Times Quick Cryptic 1607 by Joker

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Just the one unknown meaning for me today (23ac) in an otherwise top-to-bottom solve.

Definitions underlined.

Across
3 Bric-a-brac mostly running wild (8)
BARBARIC – anagram of (running) BRIC-A-BRAc (mostly).
7 Part of ulcer is extremely red (6)
CERISE – hidden in (part of) ulCER IS Extremely.
8 Home for hermit in Home Counties — like Hades (8)
SEASHELL – SE (South East, home counties), AS (like) and HELL (Hades). Home for a hermit crab! Ever wondered how a hermit crab finds a shell of the right size? Watch here.
9 Storage space that’s left frequently (4)
LOFT – L (left) and OFT (frequently).
10 Expected level is cut endlessly (3)
PAR – PARe (cut) without the last letter (endlessly).
11 Scooter treated with European wood preservative (8)
CREOSOTE – anagram of (treated) SCOOTER and E (European).
13 Key picture is very impressive (4)
EPIC – E (random musical key) and PIC (picture).
15 What can magnify part of pollen sac (4)
LENS – hidden in (part of) polLEN Sac.
17 Energetic person in sack dance (8)
FIREBALL – FIRE (sack) and BALL (dance).
19 Subdue female elephant (3)
COW – double definition.
22 Element unknown in carbon (4)
ZINC – Z (unknown), IN, and C (carbon).
23 Patronising Spanish fizz that is bottled in large runs (8)
CAVALIER – CAVA (sparkling wine, Spanish fizz), then I.E. (that is) inside (bottled in) L (large) and R (runs). I only knew this word as meaning ‘careless’, but apparently it is also ‘haughty’ or ‘disdainful’.
24 English word for something initially like paint (6)
ENAMEL – E (English), NAME (word for something), and the first letter of (initially) Like.
25 Really likes to dine where there’s just space for two (4,4)
LOVE SEAT – LOVES (really likes) and EAT (dine).

Down
1 Find a new supplier for stock (8)
RESOURCE – RE-SOURCE (source again, find a new supplier).
2 Ribs to get cooked in small restaurant (6)
BISTRO – anagram of (get cooked) RIBS TO.
3 Most successful, getting shilling in wager (4)
BEST – S (shilling) inside BET (wager).
4 Come back again to harvest fruit (8)
REAPPEAR – REAP (harvest) and PEAR (fruit).
5 Stick with commercial at this point (6)
ADHERE – AD (commercial) and HERE (at this point).
6 A bit of welding up is not working (4)
IDLE – reverse hidden in (a bit of… up) wELDIng.
12 Colour of bad part of egg (3-5)
OFF-WHITE – OFF (bad) and WHITE (part of egg).
14 I defame Manxman, perhaps (8)
ISLANDER – I and SLANDER (defame).
16 Difficult predicament I missed in disease of sheep (6)
SCRAPE – SCRAPiE (disease of sheep) without the ‘i’ (I missed).
18 Sound of sheep right round a Zulu market (6)
BAZAAR – BAA (sound of sheep) with R (right), surrounding (round) A and Z (zulu).
20 Sweet pudding gone after seconds (4)
SAGO – AGO (gone) after S (seconds).
21 Forfeits regularly encountered worry constantly (4)
FRET – every other letter from (regularly encountered) FoRfEiTs.

42 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1607 by Joker”

  1. Straightforward, biff-free if I recall correctly. 4:59.
  2. Once again I had to hop around the grid quite a lot to keep up momentum and progress felt slower than it turned out. I was convinced I had missed my 10-minute target but when I stopped the clock it was still a second or two under 9 minutes.

    I didn’t think too much about the definition of CAVALIER whilst solving, but now Will has mentioned it, I’m not sure that I knew it either.

    Edited at 2020-05-06 06:23 am (UTC)

  3. An enjoyable, if none too testing, puzzle from Joker. I had a MER at CAVALIER but trusted the wordplay so it went in with a shrug. I particularly enjoyed SEASHELL my POI and REAPPEAR. Finished in 8.27 with LOI IDLE.
    Is something going on with the Cs and Ls down the sides of the grid?
    Thanks to william
    1. Is it Joker’s 150th QC perhaps? Jack will know.
      1. It is indeed! Congrats to Joker and many thanks for all the hours of pleasure spent solving and discussing your puzzles here.

