Following on from a tricky one from Bjorn yesterday, today we have another tricky Quick Cryptic – this time from Cheeko. Of the regular setters of Quick Cryptics the Quick Snitch Setters Index shows Cheeko to have the highest average SNITCH of the regular setters and Cheeko is true to form today, I reckon, as this took me 7:25. But I did, for once, get breezeblocked by a clue, being stuck for some time on my LOI – 19D, so it’s maybe not as hard as my time makes it out to be. A good workout with lots of fine clues. Thank-you Cheeko. How did you all get on?
Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is my turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the crossword entitled “A Musical Game” here. The title is itself a cryptic clue to the theme. Can you find it and all the thematic references? If you are interested in trying our previous offerings you can find an index to all 151 here.
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Career pressure blocks ranked sports player (5) |
| SPEED – P (pressure) inside, [blocks], SEED (ranked sports player). | |
| 7 | Noble occupying correct part of vehicle? (4,5) |
| REAR LIGHT – EARL (noble) inside, [occupying], RIGHT (correct). | |
| 9 | Fish slide smoothly on surface (5) |
| SKATE – Double definition. An odd surface. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a fish slide. | |
| 10 | Site in which threads are systematically removed? (5,4) |
| STRIP CLUB – Cryptic definition – “threads” here being a slang term for “clothes”. Tricky if you didn’t know that! | |
| 11 | Animal seen in New England (3) |
| EWE – Hidden in [seen in] nEW England. | |
| 12 | We say our cast accepts ecstasy — I take that back (2,3,4) |
| AS YOU WERE – (We say our)* [cast], inserting, [accepts], E (ecstasy). | |
| 14 | Sheep lice treated with organic compound (9) |
| LEICESTER – (lice)* [treated] + ESTER (organic compound). Hands up if, like me, you wasted time trying to make an anagram of “sheep lice” to get an organic compound. Nice misdirection, Cheeko. | |
| 16 | Porky Pig seen naked in Facebook (3) |
| FIB – {p}I{g} without the outside letters, [seen naked] in FB (Facebook). From the CRS “Porky (pie)” for “lie”. | |
| 18 | Part of Sun lunch sometimes prepared before Sat (5,4) |
| ROAST BEEF – [prepared] (before Sat)*. Lovely clue surface. | |
| 20 | Skilfully handle all competitors (5) |
| FIELD – Double definition, the first as in “field questions”. | |
| 21 | Vitally important lease isn’t up for renewal (9) |
| ESSENTIAL – (lease isn’t)* [up for renewal]. | |
| 22 | Regular time for what happens (5) |
| EVENT – EVEN (smooth and flat; regular) + T (time). | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Finally, gardeners agree on identical plant (6) |
| SESAME – Last letters, [finally], of gardenerS agreE + SAME (identical). | |
| 2 | Gospel adherents envisage call to convert (12) |
| EVANGELICALS – (envisage call)* [to convert]. | |
| 3 | Doctor communication, cancelling mass discipline for horses (8) |
| DRESSAGE – DR (doctor) + {m}ESSAGE (communication) without [cancelling] the M (mass). One of the disciplines of Eventing. | |
| 4 | Famous photographer of giant fish? No thanks (3,3) |
| MAN RAY – Did you have the GK for this? The wordplay is MAN{ta} RAY (giant fish) without [no] the TA (thanks). Read about Man Ray here. | |
| 5 | Born north of border? It’s a temporary setback (4) |
| BLIP – B (born) above [north of] (in a down clue) + LIP (border). | |
| 6 | Permanent livestock accommodation (6) |
| STABLE – Double definition. | |
| 8 | Jason’s prize: great delight about ancient fine church (6,6) |
| GOLDEN FLEECE – GLEE (great delight) [about] OLDEN (ancient) + F (fine; pencil hardness grade), + CE (Church of England; church). The Golden Fleece was the fleece of the golden ram that was held in Colchis, and the object of desire for Jason, who organised an expedition with the Argonauts in order to retrieve it. See here for more detail. | |
| 13 | Calm UN regulation protecting twin females (8) |
| UNRUFFLE – UN + RULE (regulation) outside, [protecting], F + F (two; twin females). | |
| 14 | Fat eater emptied food store (6) |
