Times Quick Cryptic 1387 by Oink

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
This took me a bit longer than Oink’s 2.2 on jackkt’s hardenss scale might suggest, but not a lot. We have this setter’s trademark porcine clue making an appearance at the top of the bill, and quite a lot of the funnies we’ve come to expect too (my COD to 14dn). I spent at least a minute with only 11dn left, and its either a bit of a clunky clue, or I’m missing something.

Definitions underlined.

Across
1 Laughing about Romeo’s crisp browned skin (9)
CRACKLING – CACKLING (laughing) surrounding (about) R (romeo, phonetic alphabet).
6 Fighting back? It might be bloody (3)
RAW – WAR (fighting) reversed (back).
8 Suggests one MP is telling tales (7)
IMPLIES – I (one, roman numerals), MP, and LIES (is telling tales).
9 Celebrate in bar after retirement (5)
REVEL – LEVER (bar) reversed (after retirement).
10 Do apple trees supply these shopkeepers? (12)
TRADESPEOPLE – anagram of (supply, as in flexibly) DO APPLE TREES.
12 Very good fruit (4)
PLUM – double definition.
13 Meet one’s maker when in outskirts of Paris (4)
PASS – AS (when) inside (in) first and last letters from (outskirts of) PariS.
17 It’s clear nuptial bed is disarranged (12)
INDISPUTABLE – anagram of (disarranged) NUPTIAL BED IS.
20 Pancakes left in bin by yours truly (5)
BLINI – L (left) in BIN, then I (yours truly).
21 Deceive on more than one occasion (3-4)
TWO-TIME – double definition.
23 Food soldiers may dig into? (3)
EGG – cryptic definition, soldiers being the strips of bread or toast dipped into a runny egg.
24 Overextend Her Majesty? She might be carried off on this (9)
STRETCHER – STRETCH (overextend) and E.R. (her majesty).

Down
1 Murderer I put in prison (4)
CAIN – I in CAN (prison).
2 Clothes appear to be tangled on line (7)
APPAREL – anagram of (tangled) APPEAR, then L (line).
3 Japanese swimmer’s a little flirtatious they say (3)
KOI – sounds like (they say) “coy” (a little flirtatious).
4 Demand heroin sister’s hiding (6)
INSIST – hidden in (…’s hiding) heroIN SISTer.
5 Danger ape represented for occupant of pod? (6,3)
GARDEN PEA – anagram of (represented, as in re-presented) DANGER APE.
6 Vicar out of bed. Prepare to move off? (3,2)
REV UP – REV (vicar) and UP (out of bed).
7 Where to put money when everything’s getting wet outside? (6)
WALLET – ALL (everything) surrounded by (with … outside) WET.
11 The arguments for maids? (9)
DOMESTICS – double definition. My LOI by a long way. What is ‘the’ doing there?
14 Inconsiderate son, a bit like a pixie (7)
SELFISH – S (son) and ELFISH (a bit like a pixie).
15 Two bishops in river, getting bite from fish? (6)
NIBBLE – BB (two Bs, bishops) inside NILE (river).
16 Stuffy executive or potential husband? (6)
SUITOR – SUIT (stuffy executive) then OR.
18 They say colouring’s on the way out (5)
DYING – sounds like (they say) “dyeing” (colouring).
19 Support beggar who’s lost heart (4)
BEAR – BEggAR with the middle letters removed (lost heart).
22 Yogurt occasionally available (3)
OUT – every other letter from (occasionally) yOgUrT.

27 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1387 by Oink”

  1. 9 minutes, so another tick against Oink for my next lot of dubious statistics.

    I enjoyed the porcine reference at 1ac although I doubt that any passing grunter would like to be reminded of this as his possible fate. I looked for further pigs without success other than the EGG at 23 which immediately brought bacon to mind.

  2. I thought I had checked the clues after submitting, as I normally do, to make sure I’d got them, but I seem to have skipped DOMESTICS. Had no idea it could be a noun meaning ‘argument’; and I have no idea why the ‘The’. I also wondered why the ‘Stuffy’; for me suit=executive, but I see that ODE qualifies the term as ‘typically one regarded as exercising influence in an impersonal way’. Maybe if I had noticed the setter’s name I would have been a bit quicker on 1ac. 5:46.
    1. I think ‘domestics’ is what the police use to refer to a ‘domestic argument’ – which presumably meand one they won’t get involved in.
  3. I missed Will’s query about ‘the’ at 11ac until Kevin mentioned it. I don’t have a problem with it as ‘domestic’ is a term used typically by police to refer to a particular type of disturbance or argument that they are sometimes called to by concerned neighbours (a certain Mr Johnson knows all about this to his recent cost!). There are many other types of argument but ‘the arguments for maids’ for crossword purposes are naturally ‘domestics’ and in that sense the surface reads smoothly for me.

