Times Quick Cryptic 1746 by Hurley

Author   chrisw91Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Another speedy one with the clock stopped at 7:17. Would have been quicker had I not stumbled over LOI 2dn where I didn’t get the abbreviation for a while. Plenty of good anagrams and COD at 1dn.

Could I just check with the crew, please – I always refer to answers in the preamble by number rather than the actual answer. I’ve always done this on the basis that anyone who’s stuck on a clue and wants to check which is the definition, may not appreciate seeing the answer up front.
Anyone with an opinion, please let me know.

ACROSS

8. Officials at Lord’s super – I’m bowled over! (7)
UMPIRES – anagram (bowled over) of SUPER IM.
9. Some year, that, where we live (5)
EARTH – which is where we live (leaving aside talk of popolating Mars and having Moon bases). Some of y(EAR TH)at.
10. Notice decay at edges, squalid (5)
SEEDY – notice (SEE), (D)eca(Y).
11. Stomach final word about batchelor party (7)
ABDOMEN – final word (AMEN) about batchelor (B) and party (DO).
12. Over-lenient – glut in end unfortunately (9)
INDULGENT – anagram (unfortunately) of GLUT IN END.
14. Boat talked up – good initially (3)
TUG – (T)alked (U)p (G)ood.
16. That chap‘s greeting Mike (3)
HIM – greeting (HI), Mike (M).
18. Longing, looking back again, lots fancy (9)
NOSTALGIA – anagram (fancy) of AGAIN LOTS.
21. Teacher, see, with popular cut of beef (7)
SIRLOIN – teacher (SIR) see (LO), popular (IN).
22. Month for walking? (5)
MARCH – to walk is to march.
23. Din from hooter – I gathered (5)
NOISE – hooter (NOSE) with I (I) inside.
24. Excluded unfashionable actors (7)
OUTCAST – unfashionable (OUT), actors (CAST).

DOWN

1. Cosy up with German husband – his business is in pieces?
GUNSMITH – definition of the day. Cosy snug – upwards (GUNS), ‘with’ in German (MIT), husband (H). Probably COD too – unless I come across anything further on.
2. Special study in two facing pages (6)
SPREAD – a spread in a magazine say (which is a rather clever definition). Special (SP), study (READ). I was stuck on the abbreviation which I’d not come across before – but it’s in Collins.
3. How octopus might be described in the military? (4)
ARMY – I’m plumping for a crytpic definition here. The pun is based on the army being the military and an octopus having lots of arms so is ‘army’. Probably a marmite clue.
4. Property, English, say (6)
ESTATE – English (E), say (STATE).
5. Unhappy at event including daughter leading to feud (8)
VENDETTA – anagram (unhapp) of AT EVENT including daughter (D).
6. Quick reminder (6)
PROMPT – double definition.
7. Health insurance partly insufficient (4)
THIN – part of heal(TH IN)surance.
13. Capital person academic introduced to unsociable guy (8)
LONDONER – academic (DON) introduced into unsociable guy (LONER).
15. Material for pencils Greek character put in jar (8)
GRAPHITE – Greek character (PHI) inside jar (GRATE).
17. Mother right – drink makes difference! (6)
MARGIN – e.g. the margin between the votes counted in the US election. Mother (MA), right (R), drink (GIN).
19. Older Spanish man going around India (6)
SENIOR – Spanish man (SENOR) going around India (I).
20. Not entirely relevant language (6)
GERMAN – not entirely relevant (GERMAN)e.
21. Sensible article plugging southeast (4)
SANE – article (AN) plugging southeast (SE).
22. Small amount in moieties oddly (4)
MITE – odd letters of (M)o(I)e(T)i(E)s. Moieties, by the way, are halves (from the French moitie – with an acute accent on the ‘e’).

51 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1746 by Hurley”

  1. This felt harder than my time would suggest. I missed the rather obvious wordplay with UMPIRES, which left me with ___SMITH at 1d, and all I could think of was TIN. Finally getting SPREAD gave me UMPIRES, which gave me GUN. 5:14.
  2. 12 minutes made trickier by having no 1ac. I understood there was a policy to stop using such grids for QC’s but that was quite a long time ago now and it hasn’t happened so perhaps the policy changed.

    With regard to your query about the intros, Chris, I can say what the policy was but I think it may have last been stated in Andy’s time as showrunner and Jonathan may take a different view.