| LARDER –LARD (fat) + E{ate}R without the inside letters, [emptied]. Another nice surface. | |
| 15 | Decorative accessory on dresser made of pine — it cracked (6) |
| TIEPIN – (pine it)* [cracked]. The “dresser” here is the person getting dressed rather than the piece of furniture the surface reading implies. | |
| 17 | Criminal reportedly vetoed Congress? (6) |
| BANDIT – BAND sounds like [reportedly] BANNED (vetoed) + IT (sexual congress). | |
| 19 | Fool turning up at last, any minute (4) |
| TINY – My LOI and it foxed me for a while. You need to separate “any minute” to get the definition. The wordplay is NIT (fool) [turning up] -> TIN + last letter [at last] of anY. Not last letter of aT, as I thought at first. How can “TINT” mean “last minute”, I wondered while down the wrong rabbit-hole. Nice one Cheeko. | |
DNF
Never got TINY. I biffed a few: AS YOU WERE, ROAST BEEF, MAN RAY (always thought of him as a painter, but), GOLDEN FLEECE (‘Jason’s prize’ rather a gimme), FIB (DNK FB). ‘Organic compound’ suggested ESTER, which gave me (lice); LEICESTER must have appeared in a cryptic once, or I wouldn’t have known it. A lovely surface.
25 minutes on the clock but I nodded off at one point – no disrespect to the setter implied! I also realise now that I didn’t fully parse everything, MAN RAY, for example.
My clean living lets me down again with STRIP CLUB LOI. Lots of hard work went into this. Enjoyed realising I’d been saying ‘minute’ wrong, good work Cheeko, and was pleased with myself for not settling on head LIGHT when the checkers looked inviting. Surprised to finish in only 14.43. Pleased too to complete the week without a pink square.
Me too. I was on Cheeko’s wavelength with the cryptic definition of undressing, but couldn’t get past the more innocent NUDIST BEACH or similar, none of which fit, until I had all the saucy checkers.
Very pleased with 17.31 and all parsed apart from LOI sesame which we then saw after submitting. Must remember to add minute to the list of heteronyms to spot!
Yes also wrote out and studied the letters looking for the organic compound before spotting a crosser was missing.
Thanks John for the blog, we needed you help on the parsing for congress.
Thanks Cheeko
DNF but completed with aids (anagram solver and Google) in 15min.
Unruffled (Fib) by Ray Man …As you were? All a bit too clever but the naked pig made me smile.
TaJAC
Worked my way steadily through most of this until hitting the buffers with two left to solve. A moment of clarity gave me TINY and a couple of alpha trawls finally lead to the unknown MAN RAY.
Finished in 9.30 with COD to STRIP CLUB.
Thanks to John and Cheeko
DNF, never having heard of MAN RAY. I suppose there’s a world in which he counts as general enough GK for a QC but unfortunately I don’t live in it. Quite a lot else that I DK before I reached the final impasse too, for example “threads” as clothes and Leicester as a breed of sheep, but both guessed blind.
As for “it” meaning (sexual) congress, I thought it meant (correction, many many decades ago it meant) sex appeal. But whatever setters want it to mean, it really is a zombie word, dead in real life but living on in Crosswordland as a tired refugee from the past – can we not just let it die?
Many thanks John for the blog and I look forward to the Sunday Special. In which I am confident that knowledge of 1950s slang and 1950s artists will not be required.
I missed the Congress=having sex and that seems very dated, not a phrase anyone would ever use.
Whereas it for having sex (e.g. “Is Brian doing it with Daphne?”) still seems the sort of phrase the gossips might use.
Nicely summed up by this entry for “it” from Urban Dictionary (very much not from the past): “everybody knows it means sex!!”
Last time this issue came up, I asked my millennial daughter if IT was old fashioned, and she just laughed at me! Of course it isn’t 😅
On rereading Cedric’s comment, I think there are two different but widely related things at issue here.
There is the usage of SA=Sex Appeal being clued for IT (or vice-versa) e.g. “that girl has it” which is rather 1950s and dated.
And then there is “doing it” being to have sex which we seem to agree isn’t dated.
He was well past his best by the 50s.
