’t see any problem whatsoever, but then I’m of the era where “PC” was someone who clipped your ear and sent you home when you’d misbehaved.
Agreed.
I stand by what I said. I do find it offensive.
Fortunately things have changed a lot.
I remember when discriminatory language and behaviour against women, LGBTQI, people with disabilities, anybody from overseas was rife and accepted.
As a retired psychiatrist I have also seen the discrimination endured by those with mental disorders, and the near- hysteria when a person who is mentally ill has been violent.
Collins has two definitions:
headcase
in British English
noun informal
1. a person who is aggressive and emotionally unstable
2. offensive
a person who has a mental illness
Chambers has “head case noun, colloq 1 someone who behaves in a wild or irrational way. 2 a mentally ill person.”
Given that Collins flags one possible meaning as offensive, I agree it might have been better avoided even though that was not the meaning of the word intended by the setter. Multiple meanings are a bit of a grey area though – I remember a setter once using “fag” to mean cigarette, and some of our US solvers being appalled!
50 years ago such language was common on the BBC… I am a crippled wheelchair user. I’d have probably been called a spastic back then.
Thank you Templar.
(Your comment about “fag” made me smile 🤣)
Ah, I recall being gently chided by my mother for using that term. “We don’t say that any more, the correct word is subnormal”. Oh dear.
Hopefully we’ve progressed a bit from those days Nutshell, although I’m sure your perspective on it would be fascinating.
Well said numpty, appreciate the professional insight.
I do find it ironic that somebody who complains about the use of the word “Headcase” has in their user name the word numpty, which can be considered an insult too.
SOLITAIRE and I’LL SAY at the end added minutes. I got all the first three so thought this would be a fast one but then only two more acrosses went in on the first pass and even getting NONE THE WISER and UNAUTHORISED on sight could help me get back on track. Didn’t understand SCRAPE, never heard of a REED ORGAN, only partially parsed DOWNRIGHT – and would never have got to ‘down’ from ‘writing’ if I hadn’t got LOW (via moo and baa). I’LL SAY was just hard – ill to I’ll was a huge leap for me to make! Ended on a high when I gave up trying the anagram everyone else seems to have been misdirected into trying. All green, but black and blue, in 17.31. Great stuff – and thanks for blog John, much needed today.
I’m not sure “decent” is the word I would have come up with for this puzzle. I found it challenging and at times baffling. I have not seen Ill turned into I’ll before and having got both ILL & SAY from the wordplay I still couldn’t see the solution for quite a time. I also share Kevin’s query on HEADCASE, and I never parsed DOWNRIGHT – “in writing ” for “down” was well beyond me. And yes, add me to the no doubt large number who tried to make an anagram out of Game I lost.
So certainly a struggle – all done in the end but it took me 16:58 to continue the toughest week for many months (based on the average SNITCH for the 5 puzzles so far). Many thanks John for the blog and I look forward to the Sunday Special. Which will hopefully be closer to a QC than some of this week’s offerings have been.
I think you’ll find it a bit easier than the last few days.😀
Another trying the wrong fodder for solitaire for a while. All done in just under 20 apart from I’ll say that took us to 23.04, which given other comments is pretty pleasing.
Delighted to dredge up thorn and lam from previous outings which helped along the way. Mrs RH on terrific biffing form was also a god send!
We still have to revisit Tuesday which we left over half empty after 30 mins!
Thanks B and John for the parsing of [stag] night,
Not a good day to misplace my anagram hat and the less said about I’LL SAY, which needed an alpha trawl followed by a long blank stare, the better.
Despite my struggles there was much to enjoy along the way but my COD goes to SOLITAIRE for the misdirection.
Started with USHER and finished with HEADCASE in 11.02.
Thanks to John and Breadman.
I had a PDM for ‘Ill say’ after a long stare.
Very chewy.
I just wish Times substituted Quuck with something else as it is not customer friendly to mis-sell things.
