Times Quick Cryptic 1570 by Mara

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Solving time: 10 minutes. I was a bit slow on the uptake on some of the ideas here but overall found it reasonably straightforward.

As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]. I usually omit all reference to positional indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.

Across
1 Wild dream about Irish lover (7)
ADMIRER : Anagram [wild] of DREAM containing [about] IR (Irish)
5 Man carrying tune, finally going for a song (5)
CHEAP : CHAP (man) containing [carrying] {tun}E [finally]. Does anyone remember the  TV antiques programme Going for a Song? It had a rather catchy theme tune: Prelude to The Birds by Respighi.
8 Fail to recall fake Monet? That’s a bloomer (6-2-3)
FORGET-ME-NOT : FORGET (fail to recall), anagram [fake] of MONET
10 Some pretty petulant sort (4)
TYPE : Hidden in [some] {pret}TY PE{tulant)
11 Second person steering fish ahead of stream (2-6)
CO-DRIVER : COD (fish), RIVER (stream)
12 Place of work no longer slipping? (6)
OFFICE : If one is OFF the ICE one is ‘no longer slipping’
14 Loco, a flier? (6)
CUCKOO : Two meanings, mad and bird
16 Defective legal procedure? There’s one in the wind (8)
MISTRIAL : I (one) contained by [in] MISTRAL (wind). A strong cold wind emanating from southern France.
18 Leave a bit (4)
PART : Two meanings
20 Staining, wet splashes — trying red, perhaps? (4-7)
WINE-TASTING : Anagram [splashes] of STAINING WET
22 Tokyo’s wrong Japanese city (5)
KYOTO : Anagram [wrong] of TOKYO
23 Figure something happening in outskirts of Surrey (7)
SEVENTY : EVENT (something happening) contained by [in] S{urre}Y [outskirts]
Down
2 Silly spring flower (5)
DAFFY : Two meanings, the second as an abbreviation of ‘daffodil’. Amidst all the doom and gloom we could do with a good laugh, so here’s something to brighten the morning.
3 Middle Eastern serial broadcast before one (7)
ISRAELI : Anagram [broadcast] of SERIAL, I (one)
4 Sheep stuck in the well (3)
EWE : Hidden [stuck in] {th}E WE{ll}
6 Language produced when fringes of party ignored (5)
HINDI : {s}HINDI{g} (party) [fringes…ignored]. A lively party or gathering originally ‘shinty’ and ‘shindy’, SOED has it of US origin from the late19th century.
7 Month into rota, changed style (3,4)
ART DECO : DEC (month) contained by [into] anagram [changed] of ROTA
9 Poorly, claimed for health check (7)
MEDICAL : Anagram [poorly] of CLAIMED
11 Drug dealer, Argentine revolutionary on film (7)
CHEMIST : CHE (Argentine revolutionary – Guevara), MIST (film)
13 Golfer’s target, reasonable distance (7)
FAIRWAY : FAIR (reasonable), WAY (distance). We seem to have had a few ‘golfer’s targets’ on my watch recently.
15 Manage to capture image in grove (7)
COPPICE : COPE (manage) contains [to capture] PIC (image)
17 In canvas, Constable ultimately finds belief (5)
TENET : {constabl}E [finally] contained by [in] TENT (canvas)
19 Fitting entitlement (5)
RIGHT : Two straight definitions
21 Notice third character in audition? (3)
SEE :  SEE (notice) sounds like [in audition] “C” (third character of alphabet)

45 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1570 by Mara”

  1. I found this on the harder side, with several cases where I only saw the solution without seeing the wordplay and had to reverse-engineer once I’d typed it in: WINE-TASTING, for instance, COPPICE, ART DECO, MISTRIAL, HINDI … True, CHE was an Argentine, but he did his revolutionizing in Cuba; I wonder how many of us knew his nationality, and whether the clue might not actually have been easier without ‘Argentine’. (‘revolutionary’–>CHE is a major chestnut in the 15x15s.) 7:04.
  2. I am delighted.
    Definitely a member of the SCC (thanks for the heads up on the glossary by the way)
    47 mins, but the first one I’ve completed without using any aids.
    FOI – Wine tasting
    LOI – Mistrial

    SLOW time maybe, but one I’ll remember for a long time.

    Right, where’s the Tylenol;)

  3. 11 mins, no real hold ups but I had to jump around the grid a lot.