19:31 – an amazingly quick time as I could not parse half of it, just guessing words when some crossers in with the odd alphabet trawl. Really very difficult indeed. A much needed blog to explain what was going on.
4:59 DNF. Oh dear. It’s a long time since I last submitted accidently. Six across clues on the first pass, then 102 pink squares. This won’t have done my stats any good
Aargh! sympathies
On Cheeko’s wavelength today, finishing in 8:49 with LOI TINY.
COD to LEICESTER.
Thanks John and Cheeko
What fun! 22 minutes but a DNF as I didn’t get TINY being fixated on the time definition of ‘minute’ and forgetting the small meaning. A rookie error.
Apart from this major blunder I found the NE to be trickiest but once I’d remembered MAN RAY everything dropped into place.
Thanks Cheeko I enjoyed this.
18:13 for the solve. Despite the slower time, I really enjoyed this. Seeing Cheeko’s name come up for the Friday puzzle after yesterday’s tough Bjorn, I reset my expectations and entered into the battle assuming it would be more like a 15×15.
One of my often complaints about harder puzzles is that the setter uses words/synonyms which are not obvious. While there are a couple of examples in here – it was littered with stuff that the ordinary person will know e.g. fat=lard, same=identical, correct=right. NHO MAN-RAY and looking at the wikipedia entry, I don’t recognise any of his work and he died soon after I was born but I did get there from the wordplay as it was my LOI. None of which is to say this was easy but the general familiarity of words meant I could marvel rather than be grumpy about stuff I barely know.
COD to FIB closely followed by the well misdirected TINY and GOLDEN FLEECE because I love watching Jason and the Argonauts especially Talos.
Interesting week – started off with a PB ended up with two toughies. All successfully solved for a 1hr02 total.
Have a good weekend everybody – thanks to Cheeko and JohnI. I will attempt the Weekender later.
Went steadily through that until having to get out pen and paper for LOI EVANGELICALS, which slowed me up. I just couldn’t get “evangelists” out of my head.
A really enjoyable challenge. COD to LEICESTER for sending me completely down the garden path – I was sure that was an anagram of “sheep lice”!
All done in 08:02, precisely one second longer than yesterday’s even though this one felt a little easier. Many thanks Cheeko and John.
An involving puzzle from Cheeko but not an easy one (I cannot remember ever managing a quick solve for a Cheeko puzzle). Most of my MERs and hiccups have been mentioned already so I will keep this short.
21 mins, COD LEICESTER (like Templar, I spent time trying to rearrange ‘sheep lice’) and LOI TINY (I’m in good company finding that one difficult to see).
GOLDEN FLEECE just wouldn’t click for me until the crossers G_L_E_ stared me in the face.
Thanks to both.
16 today and happy with that.
Thanks C n J
12 minutes. Not as tough as yesterday and I enjoyed this. My experience pretty much mirrored that of John (almost twice as long though!) with TINY as LOI and having the same trouble with parsing LEICESTER, as did others.
There’s a bit of a Farmer Giles flavour here with EWE, the LEICESTER sheep, ‘Porky pig’, ROAST BEEF, STABLE, FIELD and the GOLDEN FLEECE, though this is probably coincidental as is the SPEED being above SKATE and separately FIELD (again) being above EVENT in the grid.
Thanks to John and Cheeko
9:44. Another tough one, but not as hard as yesterday.
By my reckoning yesterday was 98th percentile difficulty, i.e. only 2 in 100 puzzles are more difficult.
Somehow I enjoyed this one less, though. I think several of the clues were a bit fiddly and complex. However, still fun! I took ages to get STRIP CLUB, STABLE and MAN RAY (NHO). It would have been quite a bit quicker without those. TINY was also in the last group to fall.
12:45 and no errors. I seem to be on the wavelength for this one. Maybe the second coffee this morning helped. Spent a bit too long on TINY and thought 14A was an anagram of SHEEP LICE until the final R made that impossible.