    Edited at 2019-07-03 05:51 am (UTC)

  4. I do the QC on my phone so I don’t know the setter until I check the blog, and I think I prefer it that way, although I can usually spot an Izetti.
    I was pleased to finish in 30 minutes as there were two 12 letter anagrams (difficult on the phone) but thankfully the answers weren’t too obscure. I knew DOMESTICS as I watch too much TV, and my LOI was DYING .
    Thanks to Oink for a nice puzzle and to William for the blog.

    Brian

  5. An enjoyable puzzle from Oink with lots of humour. I was going quickly until held up by DOMESTICS – clever and original I thought;COD for me despite the objections.
    My last two were DYING and EGG (which I only parsed after submitting-another COD candidate).
    13:14 today. David
  6. 7.29, stuck with DOMESTICS and SELFISH at the end. I wasn’t aware of the meaning of SUITOR, otherwise all good.

    NeilC

  7. I sailed through this, with CRACKLING going straight in, until I came to my LOI, DYING, which took a minute all to itself. Enjoyable puzzle with plenty of humour, as has been said already. Liked DOMESTICS. 8:54. Thanks Oink and William.
  8. Enjoyable crossword – many thanks to oink.
    Thanks also for explanations – but how does “meet ones maker” translate to “pass”?
    DavidS
    2. “Pass” is a ‘nice’ way of saying “die” as is “meet one’s maker”.
  9. 17 minutes.

    Last 2 were plum and domestics.

    Also had a question mark for the the in 11d, I think Arguments for maids reads better.

    Tried to fit me in 20a for yours truly.

    Lots of plum clues but favourites nibble and selfish.

  10. One of my quickest ever I think at 25:41. I was pleased to see several others shared my LOI of dying. I guess that might mean I’m solving in the same way as some more experienced (or at least faster) solvers. COD to stretcher which gave me a nice image of an elastic queen.
  11. I breezed through most of this but got stuck on an anagram. I tend to think of tradespeople as plumbers and electricians rather than shopkeepers so was led astray a little. I’m not sure that ‘the’ is necessary in 11d and for a quickie dip might be kinder than dig. These are minor quibbles though – generally enjoyable – thanks all!
  12. A nice puzzle from Oink with plenty to amuse. I finally broke 10 mins again (quite comfortably this time) and was happy to be well under 2K. I seemed to move steadily through finding the downs easier which opened up the across clues. No serious delays or hiccups which makes a change. I finished with BEAR, TWO-TIME and SELFISH (which vies with EGG as my COD). Thanks to Oink and to william for confirming my parsing. John M.
  13. ….with PASS and DYING. In the SW corner, I thought I might prefer my EGG on top of my BLINI, rather than underneath it….

    FOI RAW
    LOI SUITOR (about 12.5% of the total solving time !)
    COD REVEL
    TIME 3:42

  14. 22mins of enjoyment from Oink, with the Egg/Dying intersection my last pair. Slightly embarrassed to need both crossers for Cain, and took some time over the anagram at 10ac as well, but overall a steady enough solve. CoD to 14d, Selfish. Invariant
  15. Have been doing the QC for a few years and sometimes get stumped as to the “why” of the clues. So very happy to have discovered this site. Excellent work. I will be back. Thanks for doing it.

    2. You are welcome, in both senses! Hope you’ve got a setter-specific avatar organised for each day!

  16. Nearly a PB with 18.02, and will inside my target of 30 mins. LOI was CAIN. My lack of biblical knowledge meaning I’m sometimes not ABEL to get these clues…(I’ll get my coat).

    I actually found this quite hard on my first pass, but then they started to fall in with reasonable regularity starting from the SE corner and spreading north.

    It felt like a rather macabre theme from the bottom up. PASS, DYING, OUT, STRETCHER…

  17. Many thanks to William for the immaculate blog.

    Thanks also to everyone who’s commented. Always nice to see what people think.

    Happy solving all.

    Oink

    1. Thanks for dropping by. It’s clear I’m not alone in appreciating the humour in your puzzles, and we look forward to many more!

  18. A slow start for me with my FOI being PASS, but the bottom half proved more amenable so it was a bottom up solve in the main. Finished in 11.43 with LOI DOMESTIC (no problem with the controversial the).
    Thanks to William
  19. No difficulty today, but when trying to open puzzle clock started but the actual puzzle didn’t appear, so had to go away and try again – so it was some 15-20 minutes before I could try to solve anything. Haven’t had similar trouble before, so it was likely something at this end.
  20. Belated comment as I solved at lunchtime at work but didn’t get time to comment here… Lovely puzzle, as I’ve come to expect from Oink. I made a rookie error by bunging in GREENGROCER for 10a even while thinking that is too rubbishy a barely cryptic clue to be in a Times puzzle. Finished in a just sub-average 5:26 enjoying smelling the roses rather than rushing to finish. Thanks William and Oink.

Comments are closed.