        Edited at 2020-05-06 08:33 am (UTC)

    3. Well spotted! I did my usual Nina / theme search after solving and completely missed that.
  4. Held up at the end by CAVALIER trying to find a word with L at the start and then being surprised that “patronising” was a meaning of the word. SAGO LOI, my COD. 4:35.
  5. All done in about 10 mins with Resource, sago (typo in the blog William), and cavalier which took another 10.

    Had to look up the definition of cavalier post solve.

    COD love seat.

    1. Thanks Flash. A bit late for a hat tip, but corrected for posterity…
  6. Managed 8 of the acrosses in the first pass including two hiddens and then a good showing on the downs too. LOI was SAGO, I’ve not heard of the pudding and wasn’t convinced ago could be defined by gone but went with it to finish in 13m which is reasonable for me. I had the most trouble with RESOURCE had all the checkers and was pretty sure it began with RE but the missing S U C took a while to come. I was amazed to be mid table on the early leaderboard but turns out I was third slowest of the all greens with masses of typos below.
  7. Got to my LOI in 10:40 having thought of SAGO; first thing that occurred to me was LOVE NEST, so in it went without thinking. So one wrong today. A pleasant puzzle which required some care. I was too cavalier. David
  8. It all went in fairly smoothly in almost 4 mins under target (ca. 2.2K). LOI was RESOURCE and, like others, I filled in CAVALIER without understanding the definition. I quite liked LOVE SEAT and OFF-WHITE. Perhaps I should try the 15×15 again today? Thanks to Joker and William. John M.
    1. I’d approach the 15×15 with caution – it’s apparently quite tough today according to its SNITCH rating !
      2. I had a go at the 15×15 while enjoying the sunshine in the garden. It was way way above my pay grade. I did manage to complete it – paper in one hand, phone in the other, but I only managed to parse about half of them. Thank goodness for the blog.
    2. I’ve done the 15×15 and Phil is right, it’s a tricky one but very good.
      1. Actually, I ducked this one (the 15×15). Private Eye came through the door and the Eye Crossword was fun, as always. If I do any more crosswords today, my life will not be worth living……
        John
  9. ….and then a slow LOI took me over target. Having solved it correctly on paper, I submitted “recourse” for 1D online and screwed up my stats again.

    FOI CREOSOTE
    LOI SEASHELL
    COD CERISE
    TIME 5:05

  10. Enjoyed this thanks joker and william_j_s Just wish that for a quickie we could stick with English as it is used. Yesterday it was anon – today it is cavalier – both just plain wrong for me!
  11. I didn’t find this as easy as others and took 2.1K or 2 Phils today! A Decent Day. I had to write down the anagrist for BARBARIC in the end, even after I had all the checkers, and then had a long, glum stare at _E_O_R_E … too many vowels and no first letter. Hearty chuckle at SEASHELL when the penny dropped.

    FOI CERISE, LOI RESOURCE, COD SEASHELL

    Thanks Joker and William.

    Templar

    Edited at 2020-05-06 08:59 am (UTC)

  12. Under target but got held up a bit at the end by seashell and enamel. If I’d spotted the NINA I daresay I’d have got them quicker.
  13. 12 minutes and back inside my target range of 10 – 15 minutes, so I’m happy. FOI BEST, LOI CAVALIER, COD ISLANDER. Thanks Joker and William.
  14. I enjoyed this although it took me 10 minutes over my 15 minute target to get there. The extra time was almost all spent on 8 across SEASHELL and 24 across, ENAMEL. I have no idea why I was so stumped by the latter. It is so straightforward. Despite SEASHELL being my POI, I am also going to designate it as my COD because I think it’s a cracker! I also liked 25 across, LOVE SEAT. I was a bit surprised, though, to see almost the whole of “picture” in EPIC, 13 across. I didn’t see the Cs and Ls around the edge until they were pointed out – would this be called a Nina? Wish I’d spotted them – it would have helped with my LOI, ENAMEL!. It seems to me that ISLANDER, 14 down has come up a few times recently. Thanks so much for the blog, William, and many thanks, too, to Joker.
  15. … not a straight write-in but very fair. Several clues had me smiling, and only 23A Cavalier caused even a minor question-mark – like others I think of the word as meaning careless more than patronising.