FOI SPEED
LOI MAN RAY (NHO Man Ray, but decided it must be based on the crossers and the clue)
COD TINY
Thanks John and Cheeko
Thankfully a little easier than yesterday’s offering. I was wrong-footed by bunging in ENVANGELists. I was left with a blank square so went back to look at the anagram fodder. I was slow to see STRIP CLUB and FIB and relied on the wordplay and checkers for my LOI MAN RAY (NHO). 8:39 Thanks John
Gave up at my cut-off point of 30 minutes with 4 left unsolved (4dn and 10ac, 17dn and 16ac). NHO MAN RAY or LEICESTER as a breed of sheep or threads meaning clothing. I don’t think I’d have got the first of those but should probably have got the rest.
FOI – 1ac SPEED
LOI – DNF
COD- 18ac ROAST BEEF
Thanks to Cheeko and John
Seemed a bit easier than yesterday but held up by LEICESTER/TIEPIN at the end, mainly because I’d tried ‘pie-tin’ first (oh dear!). NHO MAN RAY but solved from wordplay. Will now google. I liked UNRUFFLED, AS YOU WERE, BANDIT and STRIP CLUB (for the smile). Many thanks John and Cheeko.
Tough but enjoyable.
I have never heard of the sheep breed but when I saw what seemed to me to possibly be LEICESTER, I thought it sounded like it could be a breed of sheep.
Never heard of MAN RAY. I had to Google “famous photographers”.
I liked a lot of the clues, including 12a, 13d and 1d.
However, despite my enjoyment of it I was beaten by three incorrect answers.
I too spent too much time looking for an anagram of SHEEP LICE.
First Lap: 8
Answered (no help): 22
Answered (with help): 2
Incorrect: 3 (20a, 17d, 19d)
DNF: Nil
Time: 43:49
I wouldn’t want Cheeko to get the wrong impression, but a decent choice of aisle seats counts as something of a triumph given my previous experience with this particular setter. I was certainly a bit lucky to have the required GK when Man Ray appeared, though it still took some time to parse. And a thankfully nagging doubt over Tint, while ultimately denying me a window seat, did at least enable the cogs to click round to the Tiny pdm.
In short, I actually enjoyed this one, with CoD (in quite a strong field) to Rear Light for the smile as the answer emerged from the cryptic. My thanks to Cheeko and John. Invariant
Forgive stupidity: aisle seat, window seat = aeroplane, but why? There must be a link I’m missing.
It’s just that I prefer to think of the SCC as a welcome day out in the countryside on a ‘slow coach’ with some of my fellow solvers, rather than stuck in a smoke filled club house. I would be delighted to find you next to me one day – we could discuss our tastes in music, perhaps even Stravinsky ?😉
Loved all that – thank you. Yes, plenty of time for Stravinsky (maybe the last of the true greats? discuss and illustrate, one side of the paper only), and plenty to discuss together in a nice C through the countryside if you don’t mind being tarred with the S brush. Look forward.
I’m not sure where you live, but if you have access to iPlayer the BBC 4 Eurovision Classical Concerts series includes the Cologne Symphony Orchestra’s (very impressive) performance of Petrushka – my O Level music piece from 1971
Remember my note from a few days back about the impending rock hard puzzles after that ridiculously easy one? I may do the lottery tonight.
After two hours I’ve had enough, three to the bad. NHO sheep LEICESTER, nor had Mrs M (A level Chemistry) ever HO ESTER – but it seemed to fit so went in with a shrug. (Yes I too naturally first tried the anagram route, but as soon as UNRUFFLE went in that had to be abandoned.) It surely had to be MAN RAY but don’t understand (I always want the acronym DNU but don’t dare introduce it) the No thanks.
The three were REAR LIGHT (was convinced it was something RIGHT), STRIP CLUB* (NHO threads = clothes) and BLIP, just too difficult.
Oh I see: yes had the GK for Man Ray but NHO manta ray. Thanks, John.
*No I don’t get this: why systematically? And site is an odd word to use for a club.
I understand <cough> it refers to the way a young lady removes her items of clothing in a steady/systematic fashion, accompanied by some ‘appropriate’ music (definitely not by Stravinsky).
😆
That brought a big smile – thank you Invariant.
I’m sure you’re right – really must get out more.