    LOI mistrial.
    COD wine tasting as it sounds like me on a white settee.

    There is an atom mop in the first few columns.

    1. An atom mop? I see the letters in columns 1 and 3 but does it have a special meaning? Can the unenlightened be, er, un-unenlightened please?

      Many thanks
      Cedric

  4. When I saw Mara’s name I thought this could be tricky. And it was, but enjoyable too.
    FOI was TYPE and I was flitting round the grid trying to find easy pickings. I had no big hold-ups and LOI was CHEAP after HINDI ( I thought that was difficult).
    DNK Che was from Argentina but he is our go-to revolutionary.COD to MEDICAL for the surface. Time 13:14. David
  5. The curse of the typo spoiled what was an enjoyable solve, which I found relatively straightforward, although the HINDI needed a bit of working out. Plenty of good surfaces today but my COD was OFFICE.
    Thanks to jackkt.
  6. I seem to have fared well at 8:43. Like vinyl1, I went quickly through the top half but then slowed down. Mistrial came from trying to mess about with jet trail but then saw the definition. Loi cuckoo as I had a blank moment or two before the obvious answer arrived.
  7. Exactly 1 Chris = 1.25 Kevins = an Excellent Day. A very satisfactory equation for a Monday morning. I found the acrosses slightly harder than the downs, with CO-DRIVER, MISTRIAL and CUCKOO all holding out on first pass. But all the downs yielded first time except HINDI, which I thought was a really tough clue (when you take the fringes off party you get art, so I was looking for a language which is also a type of art …).

    A neat, tight puzzle which I enjoyed. Thank you Mara and Jack.

    FOI ADMIRER, LOI HINDI, COD CO-DRIVER.

    Templar

  9. Just inside my upper target of 15m, held up by HINDI at the end. I also entered ROCKET initially for 14a, which does work, but then MEDICAL put paid to that notion. Thanks Jack and Mara.
  10. A steady solve in 11 mins. FOI CHEAP and LOI MISTRIAL. I managed to get snarled up at the bottom of the grid by bunging in ‘add’ for 21d which fitted the wordplay only and delayed the solving of 20a WINE TASTING and 23a SEVENTY. Thanks Jack and Mara.
  11. For the life of me I couldn’t see the “co” in co-driver. I went through every two letter word I could think of.

    So that slowed me down. 15m.

  12. ….over SEVENTY, I’m expecting to be placed under house arrest shortly. However, if I was hoping to catch up with a few older puzzles on line, I’ve been thwarted.

    Is any other forum reader who solves using an Android Smartphone getting a “BAD REQUEST” message as soon as they try to access a puzzle ? I’ve contacted the help desk at The Times, but no response so far. This started on Saturday when I tried to do the Cryptic Jumbo. The problem may, of course, be with my Smartphone, but I’d like to isolate it if possible.

    As for this puzzle, I was within my target, but thought it was quite tricky for a QC.

    FOI ADMIRER
    LOI CHEAP
    COD MISTRIAL

    Must ring my drug dealer now – I need more statins 😉

    1. Try clearing cookies Phil. It’s a common issue and I have to do it regularly on my laptop. Olivia had the same issue over the weekend.
        1. You could try uninstalling the browser app and reinstalling, or just download a different browser.
    2. Just tried on my phone on the puzzle club site, it works ok.

      Really try to avoid solving on the phone, much prefer desktop.

  13. I started off with EWE and then ADMIRER. CUCKOO slowed me down a bit, as did my biffed IRANIAN at 3d, but TYPE put me right. God job I did a proof read though, as I still had TYPI when I checked. Also corrected WINE TESTING during the proof read. MISTRIAL was my LOI, where I’d been trying to do something with windmills! Nice puzzle. Thanks Mara and Jack.

    Edited at 2020-03-16 11:38 am (UTC)

  14. I was heading for a respectable 22min finish (good for Mara), but just couldn’t see loi 6d Hindi. I knew I had to start with a 7 letter party, but unfortunately Shindig just wouldn’t come to mind, and neither, for that matter, would Hindi. It would have been a disappointing finish, had I not already opted wrongly when faced with Daffy/Dafty for 2d – daffY for daffodil, really? I thought 16 and 23ac were both good clues, but CoD to 7d Art Deco. Invariant

    Edited at 2020-03-16 12:34 pm (UTC)

  15. I’m with The Invariant on 2dn – DAFFY!! for daff. It was my FOI but I was expecting to have to change it. DAFFY is a duck where I come from! Daff-a-down-dilly is a daffodil.

