Times Quick Ctyptic 1851 by Joker

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

I found this quite tricky and finished just outside target of 10 minutes. There’s a rash of double definitions and anagrams to enjoy.

Definitions are underlined.

Across
1 Hit second vehicle (6)
STRUCK – second (S), vehicle (TRUCK). I toyed with strike for a while – present tense of hit – but trike for vehicle seemed a bit of a stretch.
4 One is grabbed by deranged girl (4)
MAID – one (I) is grabbed by deranged (MAD). Three little maids from school tra la.
9 Very big chaps breaking into dilapidated semi (7)
IMMENSE – chaps (MEN) breaking into an anagram (dilapidated) of SEMI. Very big – like space – you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s but that’s just peanuts compared to space.
10 Father has new attractive female (5)
SIREN – father (SIRE), new (N),
11 Run in a northern strategy from southern Region? (9)
ANTARCTIC – run (R) inside a (A), northern (N), strategy (TACTIC).
12 Little child wanting a black horse (3)
BAY – little child (BA)b(Y) – wanting (lacking) a (one) black (B).
13 Destroying Hydra around lake only with great difficulty (6)
HARDLY – anagram (destroying) of HYDRA around lake (L).
15 Weaver finding support (6)
BOTTOM – double definition. The first the weaver in Midsummer Night’s Dream, the second what someone or something sits on – I’m minded to include ‘finding’ as part of the second definition but can’t quite justiy it.
17 Author lifting a piece of Spenser (3)
PEN – lifting (pinching) a bit of S(PEN)ser.
18 Actuary upset about company reversing very firm rule (9)
AUTOCRACY – anagram (upset) of ACTUARY and company – co – reversed (OC).
21 Earth holds power to go bad (5)
SPOIL – Earth (SOIL) holds power (P).
22 Trimmer sailing vessel that goes quickly (7)
CLIPPER – double definition, the first what many people have been using to get an amateur haircut of late (and, chaps, it really isn’t hard at all), the second a sailing ship once used for tea freight.
23 Hindu queen managed India (4)
RANI – managed (RAN) + India (I).
24 Something for breakfast? It’s nice, really — in part (6)
CEREAL – in part of ni(CE REAL)ly.
Down
1 What starts Popeye in breaking chains? (7)
SPINACH – in (IN), inside an anagram (breaking) of CHAINS. Liked this one – COD. &lit (thanks eurcon below) – (P)opeye inside an anagram (breaking) of CHAINS.
2 Right to give out terms of reference (5)
REMIT – right (R), to give out (EMIT).
3 Broken bolt on cellar is open for management (12)
CONTROLLABLE – anagram (broken) of BOLT ON CELLAR.
5 A moggy about to steal tumbler (7)
ACROBAT – a moggy (A CAT) about to steal (ROB).
6 Excellent American man who is well dressed (5)
DANDY – double definition. The first usually comes with ‘fine and’ (well, that’s what some Brits think – let us know if that’s not reality), the second someone who may well use a trimmer.
7 Son is into black example of humour (4)
JEST – son (S) is (put) into black (JET).
8 Mentally affecting Hitchcock film running (12)
PSYCHOACTIVE – Hitchcock film (PSYCHO), running (ACTIVE).
14 Shabby to cancel whiskey in Royal Navy (3-4)
RUN-DOWN – cancel (UNDO) and whiskey (W – NATO phonetic alphabet – first time I’ve noticed the Irish/American spelling) inside Royal Navy (RN).
16 Mother and Yankee have spoken of local dignitary (7)
MAYORAL – Mother (MA) and Yankee (Y) spoken (ORAL).
17 Puzzle show-off (5)
POSER – double definition.
19 Time to do something in diplomacy (4)
TACT – time (T), to do something about (ACT).
20 Fruit beer — keeping very quiet (5)
APPLE – beer (ALE) keeping very quiet (PP). An excellent note to finish on – I throughly enjoyed a walk to a sunny country beer garden yesterday – where there were some trees – whether apple or not I didn’t really mind as the ale was great – Cheers!

63 comments on “Times Quick Ctyptic 1851 by Joker”

  3. 10 minutes with a good deal of time lost having confidently written STRIKE at 1ac. For me there’s no stretch whatsoever in vehicle = TRIKE. As a small child I had a tricycle (a Raleigh Gresham Flyer) as did many of my friends, and we always referred to them as ‘trikes’. The K-checker derived from that then had me looking for a word of German origin beginning Kontroll- at 3dn before realising it was going to be an anagram so I had to consider an alternative answer at 1ac.