The Rite of Spring might do
I found this to be a good deal easier than yesterday’s finishing a few seconds outside target at 10.07. The times so far submitted would suggest that it was tougher than I made it, so perhaps I was on form. TINY went straight in, although I note quite a few others struggled with it. By far the most time consuming clue for me was LEICESTER, where I fell into the false anagram trap. I also tried to write in EVANGELISTS for 2dn before realising there were more spaces than letters. Fortunately only minor surgery required to rectify it.
My total time for the week was 65.01 giving me a daily average of 13.00, a full three minutes outside target. The week started so promisingly too with a five minute solve.
From SPEED to TIEPIN in 9:49. I sailed through the top half then was reined in. Also tried to create an organic compound and even shoved EVANGELLISTS in until ROAST BEEF put me right. Thanks Cheeko and John.
Another DNF. I gave up after 45 minutes with MAN RAY and TINY unsolved, LEICESTER unheard of and GOLDEN FLEECE and BANDIT unparsed.
Both Bjorn (yesterday) and Cheeko are almost always way out of my range, at least if I want to tackle a Quick Cryptic crossword in 25-30 minutes over a cup of coffee. And I also end up rather demoralised. They appear to be catering for a different audience to me, so maybe I should just give them a miss when they appear. Pity.
Many thanks to John for the blog.
I’m in the same boat as you – hardly ever finish a Bjorn or a Cheeko – but suggest it would be a pity not to try on that account. Firstly there’s the thrill if we do manage it – and then there’s the hope that we’re learning and will gradually become wise to the tricks (and the GK). Thus (and only thus) do we get better. Courage!
DNF TINY. Also had to reveal SPEED which enabled me to finish EVANGELICAL, LEICESTER, and LARDER. I sometimes failed to recognise anagrams today and also chose wrong words to make anagrams that weren’t there.
Liked TIE PIN, DRESSAGE, UNRUFFLE and FIB, among others. Saw GOLDEN FLEECE straight away but it wasn’t as much help as I hoped. Knew MAN RAY, luckily, but CNP.
Thanks vm, John. Blog vital, as I biffed various clues.
6.43 BLIP and TINY took a moment at the end. Thanks John and Cheeko.
26 mins…
Hard, but enjoyable. Luckily I did know “Man Ray” and 8dn “Golden Fleece” was a write in. For a while I thought 10ac might start with “Scrap”, but I couldn’t think of anything for it to go with. An alphabet trawl revealed the possibility of “Strip” and then it made sense. Does “Stable” mean “Permanent”?
FOI – 2dn “Evangelicals”
LOI – 6dn “Stable”
COD – 5dn “Blip”
Thanks as usual!
DNF
Used an aid to get NHO MAN RAY which unlocked the NE for a 18:30 finish.
Never fully parsed BAND’IT’ and just plain biffed ROAST BEEF and GOLDEN FLEECE.
TINY came painfully slow – oh! that ‘minute’.
But again some beautiful clues.
FOI: EWE
LOI: STABLE (DNF)
COD: STRIP CLUB
A big thanks to John and Cheeko
Oof, another challenge, which took me 14:53. I didn’t get stuck but had to do some spadework on TIEPIN, TINY (COD), BANDIT, and FIB. My FOI was a surprising SPEED, surprising because I don’t follow sports, but apparently my back office does. A bit embarrassing that FIB was my last. LEICESTER held me up with its clever misdirection (my hand is up) and my failure to remember the sheep connection. Just one MER for the apparent back-formation UNRUFFLE, occurrences in the wild must be almost nonexistent.
A good workout with maybe the best collection of smooth surfaces I’ve ever seen.
Thanks Cheeko and John.
Too tough for me even with _A_ RAY I couldnt see anything that made sense (I never, ever, ever use “aids”, aka cheating) . Incidentally when I look in google after I have finished / given up, if you type in the clue it is always trending with the answer, some of them titled “xxxx crossword answer”. Guessed that the chemical would be ether, also a “crossword land only” chemical. (Actually both are thousands-strong classes of chemicals, name any one of either? – I thought not) . Another “two for the 15x15ers” and none for us”.
Yesterday’s puzzle took over an hour and I still needed help to finish it but for some reason this tricky one only required 34 minutes. A lot of clever and enjoyable clues.
Fell into the same traps as John and my LOI was also TINY which looked impossible but suddenly came in a flash of inspiration.
Fortunately knew Man Ray as we have one of his photographs of Lee Miller on our wall.