14:04
I took ages to get SOLITAIRE, falling into the anagram of ‘game I lost’ trap to the extent of using pen and paper in vain.
LOI was HEADCASE
Thanks John and Breadman
I was one who spent too long looking for an anagram of game I lost.
I have an objection to Isle of Man being described as insular UK location – GB yes, but UK no!
But the UK is short for “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island” – so given you’re accepting it for GB then it is part of the UK.
The IoM is in neither GB nor the UK. It’s a self governing British Crown Dependency. That said it was one of the more obvious answers in today’s grid.
AFAIK GB is Eng, Wales, Scotland, and all the associated islands except Ireland and its islands. IOM and Channel Islands are in GB but are not in UK, they are Crown Dependancies. They were never in EEC/EU either.
I crossed with Dear Hector; it looks like he has got it right and I haven’t, sorry.
FWIW British Isles includes Ireland as well.
When I did the web version around 15.30 there was no mention of UK. Don’t know if it’s been changed.
I agree with many of the points above and certainly fell into many of the traps described.
I biffed ILL SAY (!!!!) at the (bitter) end of my solve and wondered why I had persevered until that point.
I agree with Srt; many recent ‘QC’ puzzles deserve to be investigated under the Trades Description Act.
I am losing patience and, after being loyal to the QC since no. 1, I will not remain so for much longer.
Goodness knows what newer solvers will make of the last few – there is no encouragement to develop skills and build confidence here. IMO only Wurm, Teazel, Izetti, and Rongo have produced actual QCs over the past two or three weeks.
Reading the posts so far, I get the impression that even some respected, expert solvers are close to revolt.
I do not want the QC to be a doddle but it has become unrecognisable over the last few weeks.
totally agree!
Variations in difficulty are to be expected, as are variations in solving ability, so it’s hard to please all the solvers all the time. It’s often been stated here that one doesn’t always have to fully solve a puzzle to enjoy it.
We’re extremely well served by the setters and editor at the Times, and personally I think telling them to “get a grip” is unnecessarily disrespectful.
You are right about my last comment, Galspray. I appreciate what setters and the editor do but I couldn’t hold back my building frustration. I apologise for the ‘get a grip’ expression but I stand by the rest of my comments.
I think we need to remember the way many of us were brought into the cryptic crossword fold by our early experiences here, supported by the many wonderful solvers who contribute to the blog. The QC was my entry point to the real pleasures of crosswords. We don’t all need to progress to reaching the 15×15 level every day to have a sense of fulfilment.
Fair enough Blighter, thanks for the response.
It can be a frustrating exercise, although I normally get more frustrated at my own typos and other dopey errors!
Thanks for removing that, you may have come a bit close to the line. Remember we can criticize the puzzles, but not the honorable gents at the Times who produce them.
A thunderous ‘hear hear’ from me, galspray.
“get a grip” is just rude.
It is worth going back and re-reading what Jason Crampton posted on 15 March 2025 in response to similar comments; vinyl thought it sufficiently important to give it its own permanent berth on the Blog here https://timesforthetimes.co.uk/jason-crampton-on-the-quick-cryptic
It is worth reading in full, but in particular this: “I take considerable time over editing these puzzles – they are more difficult to edit, in some ways, given the constraints – and try to ensure they are suitable.”
You perhaps missed my apology for my choice of words.
If you’re actually sorry, then I would suggest deleting it.
If it pleases you, I will do so.
I am not in the habit of trying to sweep things under the carpet (with the risk of making nonsense of a series of blog comments) but I am sure you know best.
I really don’t see the need to doubt Blighter’s apology. It seems perfectly genuine to me.
Thank you. It was indeed genuine, as you say.
That blog entry you linked to was a very interesting read.
Thank you for posting it. 👍
I am an inexperienced new solver. I’ve no problem with this week’s puzzles. I’m more pleased when I parse one of the more obscure clues.