    My first thought on reading the clue at 24 was of the curate’s egg ‘Something for breakfast? It’s nice really – in part’, but swiftly realised that wasn’t going to work out.

    Also struggled a bit with what might go after PSYCHO at 8dn.

  4. Shameful lack of culture strikes again. Saw BOTTOM instantly but it went in last as I couldn’t parse. Did Macbeth, King Lear, R&J and Othello for English Literature O level and have never been back for more so the weaver reference was fair but beyond me. Like Jackkt I struggled with the bottom half of PSYCHOACTIVE and I also made a meal of SPINACH and took a while to unravel AUTOCRACY. Nine on the first pass of acrosses which is very good but slowed markedly, particularly in the top half to finish all green in 16 — submitted with fingers crossed for BOTTOM.
  5. Half a clue short at 8d with psychoScribe, which I thought might be a term, for when people write their dreams down, or that Spirit writing thing. I’ve certainly never heard of psycho-active.

    POSER made an appearance just yesterday.

    Also “Collaboator” (-ation, -ed) was also pretty close for the anagram at 3d, a collaborator is certainly “open for management”. I had the first few letters in for some time, thinking that I’d sort out the ending later. Same technique for PSYCHO.

    Another near mess was MASSIVE for 9a. Only when actually written in did I see that it didn’t quite work.

    I don’t see how anyone can get a sub-10 time without taking short cuts, and sometimes (like today) they don’t come off.

    COD SPINACH

    Edited at 2021-04-13 09:51 am (UTC)

    1. I seem to recall hearing about psychoactive drugs — maybe something that was in vogue when I was young, a good few decades ago. Not that I ever partook in anything stronger than alcohol…
      1. alcohol is a psychoactive drug, as is caffeine, nicotine, codeine and all the other narcotic analgesics, all the cns depressants that are legitimately prescribed, all the cns stimulants that are legitimately prescribed.

        It’s not just illegal drugs that are psychoactive.

  6. Spinach is an anagram of chains, plus P ( what starts Popeye), not in and chains
  7. Very good puzzle – got the little grey cells working. It probably took us as long to solve BOTTOM and PSYCHOACTIVE as it did to solve the rest of the puzzle. We eventually came in at 21 minutes.

    FOI: SPINACH
    LOI: BOTTOM
    COD: SPINACH

    Thanks to Joker and Chris.

  8. I started with a dubious STRAIN, which then changed to a more confident STRIKE but that made a nonsense of the anagram at 3d, so I decided to deal with it later. FOI was MAID and then went clockwise round the grid, with few hold ups and ended up back where I started. CONTROLLABLE went in and the penny finally dropped with LOI STRUCK.
    I had a very brief flirtation with LIGHTER at 22a, as it seems to be a crossword staple, and almost worked but APPLE quickly put paid to that idea. Like Mendesest, I had no idea that BOTTOM was a weaver but the answer couldn’t have been much else.
    Finished in 7.44 with my favourite to SPINACH.
    Thanks to Chris
    1. I followed your train of thought (!) and ended up at STRUCK too. Very familiar with Bottom having played the role at school on my second and last dramatic onstage performance. Struggled to find Active. A consequence of too long in lock down perhaps.
      LOI As above, COD SPINACH. At last I understand what an &lit means. All fine and dandy here, and agree it’s perfectly possible to give oneself a haircut but the result is inversely proportional to the quantity of hair you start with, reflected in the amount resulting.
      On par 6K.
      Thanks Joker and Chris.
      PS. Tackled yesterday’s 15×15 last night for the first time and to my surprise finished it in a bit longer than a QCC with no passes. I think that reflects more on the degree of difficulty more than my prowess, but satisfying nevertheless.
      Now, where is that plumber.

      Edited at 2021-04-13 10:17 am (UTC)

  9. A good puzzle but I tried to do it in a hurry before going out. I started with 1ac STRIKE but I did most of it quickly. Having sorted out STRUCK, I slowed dramatically and failed to finish inside the SCC. I had trouble with DANDY for a while plus with my LOsI PSYCHOACTIVE and BOTTOM (doh). Not in the right frame of mind, perhaps, or simply a bit thick today. Thanks to both. John M.