    My understanding is that bloggers must not give away answers in the blog title alongside the puzzle number but below that it’s okay to do so. However, many bloggers use the ‘Read more…’ facility to hide the body of their blog so that anyone wishing to read it has to click a down-arrow to reveal it, and personally I limit clue answers to within the hidden section. Many of my intros begin with a paragraph that can be read immediately and a second paragraph containing answers that’s hidden until clicked. I’m not sure if you have used ‘Read more…’ but if you need help with deploying it please send me an email.

    The ‘octopus / army’ thing has come up a number of times in the main puzzle, most recently I think in one that I blogged in 2017:

    Autumn work for army type (7)
    OCTOPUS – OCT (Autumn – October), OPUS (work).

    Edited at 2020-11-17 05:46 am (UTC)

    1. The ‘hide’ and ‘read more’ functions might not work on the mobile app. That would explain why in the app version of this blog the solution is often missing.
      16 mins so moderate in my humble opinion. Thanks to all.

  3. My fastest ever start. Ten of the acrosses in on first pass in under three minutes but the downs weren’t so compliant and I ended up in a still pleasing sub-11. It was the the NW that did it. I had a mental blank on MIT for with in German and was slow to see what ‘pieces’ was doing so stared at _U_S_I_H for what seemed like a long time. Those letters made me want to have a word ending in =ish meaning ‘cosy up’, plus ‘in pieces’ looks like an anagram indicator and the checking letters had quite a lot in common with ‘his business’. GERMAN held me up at the bottom too where I was slow to spot the language.

    EDIT: on showing answers. The fact that the answers are so clearly shown after the preamble makes this site hard to use for hints but excellent for post mortem analysis. Big Dave’s blog on the Telegraph cryptic uses a “click here” to conceal the clue which gives a good separation of hints and answers.

    Edited at 2020-11-17 07:58 am (UTC)

  4. I do the same as you Chris, for the very reason you mention. As for today’s puzzle, no dramas. Only GUNSMITH, my COD too, gave me a great deal of pause for thought. Nice puzzle. 4:07.
  5. I started racing through most of this, but the last few really got me foxed.

    I was kicking myself with some of these answers. The ones that got me were: 18a, 2d, 17d, 19d, 20d, with 20d being the one I face palmed when I read the answer here.

    Took me 1:08:37 in total before I decided to look here for the answers. When I do that I look at it as an opportunity for learning: look at the answer and reverse engineer to see if I can understand how the answer was obtained from the clue.

    I managed to answer 89% (41) of these, with the remaining 11% (5) obtained by looking here.

    I have an A4 notepad that I write down the clues that I was unable to answer. Alongside these answers I write the explanation of the clue. This, I hope, will help me to master cryptic crosswords.

    1. That seems like a very good system. Be aware that the number of words indicating an anagram is probably >500!

  6. … and all done and parsed in 8 minutes. Quite the European tour too with English, German, Spanish and Greek in the clues (and a mention for India too).

    Many thanks Chris for the blog, and I agree with your choice of COD to 1D Gunsmith. On your question, and speaking as a junior solver, personally I give a puzzle my best effort, and only turn to this site when I’ve laid down my pen, finished or not. I mainly do so to check parsing, learn more and of course read the comments of other participants, many of which are brilliant.

    So I don’t use it for hints or therefore mind seeing answers in the preamble. But presumably you and the other bloggers know of people who do turn to the site for hints – though how one can know either which clues to give a hint for (once one starts, why not all of them?) or how to do so without giving the answer away completely is I imagine not easy. Either way, it seems your approach caters for others and does not cause any problems for people who use the site like me.

    Apologies for long-winded answer but I hope of some help.

    Cedric

    1. Some, including myself for some fiendish 15x15s, scroll down a blog to reveal just a problem clue (but not the answer). Having the definition of the clue(s) highlighted gives an extra nudge to go back to the unfinished crossword and sometimes get the answer. With one answer there are more checkers to carry on enjoying (and sometimes completing) the puzzle.
      If the preamble contains eg ‘COD GUNSMITH’ that can short circuit the process.

      Edited at 2020-11-17 08:53 am (UTC)

      1. Well I think you’ve answered your own question then! If some people use the blog for hints, then better not have answers in the preamble.
  7. Lots going on here today so we thought we’d do the QC straight after breakfast (instead of lunch). We had raced through the puzzle when, to our great surprise, the builder arrived 1.5 hours early (that must be an all time first) and just before we finished the puzzle. So, we have no idea of our time but it took us probably as long to work out 1D as it did to complete the rest of the grid. Thanks Hurley – we enjoyed it.