    Around 10 minutes (no exact time as interrupted by coffee and cake being brought to me!), and several candidates for COD. In the end I go for 8A Seashell, but honorary mentions for 17A Fireball, 25A Love seat, 14D Islander, …

    Congratulating to Joker on reaching 150 and thanks to William for the blog.

    Cedric

  16. Just outside a PB coming in at 17 mins. I thought this was the most straightforward QC for quite a while, with my only hold ups on 17ac and 25ac.

    Didn’t spot the Nina though.

    FOI – 3ac “Barbaric”
    LOI – 1dn “Resource”
    COD – 8ac “Seashell”

    Thanks as usual.

  17. All fine until RESOURCE took me an age (~90 seconds) to prise loose.

    I liked SEASHELL, and thought it was a very neat puzzle. Smashing NINA too, not that I spotted it.

    7:47.

    Edited at 2020-05-06 11:21 am (UTC)

  18. Enjoyable puzzle, which I thought was of medium difficulty. However I also had “love nest” for 25ac, the only answer I couldn’t parse. Should have realised it wasn’t correct

    FOI 7ac CERISE
    LOI 14dn ISLANDER (needed all the crossers and even then it didn’t come immediately)
    COD 8ac SEASHELL

  19. I neither spotted the Nina nor the alternative definition for CAVALIER. I biffed SCRAPE although scrapie did ring a bell. My POI was SEASHELL and my LOI was RESOURCE which extended my solving time by at least a minute. I solved within target in 1.8K. Congratulations Joker on your 150th QC.

    Edited at 2020-05-06 11:45 am (UTC)

  20. Smooth run and very comfortably within our target time. Congratulations on your 150th puzzle Joker – really enjoy doing them.

    FOI: barbaric
    LOI: resource
    COD: off white

    Thanks for the blog William

  21. Should have guessed CAVALIER and RESOURCE but was pleased to solve Seashell in the end.
    Thanks all round, as ever.
  22. I trotted through this without too much difficulty until my last two ENAMEL and RESOURCE. These two took a minute or more between them, bringing me in at 7:04. An enjoyable puzzle. Didn’t spot the Nina though. Thanks Joker and William.
  23. Not having much luck of late. A potential sub 20 was snatched away by my last two – Resource and Enamel, neither of which were particularly difficult and so I’m at a loss to understand why both required alphabet trawls when the cryptic was fairly clear. CoD to Love Seat, and congratulations to Joker on the milestone. Needless to say, I completely missed that as well. Invariant
  24. I found most of the clues quite straightforward but a couple took a bit of working out – SEASHELL and LOVESEAT – which both made me smile as did my time of just over 14 minutes.
    Thanks to William for the hermit crab link – amazing!
    Congratulations too to Joker.
  25. I had to have three shots at this CL from the Joker, due to interruptions. So no time but I struggled on manfully!

    FOI 2dn BISTRO

    LOI 14dn ISLANDER

    COD 23ac CAVALIER

    WOD 11ac CREOSOTE as recommended as a cure all by POTUS

  26. Thanks all who offered congratulations on reaching my 150th. it hardly seems possible the QC has been going that long now!
    Joker
    1. Indeed! And thank you!

      Your’s was the first puzzle I blogged back in 2014, and I wonder if I’ve written up as many as you’ve set in that time!?

      Long may it continue…

  27. Thx William
    Typo in 20dn. Should be AGO not AGA. Biffed it but couldn’t suss it until I realised your tiny error. Very grateful as ever. Bit of biffing today but otherwise ok. Johnny
  28. And how do you start a pudding race? Sago, we hear.

    KevinS. (A bit off-topic, but perhaps excusable in these times of lockdown.)

Comments are closed.