I don’t find the expression “get a grip” offensive nor “wake up and smell the coffee”. Both are gentle reminders to reflect on the situation one finds one’s self in. I’d class myself as a snowflake if I took offense at either of those, but then I don’t take offense when Mrs N referes to me as a f***wit. These expressions lose their currency if over used. Comes back to the “I’m ok, you’re ok” philosophy. I’m ok, if you insult me irrationally then you are probably not ok, and I should cut you some slack.
We’ve definitely had missing apostrophes before, because I remember the rage! I think it’s a bit unsporting to enumerate I’LL as 3 rather than 1’2 … but last time I said this I was told that that would make it too easy so I’ll just grumble into my coffee.
Terrific puzzle, nice easy grid. I would have been fast on that had it not been for blinking SOLITAIRE … I fell headlong into the anagram trap, and even wrote out the letters which I never do. Then wondered how on earth I was going to fit GAMO into S-L-T-I-E. Then realised I couldn’t. Then had a rethink. Then finally saw the light and stopped the clock on 09:26 for a Could Have Been So Much Better Day.
Lots to choose from but COD to UNAUTHORISED. Many thanks Breaders and John.
I found myself more or less on the wavelength, so pretty quick. LOsI – I’LL SAY, SOLITAIRE and SCRAPE. Like others I tried the wrong anagrist for SOLITAIRE at first. I also had to wait for LOW, come to think of it.
Remembered THORN, luckily.
COD GLADIOLI. Also liked GLOSS, among others. Solved HEADCASE but, as said above, I thought it just meant a dotty person.
Many thanks, John.
After two disastrous days, a determined effort got me within three. But yes, totally hung up on the anagram of “game I lost”, and assuming 20 is LOW, 19 S – L – T – I – E only lacks A G M O which makes no rage that I can find. And five parsing queries, so all in all, I’m at your feet again, John, thank you.
Oh I see. Humph, Quite = I’LL SAY is difficult.
10: I think you have to say [affected by Reform], don’t you?
Dear oh dear, that makes a whole week of failures.
18:22 for the solve. Last five mins spent resolving the “Game I lost” anagram 🤣 STAG NIGHT and ILL SAY, LOW and took a while to see DOWN=writing.
Definitely been a tough run of puzzles over the past week or so – 18+mins from Tues-Fri. Oh well, keep your heads up everybody there will be a run of easier puzzles coming up and have a good weekend.
Thanks to JohnI and Breadman
I reckon DOWN = in writing
Yes. That’s what I said in the blog.
Completed most of RHS very quickly but needed blog to parse SCRAPE and I’LL SAY. LOI SOLITAIRE falling into the anagram trap. This week’s QCs do seem to have been trickier than usual, but appreciate that setters have a fine line to negotiate. Thanks Breadman and John.
For whatever reason – this was an enjoyable hard crossword. A nice steady solve to the 15:12 mark
TYTBAS
From USHER to LOW in 9:09. Tricky! Thanks setter and John.
A curate’s egg of a week for me.
Not on wavelength at all today.
Hoping next week is better. This week reminds me of the run of QC we had several months back.
Thanks for the much needed blog John.
23:45
Either these are getting trickier or I’m losing my touch. Third visit to the SCC of the week. That despite a bit of biffing. Spent ages solving the non-existent anagram at 19ac, failed to parse THORN and finally finished with LOI SCRAPE which I didn’t see as a synonym for fix.
Edit: I see 8 of the past 10 have been over 100 on the Snitch so maybe it’s not just me.
This completes a solid week of harder than average puzzles, and I had to be at my sharpest to finish only a little above my target time at 10.27.
I know there has been much debate above about the validity of providing puzzles that some, or perhaps many, can’t complete. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t see the problem with puzzles that stretch you, and there is a great deal of satisfaction to be had on completing a difficult puzzle. It is a continuing learning process as clue 2dn demonstrated, using a device in ILL SAY that I don’t recall seeing before.