Thanks Cheeko and John
25 mins. I’d mentally pencilled in Blow at 5 down so was left wondering if a screw club was a thing (diy enthusiasts only need apply). The more obvious correct answer eventually came to mind. NHO ester either, but have HO the sheep.
FOI Speed
LOI Tiny
CODField
Thanks Cheeko and John
All done in 12:25. Add me to the set of people who a) tried to make an anagram of “sheep lice” and b) finished with TINY, with the thought “oh, THAT pronunciation of minute!”
Thoroughly enjoyed, luckily I had all the required GK.
Thanks to Cheeko and John.
Was going great guns until I arrived at 19d; I just didn’t see TINY. Cross with myself, as it’s not that difficult! MER at UNRUFFLE: while you can be unruffled, can you unruffle? But Chambers does have it as a transitive verb.
Thanks to Cheeko and John
I agree no how can you unruffle, does that mean comb your hair, I haven’t got any now!
DNF even with aids. Sesame, Blip (couldn’t get away from Scot and Pict, Fib,Tiny and Bandit. Knew Leicester cheese but not sheep and couldn’t parse several of the others. I would say one of the most difficult QCs ever.
Too clever for me, missed BLIP, STRIP CLUB, FIB, TINY. But did know LEICESTER of which of course you know there are crosses too…
Much easier than yesterday… Familiar with Man Ray but don’t care for much of his work other than those of Lee Miller – again, her own attempts at surrealism are, IMHO, def at the bottom end of her work. Her recent retrospective at Tate Britain was a bit of a slow burn but ended up with her absolutely terrific later work. Man Ray simply got used and then left behind – again my opinion. Started off 14a looking for leinster but soon saw my error and realised I did have the GK after all! Thoroughly enjoyable puzzle and was surprised that I made pretty quick work of it (for me!).
FOI 1a Speed
LOI 19d Tiny – had to persuade myself of the twist there
COD 7a Rear Light.
15:20 for me. I fell smack into the non-existent “sheep lice” anagram, but eventually biffed the correct answer from the checking letters. I must have heard of MAN RAY because after a few moments of panic his name popped into my head out of nowhere, but I couldn’t have told you anything about him.
Thank you for the blog!
17:53
Didn’t know LEICESTER and couldn’t parse FIB. LOI TINY,
Yes, count me in as an anagram searcher for sheep lice 😂 And bearing in mind that the original LEICESTER sheep were bred by Robert Bakewell in the 1700s at Dishley Grange just a couple of miles from here, I should have seen it straightaway!
I didn’t find this as hard as previous Cheekos, and finished in about average time, but I definitely feel like you have to come at his / her clues from a different angle. It took me a few moments to parse FIB and ROAST BEEF, but I particularly liked the latter once I worked it out. EVANGELICALS got a tick too and BLIP got a big smile. I got MAN RAY because I like his work a lot, but I couldn’t parse it.
10:13 FOI Speed LOI Sesame COD Leicester
Thanks Cheeko and John – very interesting blog
Having failed again I was feeling very sad until I came here and saw how the great and good had struggled. DNF because of MAN RAY (NHO) and TINY. Very pleased to have got as far as I did, definitely helped knowing what Jason was after.
And in spite of living in Leicestershire for 40+ years, I didn’t know there was a breed of sheep called LEICESTER (though the current squad of football players . . . )
26 minute DNF.
Put BAN RAY for MAN RAY. Well known photographer????? 🤣
Unfortunate to have 2 very hard puzzles back to back. Fine for the solvers who can do the 15 x 15, but demoralising for the rest of us.
2 DNFs this week and almost 2 hours.
I will now spend 1.5 hours on the 15 x 15 and, if I’m lucky, get 10 answers.
PS Got 15. Better than expected but hardly an achievement.
8.57.
Any chance of getting back to genuine QCs ????
9:12
No real problems – MAN RAY ninja-turtled from the China Crisis song. couldn’t tell you anything else about him.
I noted the makings of a nina in 1a+9a, 20a+22a. Any more?
Thanks Cheeko and John
Superb! A QC doesn’t get better than this – thanks, Cheeko!
Thanks for the blog, John, and for the fortnightly special