    Edited at 2021-04-13 08:43 am (UTC)

  10. FOI: 1d. SPINACH
    LOI: 12a. BAY

    Time to Complete: DNF

    Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 22/26

    Clues Answered with Aids (3 lives): 12a, 18a, 3d

    Clues Unanswered: 6d

    Wrong Answers: Nil

    Total Correctly Answered (incl. aids): 25/26

    Aids Used: Chambers, Bradfords

    I found this one to be very tough indeed. After almost an hour I had only completed half of the grid. However, perseverance and some luck with a couple of the big answers, gave me a boost. In the last half hour, I entered all but one clue, resulting in a satisfactory DNF for me.

    6d. DANDY – This is the clue I was not able to answer. I just could not see it.

    12a. BAY – Needed help with this one. One life used.

    18a. AUTOCRACY – Second life used but should have seen this one.

    3d. CONTROLLABLE – I had CHAIR pencilled in for the first five letters for a while, but my answering 9a blew that one away. I then saw CONTROL, but the last few letters eluded me. Bradford’s came to the rescue. Last life used.

    8d. PSYCHOACTIVE – Took me forever and a day to get this one, but eventually it came to me.

    1. I biffed DANDY when I had the crossers but couldn’t parse it. I don’t think I would associate it with ‘excellent Americans’.
      1. ‘Excellent American’ not plural i.e. a word meaning excellent in American usage.
  11. I really didn’t enjoy this — too much of a 15×15 flavour for a QC. Couldn’t see what to put after Psycho* and Bottom took ages, especially as I initially had Spider at 14ac. A biffed Boy at 12ac was another mistake. One to forget. Invariant
  12. I was going well until I got held up by three clues. ANTARCTIC needed all the checkers and a bit of parsing. Then I was left with 6d; was trying to justify DINKY but glad I held out. LOI was PSYCHO (which had been waiting for ages) ACTIVE- got from an alphabet trawl after giving up on SCRIBE and similar variants.
    17:16 in the end; quite tough.
    My favourite was SPINACH.
    David
  13. Down to earth after some rapid soves recently. Gave myself a problem with Strike but in fairness a truck works better as a vehicle than trike. Not too impressed with Bottom but overall tricky but fair. Thanks setter and blogger!
  14. 16 minutes after jumping around the grid quite a lot. I never thought of strike, but strain did occur to me, and was close to being entered, but I restrained myself. I also played with arthritic for ANTARCTIC (well it fitted the checkers) before seeing the (southern) lights. No problem with BOTTOM, first thought as soon as weaver was seen. Thanks Joker and Chris.
  15. a different crossword to everyone else today!

    10 seconds or so outside a PB.

    SPINACH was my COD, and STRUCK my LOI.

    3:53.

    2. You were obviously on Joker’s wavelength ! It’s possibly the first time you’ve been quicker than me (by 42 seconds). Great performance !
  16. Much tougher than yesterday’s romp. Struggled with PSYCHOACTIVE and ANTARCTIC but got there in the end. Liked the Popeye clue.
  17. I found this on the slightly trickier side and went over my target time. I wasted time trying to justify ANTIPODES at 11a until JEST scotched it. Took me longer to see SPINACH than it ought to have done, and AUTOCRACY also took a while to see. I also wasted time with DUDE at 6d. Nothing at all unfair, but I went off down the wrong rabbit holes too many times! 11:19. Thanks Joker and Chris.

  18. Apart from first trying STRIKE instead of STRUCK, I had to get all checkers for 3 and 8 DOWN which held me up a bit.

    Thank you, chrisw91 and Joker.

  19. 20 mins for everything apart from 15ac which I just couldn’t get (whilst I knew of Bottom, I didn’t know he was a Weaver). Not willing to spend an age going through the alphabet, I declared defeat.

    Only other issues were debating whether 12ac was “Boy” or “Bay” – luckily I chose the latter. “Psycho” wasn’t an issue for 8dn, but it took a while to get the parsing for the inevitable Popeye Spinach.

    FOI – 4ac “Maid”
    LOI – 15dn – dnf
    COD – 5dn “Acrobat” – amusing surface.

    Thanks as usual.