I have been doing crosswords for well over fifty years, so perhaps I have a head start over some who are relatively new to it. The only advice I would give to those of you who despair because they fail to finish is to persevere, as eventually things will get easier for you.
My total time for the week was 56.24, giving me a daily average of 11.17. Given the difficulty of this weeks puzzles, I’m more than happy with that.
A great reminder that these puzzles take practice, and lots of it!
That seemed nice and straightforward until suddenly it wasn’t, finally finishing in 15:26. Yes, I spent several minutes trying to wrestle “game I lost” into a rage, and boggled helplessly for a while at I’LL SAY. The snitch trend continues, with this being the hardest-rated Monday-Friday average of the last twelve months.
Thank you for the blog!
My thanks to Breadman and Johninterred.
I thought it a bit tricky, aggravated by an unusual grid. And yes, I did go for the wrong angrist for 19a.
I’m not sure what to feel about this puzzle. I found it to be frustrating certainly. Some of the clues were, even from my lack of experience, questionable.
I did like Isle of Man, which I got right away. I have a friend who lives there and so whenever I see the word “Isle” I immediately think of the Isle of Man.
I did not like I’ll Say, only because I was staring at it for ages seeing Ill Say, thinking “what on earth is that supposed to say!”
Solitaire took a fair while as I was looking at the wrong end of the clue, and was convinced of the anagram.
I did manage to complete it, with help. But on submitting I was dismayed to see a glaring typo, which cost me the win.
Overall, mixed feelings on this. Pleased that I finally got a completion this week, but found the puzzle to be not particularly enjoyable.
First lap: 6
Answered (no aids): 17 (including 1x typo)
Answered (aided): 7
DNF: Nil
Time: 44:40
28:24 – another slow time for a another very difficult QC. Ages spent over SOLITAIRE seeking a non-existant anagram and finally biffing DOWNRIGHT, ILL SAY and SCRAPE (= FIX????). It really has been a hard week.
Scrape and fix can both be used to mean an awkward predicament.
I didn’t find this at all difficult, and would have got a straight top to bottom solve but for joining many others in “game I lost” territory. Reading what others have said above, I can see where problems might arise, but I was on Breadman’s wavelength from the beginning.
As regards the LOI, I simply biffed it from the letter pattern.
FOI TRIATHLON (not for me)
LOI SOLITAIRE (more my pace)
COD NONE THE WISER
TIME 3:22
Isn’t it odd? I must have been on Breadman’s wavelength because I sailed through in 21 mins. I had all the crossers in for SOLITAIRE so just biffed it in, although I agree with everyone else about the missing hyphen in ILL SAY – not nice.
Thanks to Breadman and Johninterred.
Nice canter through except last two, spent ages on the anagram in 19a (Including writing out all 24 possibilities), and almost as long parsing 2d. Thanks Breadman and John. Re Ill = I’ll, are apostrophies normally denoted in answer lengths? I don’t know. If not then it seems fair to me. We quite often have definitions that are e.g. (3,4) and the answer is e.g. (5,2) which seems to me to be much the same thing. I don’t recall seeing a (1’2,3) before!
Apologies for the error in the definition of ISLE OF MAN. We’ll correct that in the digital version and print a correction with Monday’s Quick Cryptic.
53 minutes to solve what I thought was a very fair challenge. I’m nowhere near the calibre of some on here who can whiz through these in 15 minutes but with time and patience I normally get there or get close. This puzzle along with most this week have been quite tricky but fair and upon reading the blog each day there is nothing that couldn’t be worked out even if an unknown word. Please don’t dumb them down – it’s supposed to be a challenge. Thank you Breadman and John
This was a welcome relief after the last few days. However, finally defeated by SOLITAIRE: like our blogger I was trying to make a word from “Game I lost” meaning RAGE. Had to put in two checkers to finally see the light, so another DNF (but a much more enjoyable one)! I biffed DOWNRIGHT but have only -as I write – made the connection with ‘total’.