    LOI 15sn COPPICE

    COD 6dm HINDI

    WOD 7dn ART DECO

    Jordan I am very surprised you haven’t been incarcerated far earlier. Lockdown can be fun! Just finished Goebbels’ Diaries. Spoiler – it ends badly!

    Just 8 minutes.

    Edited at 2020-03-16 12:54 pm (UTC)

    1. I have over 1000 CD’s that need culling. I think that’s where I shall dedicate my efforts.
    2. Daffy is a duck for all people of a certain age. The common abbreviation for daffodil is daff, M’lud.
  17. So on the trickier side for me. Biffed HINDI. COD was COPPICE, which let to my LOI CUCKOO.
  18. As a comfortable 4th quartile occasional participant with a fairly weak GK beyond the obvious I thought this was a fantastic puzzle. No weird words or those obscure parsings which only seasoned solvers know. I even saw shindig early doors. Given some of the regular excellent contributors found parts tricky, it gives me great heart to carry on.

    Graham

  19. We made heavy weather of this one but got there in the end.

    FOI: ewe
    LOI: Hindi
    COD: fairway

    🌷🌼🌺

  20. A 14 minute finish, and a lovely puzzle which was not easy but never unfair. Nice to see our old friend Che again; there must have been other Latin American revolutionaries but one so seldom meets them!

    Guessed 6D Hindi as the only language that would fit, and only then saw the wordplay.

    FOI 8A Forget me not, LOI 15D Coppice, and COD 9D Medical for a lovely surface.

    Thank you to Jack and Mara
    Cedric

  21. A 35 min finish for me. Thought it was nicely tricky, and some clues took probably longer than they should have, but nothing unreasonable.

    Only query I had was “Daffy” for Daffodil which seemed a bit slangy. However, if it’s in the dictionary then I can’t argue.

    FOI – 5ac “Cheap”
    LOI – 6dn “Hindi” (got the “shingdig”, but not an obvious one)
    COD – 11ac “Co-Driver” – nice surface.

    Thanks as usual.

    1. I don’t know about slangy, it’s just plain out and out wrong – daff (s) or daffs (pl) no problem, but I’ve never heard anyone say daffy (without adding duck).
          1. It’s true that most Times definitions are in Collins or one of the Oxfords (I think the OD of English available online via Lexico is the favoured one) but it’s not unknown for a definition to be used that’s only in Chambers.
      2. Haven’t checked – is it in the dictionary? Daffy Duck also came to my mind.
        1. Just to confirm that ‘daffy’ for ‘daffodil’ is in Chambers.

          I posted at 06:33 pm so crossed with your query.

  22. Terrible error left me not able to come close to getting what turned out to be one of the hardest Mistrial – I was looking for a bird ending in bill…
    So dnf but made good progress and was on for 20 minutes.
    COD Co-Driver

    Got Shindig after all checkers in place otherwise I would not have got this

    Thanks all
    John George

  23. Pleasant solve just in our target 30m. Slow to get 11d and 15d, all clues seem very fair. Like others we did not like Daffy, and join the duck brigade.
  24. Quite tricky but enjoyable. I came to this late after a long but excellent tasting of Rhone wines. Managed quite a fair Mara time in the circumstances at 2.6K. WINE TASTING dropped out, of course. My COD was CO-DRIVER. Thanks both. John M.

    Edited at 2020-03-16 07:03 pm (UTC)

    1. What a great way to spend time! Hope the wines were worth the effort
  25. Thanks for your response, Templar. Yes they were. Sadly, our numbers were slightly reduced by some ‘self-isolating’ so the range of wines was reduced to balance. We’ll be wine tasting on our own at home in future. I’ve been saying for years that we should be running down the cellar. Now is our chance……
    1. SCC – The acronym for the Slow Coach Club, a name the less speedy solvers of the Quickie have made up for themselves. Some are permanently resigned to their fate, but others hope to improve and join the speedsters.

      Most of the jargon at TfTT is explained in the Glossary which is linked towards the top of the page on the right if you are using a PC or laptop. It may appear elsewhere on other devices.

Comments are closed.