  20. A little over target at 9:15. I couldn’t parse BAY as I was struggling to see how to change boy to bay in the cluing. Thanks Chris for the explanation. My POI was BOTTOM. I thought of the character as soon as I read Weaver but I couldn’t quite see BOTTOM as support. LOI was PSYCHOACTIVE and I confess to a trawl of Hitchcock film names after Spellbound didn’t fit.
  21. Better than yesterday but only just! 15 minutes today. I too found this quite hard, with most time spent on 1a, 11a and 8d. I also got a bit stuck on 22a CLIPPER as all I could thinker of was a cutter, which clearly was too short!
    I generally really enjoy Joker’s puzzles, even when they are quite difficult, just for the wit, but today raised fewer smiles than usual. Having said that there are ticks beside IMMENSE, JEST and TACT and a smile next to SPINACH.
    FOI Spinach
    LOI Psychoactive
    COD Spinach
    Thanks Joker and Chris

    ps All this spinach should work wonders! If only that was all that’s needed for a healthy lifestyle 😉

    1. I took ages to get past “cutter” too! Once a word like that gets stuck in your head it requires real mental effort to discard it, I find. Maybe I should eat more spinach.
      1. Even worse when you write it in knowing it may not be right. It then “taints” the rest of the clues with checkers which are difficult to unsee.
        1. And what is even worse is when you write things down so badly you can’t even read your own scrawl! I got totally stuck at the weekend when i thought I’d put an O at the beginning of a word and it was actually an E — or it could have been vice versa 😅 One disadvantage of doing it on paper!
  22. This one got the thumbs down from the younger solvers in my house as being too hard but I enjoyed it. It was on the chewy side though, and I needed the blog to understand BAY. Annoyingly I didn’t have my anagram hat on today and so crept over target.

    FOI MAID, LOI PSYCHOACTIVE (thought of it immediately but wanted the checkers to be sure of ACTIVE), COD AUTOCRACY (I have a son training as an actuary!), time 10:38 for 1.4K and a Pretty Decent Day.

    Many thanks Chris and Joker.

  23. Somewhat trickier than yesterday – finished and parsed in 18 minutes. Held up in similar places to others with Bottom (although I did know he was a weaver, but I was looking for something to do with spiders), autocracy and struck. The last-named took 2 minutes and I was on the verge of giving up and using aids when the penny dropped! No idea why this should be as the clue is perfectly fair. Also hesitated for quite a time between boy and bay at 12ac until I eventually saw the parsing. Thanks to Joker for a testing puzzle and to Chris for the blog.

    FOI – 4ac MAID
    LOI – 1ac STRUCK
    COD – 1dn SPINACH

  24. FOI Immense
    LOI Bottom
    WOD Autocracy

    25 minutes with huge problems getting the last two Psychoactive and Bottom.

    Joker put Jest in I noticed — in Oink style methinks.

    I also thought of Cropper for too long before a flash of light to see Clipper.

    A special mention to Jackkt for the push to the 15×15 yesterday. I completed it this morning in a very leisurely and enjoyable 50 minutes.

    I wish there were a few more like that so please continue to give us the nod when judged applicable!!

    Thanks all
    John George

  25. Very slow but got there in the end.
    Weirdly BOTTOM the weaver came to my mind when I got the M of MAYORAL which I semi biffed because of CEREAL. FOsI POSER and PEN. Got PSYCHO but didn’t see ACTIVE for ages.
    Thought of SPINACH as soon as I saw Popeye but couldn’t parse at first. Felt a bit dim when penny dropped, ditto with many other clues.
    Put Swell instead of DANDY at first, but then it didn’t fit with SIREN (also a PDM).
    Thanks vm, Chris.
    Btw, I did do the Big puzzle yesterday and *almost* finished it😀

    Edited at 2021-04-13 01:16 pm (UTC)

  26. All done and dusted in under ten minutes today. Struggled with the clueing until 13 ac, hardly, FOI, then there were a lot of write-ins (chestnuts) as the grid fell into place, across and down together. LOI, autocracy. COD psychoactive. I agree with those who do not see bottom as a support. That said, I enjoyed the puzzle. It is nice occasionally to be on the wavelength and finish quickly, but I also enjoy having to work the grey matter. I finished the jumbo cryptic on Saturday for the first time. I usually look at it after doing the straightforward jumbo and think it will be too much like hard work, so I was really pleased to complete it for once. Not sure it’s a feat I will ever repeat, but who knows? Thanks, Chris, and Joker.