Well, for me, this was a perfectly-pitched QC. Some clever clues – I’LL SAY made me smile! – and a throughly enjoyable 8 mins. This is about my average for the QC; whereas I’m pleased if I solve the big one in under 30 minutes (and frequently don’t manage to complete it, but that’s my bad, not the setter’s, and I still enjoy it). So an 8 minute average vs 30-plus definitely indicates that these are relatively quick puzzles, or ‘QC’s, perhaps.
Oh well.
Thanks Breadman and John
ON EDIT: I’ve just completed the weekend special – nice one, thanks John! – and I’d recommend it to the people here looking for an easier Q ride.
I initially thought Breadman was going to give us a (very) welcome break from the recent run of fairly torturous QCs. That thought lasted for the majority of the puzzle, before I’ll Say and the three in the SW corner completely changed my view and led to another (this time, in passing) nod to the 30min post.
I’m left wondering whether (Game I lost)* was a deliberate misdirection, with its perfect fit of five crossers, or a fluke. Either way, I think the inclusion of ‘Card’ by the Editor at the beginning of the clue would have been more in keeping with the spirit of a QC.
A poor show from me, but I don’t think I’m alone in that. Invariant
That was a tricky clue. I spent a fair bit of time trying to construct an anagram from “Game I lost”.
21 mins…
After a fairly tricky run recently, just pleased to get through this one within a reasonable time (for me at least). An odd mix of fairly straight forward clues and ones that took a lot more thinking. For quite a while, I thought 6dn was “Unaccredited”, but nothing would work on the corresponding across clues. Similarly, took quite a while to see “Down” for 22ac.
FOI – 6ac “Usher”
LOI – 12ac “Heater”
COD – 5dn “None the wiser”
Thanks as usual!
10:33
I really enjoyed this. Having entered three out of the first four acrosses, I thought it might be very quick, but only managed one more across on the first pass, and didn’t get much change from the first pass of the downs either, so settled in to enjoy it a bit more. Was lucky enough to see I’LL SAY quite quickly. Finally left with DOWNRIGHT, SOLITAIRE (which took some rethinking as per others on this blog) and lastly, LOW.
Worth noting that the Quitch for the whole week shows that six of the last nine weeks have been rated as 100 or above – this is the longest comparable stretch of tougher weeks since August 2024, though before then, there are several blocks of tougher weeks going back to when Quitch ratings began in 2022
Thanks John and Breadman
22:32
This felt like a game of two halves – first half fairly straight forward and then uh-oh!
Same here for the ‘game I lost’ anagram, I think Invariant might be right – clever misdirection?
All parsed bar DNK THORN was an ancient character.
Went and had lunch after my LOI took me into the SCC unsolved and smiled at the PDM when I returned.
FOI: GLOSS (yes, I was starting to worry!)
LOI: I’ll SAY
COD: UNAUTHORISED
Thanks to Breadman and John
One clue solved after 15 mins! – then gave up. Can someone inform me of the rule (if such a thing has any meaning with these puzzles) regarding the use of the first letter of a word as part of a solution? Does it only apply to nouns, and is that all nouns? How do you know when to use a single letter? When I look at a clue and bear in mind all the so-called rules, I see far too many associations and end up in a spaghetti of possible ways to go, and in exasperation quickly move on to the next clue. I suspect the quick solvers are more critical thinkers than creative and probably have good retentive memories. This may explain why I can compile cryptic crosswords but can’t solve them!
I think we have conventions rather than rules, but to answer your question, a setter can take the first/last letter from any word, or group of words, by signaling their intention to do so as part of the clue’s surface – look out for words like initially/starting and finally/ultimately. Some words have standard abbreviations, t for time, s for second etc and so these tend not to be explicitly signalled. Experience will come to be your friend if you stick with this little game of ours. . .and then later on you will start over thinking clues instead. 🙂
16.48 TRIATHLON and its immediate descendants flew in but I got slower and slower until I was breeze-blocked by the bogus anagram of SOLITAIRE and STAG NIGHT. Thanks John and Breadman.
