Times Quick Cryptic 1146 by Hurley

Author   chrisw91Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Although I felt there was quite a lot of complexity in the parsing I ended up with 7:41 – which continues my run of good times.
Today’s puzzle will be great if you like 13 letter anagrams. I finished up with LOI 7dn . This was one of three clues with initial letters adding in to other parts of the answer – the others being 20ac and 14dn and I find it difficult to pick just one for COD.

ACROSS

1. DAMP – wet. Pressure (P) after barrier (DAM).
4. PASTRAMI – smoked beef. In re(PAST RA MI)ssed.
8. MITIGATE – become less harsh. Anagram (must be revised) of GET IT AIM.
9. PUSS – pet. Postscript (PS) about American (US).
10. SECEDE – withdraw. South East (SE), homophone (we hear) of fancied player – seed.
11. THRILL – that’s exciting. Hour (HR) inside where money is kept (TILL).
12. PANIC-STRICKEN – far from being at ease. Anagram (around) of NICE TRACK SPIN.
16. PRAISE – have good word for. Quiet (P), lift (RAISE).
17. SEESAW – something to amuse kids. Understands (SEES), a (A), wife (W).
19. KNIT – a tricot is ‘a thin rayon or nylon fabric knitted or resembling knitting, used for dresses, etc’ so one needs to knit to make one. Recalled (backwards) some trico(T IN K)iev.
20. STILETTO – dagger. (T)hat (I)s (L)ethal inside set-to giving us S(TIL)ET-TO.
21. RETRENCH – economise. In relation to (RE), First World War feature (TRENCH).
22. TARN – lake. Grateful response (TA), navy (RN).

DOWN

2. ALICE – Lewis Carroll’s girl. Anagram (could become) of CELIA.
3. PRIME MINISTER – Thatcher maybe. One (I) entering proper (PRIM) English (E) church (MINSTER).
4. PHASE – spell of time. Has (HAS) to be accommodated in gym (PE).
5. SWEATER – pullover. Curse (SWEAR) about (T)hreadbar(E).
6. RAPPROCHEMENT – becoming friendly again. Anagram (relaxed) of MEN REPORT CHAP.
7. MOSELLE – wine. (M)issed (O)ut (S)ome, French female (ELLE).
10. SOP – concession. (S)l(O)p(P)y.
13. ARRANGE – settle. A (A), king (R) on mountain chain (RANGE).
14. STETSON – hat. (S)ketch (T)he (E)lderly (T)exan, relative (SON).
15. NEW – novel. Three points – North, East and West.
17. SWISH – smart. Singular (S), desire (WISH).
18. ALTER – change. Homophone (by the sound of it) of church feature – altar.

21 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1146 by Hurley”

  1. I biffed 12ac from a couple of checkers plus the enumeration, didn’t really bother to check the anagrist carefully; ditto with 6d, where eyeballing the anagrist seemed sufficient (unlike the 15x15s, I don’t write down the anagrist with QCs, so these long anagrams can be a problem). Note 20ac: the 15x15s wouldn’t give you ‘set-to’ for SETTO. 4:10.
  2. 7 minutes without being able to recall what a ‘tricot’ is. Another tip for solvers is that if you meet an odd-looking unfamiliar word or proper noun in a QC clue it’s very likely to hold part of a hidden answer. This often pays off in the main puzzle too.
  3. I started off well with the first 4 across clues going straight in, but a gap then to the matching bottom 4. A clean sweep of the downs helped me finish in more than a minute under average. But there’s lots to admire by stopping to smell the roses. I had a chuckle at the DAMP PASTRAMI across the top and liked SEESAW and the Texan STETSON in particular. My COD, though, goes to MOSELLE…. the French female just has to be called Lorraine. I must try and find some of that wine.
  4. 41 minutes, I romped through most of this and had the thrill of a possible PB, but soon became panic stricken when the minutes ticked by and I couldn’t get praise, thrill, secede, Moselle, and last 2 rapprochement and panic stricken.

    COD praise.

    1. PB? As a recent convert (battled through most of the first compilation book) it’s fireworks night if I finish!
      LOI Pastrami from checkers having earlier spent much time thinking about names of meals featuring the letters RA, sigh.
  5. FOI DAMP, LOI RAPPROCHEMENT which held me up for a while. Like Kevin I try not to use pen and paper for anagrams in the QC. PANIC STRICKEN went in from crossers and a brief nod to the anagrist. Liked MOSELLE and STETSON. Thanks Hurley and Chris. 8:35.
  6. Very straightforward. COD PRIME MINISTER which required entering one into both PRIM and MINSTER, not seen that before. LOI RAPPROCHEMENT where I had to resort to pen and paper having been convinced it would start RE… Otherwise the anagrams came quite easily and gave a good base to work from.
    PlayUpPompey.
    1. Its 1 into Prim E Minster [Proper E Church], so its not doing double duty.
  7. Enjoyed this, although I struggled to spell 6d RAPPROCHEMENT which held me up somewhat. Biffed 19a KNIT from the wordplay so thank you for explaining what a tricot is. My LOI was 21a RETRENCH which I can’t recall ever using. Time today of 11:20.
  8. My first ever sub 10 minute solve! It’s only taken me three and a half years.
  9. Still not in the groove this week. Loi was 1ac. . . so it’s something of a miracle that I managed to finish just short of 40 mins. Tried to over-complicate far too many clues, even to the point of trying to get an anagram out of 4ac. Hopefully better luck tomorrow. Invariant
    1. Your solves are nearly always similar to mine, most people found today pretty easy but I was looking at dnf for a while.
      1. Yes, I’ve noticed we can be quite similar. I’ve been having a more serious attempt at the 15×15 lately, and I do wonder if that’s now causing me problems when doing the QC (setting aside the more obvious explanation). Invariant
  10. Faster end of my acceptable range on the Rotterometer, but solved in unusual circumstances. With the RMT industrial action, trying to access this on an ipad on the rattler proved impossible whilst jammed into the aisle, so it had to wait until lunchtime before I could look at it. On the train, I am usually able to shut out all distractions, so this leaves me wondering if this could have been a PB had the trains been unaffected by the strike.
  11. Lots of good words today: RAPPROCHEMENT, MOSELLE, STILETTO and all fairly clued, I thought. Didn’t see the anagram at 12A for ages and SECEDE was my LOI. Thanks Chris and Hurley (btw, setter, you really ought to have a go on a SEESAW — great fun, not just for kids!).
  12. Unlike yesterday my spellcheck worked, picking up that I didn’t know how to spell 6d, which I’d chucked in without checking off the letters. This would have caused multiple errors and it took me a couple of minutes to figure out the correct spelling. Finally pressed submit on 13.16 with fingers crossed that I hadn’t missed anything else. Particularly enjoyed 17a, LOI was 4d for some reason.
    Thanks for the blog

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