    2. I find the Jumbo Cryptic easier than the 15×15. The longer and tougher clues usually yield to the large number of checkers.

  27. Another with Strike at first …
    … which seemed such a good answer and I always like to start by getting 1A. The long anagram at 3D soon forced a change of mind, but a clever/maddening clue (choose your preferred adjective) which has two valid answers when looked at in isolation.

    No other real hold-ups until LOI 8D Psycho-whatever, which I had not met before and which pushed a comfortable sub-10 solve out to more like 12 minutes.

    Many thanks to Chris for the blog
    Cedric

  28. A later than usual finish today. CLIPPER went in easily, as did SPINACH, both COD’s (or C’sOD).

    I got stuck on CONTROLLABLE but got it in the end.

    So pretty difficult I thought. But I did quite a lot of yesterday’s main puzzle thanks to recommendations.

    Thank you, Joker and Chris

    Diana

  29. Fine — just BOTTOM held me up!! I had forgotten about Bottom the weaver, and still don’t completely get the support definition. Other than that, a fairly straightforward solve. I enjoyed SPINACH.
  30. I guess my mind was working better today as I worked through this one quite steadily, being left with 8d and 15a. Eventually got psychoactive but had to turn to aids for bottom, even though I knew the character from the play. Not a bad day, methinks.
  31. Found this tricky, a slow solve. Held up by 8d and 15a, once we had the o the penny dropped. Remembered a similar clue for bottom some time ago. A good workout.
  32. Ground to a halt with 15A BOTTOM as was thinking of weaver birds, spiders (weave?)… anything but Shakespeare.

    PSYCHO went in quickly but the — ACTIVE part stumped me. Not a word I use, except when thinking of drugs like LSD (which I don’t often think of!)

    17D POSER : is the reference to a ‘Puzzle’ that it poses questions ? Bit obscure for me.

    I also tried the 15×15 yesterday and was encouraged by how much I completed.

    A fun QC today, and thanks for explanations, which are always welcome.

  33. ….only three wheels on my wagon. This was a tricky little beggar.

    FOI “STRIKE” (correctly SPINACH)
    LOI CONTROLLABLE (after I was STRUCK by a truck)
    COD SPINACH
    TIME 4:35

  34. I dabbled with trains and trikes, but even once I had the checkers it took ages to get STRUCK. Complete initial brain freeze on Hancock films didn’t help either until a few checkers loosened that logjam. Very halting progress overall on a fair enough puzzle, although I wasn’t keen on support as the DD in 15A. Liked ACROBAT and SPINACH. Enjoyed yesterday’s 15×15, so thanks to those who suggested it was manageable, and the QC brigade was well represented on that blog.
  36. “Times Quick Ctyptic 1851 by Joker”

    A new sort of puzzle? I’m sure everyone else is being too polite to mention it.

  37. DNF – 10a Siren/8d Psychoactive/15a Bottom. 10a was trying pa, dad, missed sire; 8d not a Hitchcock fan so didn’t pick up on this; 15a should have got Bottom (whether that would have helped…?). FOI 1a Struck (I did try Strike first). LOI 6d dandy. COD 11a Antarctic.
    1. Just to say that I ran into the sand on the same three clues. I rarely watch films and I don’t know much Shakespeare. Uncultured, really!
  39. Apologies for very late post today – too much happening.

    I’ve been snapping at Mrs Random’s heels in the past few days, but normality resumed today. My FOI was IMMENSE and I reached just three clues to go by 22 minutes (excellent progress for me). At that point, however, I became “mentally affected” and it took me a further 30 minutes to get PSYCHOACTIVE, SIREN and BOTTOM. To start with, I could only think of The Birds for the film, but I got PSYCHO_C_I_E and then Siren fairly early in the half-hour. 20-25 minutes of meticulous alphabet trawling were required to find ACTIVE and BOTTOM (the Shakespeare link was completely lost on me).

    Mrs Random started the puzzle after me, finished it in 17 minutes, went off and decorated a birthday cake (not mine, unfortunately), and then made the pastry cases for two quiches. She came back to find me still stuck. That’s how it goes here.

    Many thanks to Joker and to chrisw91

    1. Despite your (and our) travails, it’s always good to hear of Mrs. Random. She seems to be something of a star. Cake and quiche all round?
  40. I do sympathise, Mr Ed, as I was there less than a year ago. However, please stick at it — it does get easier, eventually.

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