They seem to be getting harder. I’m in the beginner category and this took me 55 minutes with a bit of cheating on Gladioli and Stag Night. I think that’s circa an hour for the 3rd time this week. NHO of thorn in the language context or lam. I see these as a step up from The Guardian Quick Cryptic on a Saturday but perhaps I need to look elsewhere as the jump a bit too far at present
As regular solvers for probably about three years now we’ve found both thorn and lam to be not infrequent visitors. There are quite a few words which come up which I’ve rarely encountered in other contexts. Remembering them gets easier with practice!
75% of this went in quite quickly and I thought I was on for a decent time. Alas the last half dozen or so clues stretched my time out to the slowest of the week at 30 minutes. However I console myself with the fact that at least I have finished all 5 of this week’s QCs so far.
Add me to the crowd who tried to anagram ‘game I lost’. Did anyone not do this? I spent far too long on it before realising my error. I was also very slow to see STAG NIGHT despite having immediately seen how the clue worked. In common with a lot of others I nearly gave up on I’LL SAY.
FOI – 1ac TRIATHLON
LOI – 2dn I’LL SAY
COD – liked HEADCASE and CONGEST.
Thanks to Breadman and John
A touch slower than par today at 13:14 with up to a minute, perhaps even more over more than one ‘visit’, spent trying to concoct an anagram of ‘game I lost’ so SOLITAIRE is my COD for its misdirection. I’LL SAY was tricky but fair I thought. We’re a long way from being expert solvers but I enjoyed this. Thanks, John and Breadman.
Tricky in the later stages, but I got there in only a little over my average time. 34 minutes for me.
As a former competitor and coach, TRIATHLON was a write-in to get me started. Trouble was that nothing else followed for a few minutes. I got going eventually, though and I maintained a steady pace until my last few.
DOWNRIGHT, STAG NIGHT, REED ORGAN and UNAUTHORISED gave me trouble, but my LOI was I’LL SAY. It took me a long time to read ILL as I’LL.
Many thanks to Breadman.
P.S. I DNF’d with DOG EAR a couple of days ago, despite alphabet trawling DOG _A_ for 5+ minutes at the end. When I asked MrsRandom if she could come up with the answer she instantly said “DOG EAR”, without even waiting for me to read her the clue. What can I say?
10.40.
I’ve been able to solve a few each week over the last year (after 10 years practice) but none this week. Perhaps I should give up now? Particularly when some can do it in just a few minutes.
22:40
Not much to add to what has already been said.
If the setter engineered the misdirection with the “game I lost” anagram, with all five checkers matching then that was genius.
And for those that might get a bit harsh with their criticisms, Jason (the Times puzzle editor) stopped by again today. So let’s keep it civil.
30 mins
Enjoyed this, finding the left side much harder than the right. Not only fell into the common 19a trap for a while, but also held up by tring to think of a Tory starting with Gest, before realising I was mixed 11 and 14 down.
FOI Triathlon
LOI Heater
COD Solitaire for the misdirection
As someone who is still on a learning curve with cryptics, I’d like to thank the editor and setters for giving us chewier puzzles. I enjoy the challenge, don’t mind if I’m beaten by a fair clue, can get annoyed with what I consider obscure gk, but try to learn from it. And finally, thanks to the bloggers for the explanations, which are a great tool in unlocking the mysteries of the cryptic.
Thanks Breadman and John
Hear, hear!
Another DNF. These have become more frequent recently reflecting other comments above. Defeated by ILL SAY and STAG NIGHT (might have got that on another day).
Second definition of THORN was seriously obscure and I wondered about DOWN = in writing so thanks for the blog.