    FOI: umpires
    LOI: gunsmith
    COD: army (made us laugh)

    Thanks to Chris for the blog. We never look at the blog until we’ve finished the puzzle so we’re happy with either format. We just really appreciate the efforts of the bloggers – you’ve all really helped us raise our game. Thank you.

  8. Most of this was relatively straightforward but I was held up at the end by the excellent GUNSMITH and LOI SPREAD, where I wanted there to be a double P in it. I have seen the SP abbreviation before so should probably have picked up on it more quickly. It also too me time to work out the definition of GRAPHITE as I initially assumed that Greek would be the GR bit of the answer. Finished in 9.12

    Thanks Chris and in answer to your question I prefer for there not to be answers in the blog intros. When I was starting out on QCs if I got completely stuck I’d sometimes read the intro to get a sense of the blogger’s view of the puzzle i.e did (s)he also think that a particular clue was difficult, but I wouldn’t want to see the answers. (Hope that makes sense)

  9. My personal view is that it’s not really the business of our blog to provide hints on clues whilst not revealing the answers or at least hiding them from view. It has always been understood that the blog is intended for those who have either completed a puzzle or have reached a point where they have given up and want to know the answers and how the clues work. They can then apply any knowledge gained to clues in future puzzles.

    The exception to this being in the title line of the blog which can be read by anyone coming to TfTT perhaps wishing to know about a different puzzle so that they don’t see answers unintentionally. The use of ‘Read more..’ is another concession in that direction.

    I appreciate a lot of hard work goes into it but I’m afraid I find the DT blog unreadable, possibly because as a seasoned solver I haven’t got the patience to wade through hints and click on lots of ‘reveals’.

    Edited at 2020-11-17 10:04 am (UTC)

    1. That’s exactly how I use the blog. Only visit after a solve or when I have decided to post a DNF (30 mins my limit) — then after seeing missed clues, face-palming inevitably ensues.

    2. Wholeheartedly agree. I visit the blog for explanation and entertaining comments after completing or grinding to a stop. There are other online sources of inspiration for a single clue if so desired, but I generally prefer to just leave a blank and accept that the setter has got the better of me.
      I take no challenge in a faster solve except as a probable indicator of an easier puzzle with some element of improving skill. The satisfaction experienced is derived from involvement in the process, not the speed to completion.
      Today was a straightforward solve, COD GUNSMITH which came straight away. I enjoyed ARMY, sad but true. Thanks one and all.
      1. I agree as well.

        The blog comes after I’ve done my best without it.

        I enjoyed ARMY and OCTOPUS and biffed GUNSMITH without parsing it- which is where the blog comes in – for which many thanks.

        Diana

  10. 12 minutes for me this morning, so low to middling difficulty. ARMY made me smile, and GUNSMITH caused some thought, and I didn’t see the reversed SNUG until after the answer came to me, solving it from MITH and the definition.

    My view, for what it is worth, is that it is perfectly OK in the intro to refer to clues by their number – it is a short scroll down to read further if one wants to, but in comments I prefer to see the references being the answers. I find it a touch annoying when a commenter says, for example, ‘my COD is 7d and LOI was 10a’, and I then have to scroll up to the top to see what answers he was referring to. Like Cedric above, I never use the blog to get hints. If I am really stuck then I may resort to aids, but only after looking at both ends of the clue for the definition, and really doing my best to solve it. I rarely have to use aids, and only ever look at the blog when I have exhausted every opportunity to solve the clue. If one remains stubbornly opaque, then I will come here to report a DNF, but usually after looking for a theme or NINA first. Most annoying for me is when the blogger or commentator finds a theme that I have missed – it hurts my pride!

  11. Unlike others, I found the NW impenetrable at first so my slow start was a bit dispiriting. Having wasted too much time, I started quite smoothly from the bottom and finished off in the North with GUNSMITH (I got MIT, of course, but wanted to put it earlier in my answer until more checkers emerged), ESTATE, PROMPT, ABDOMEN, and SPREAD (my LOI). Time showed over 18.28. Just not in the mood, perhaps. Maybe I’ll try approaching the QC later in the day in future. As Chris says, the grid format didn’t help at all. Actually, on reflection, there were some good clues today. Thanks to Hurley and Chris. John M.
    Chris, I much prefer your format for the blog. I have only just read rotter’s comments and agree with him, especially about references (from blogger or posters) to COD or LOI etc. by clue number which is so annoying that I rarely follow them up. Life us too short to complete the puzzle and then flick up and down the page interminably. I would never use the blog to get hints – I never even open TfTT on my iPad until I have finished the complete puzzle. I’m quite pleased to say that I have managed to complete every QC since no. 1 even though some of the gaps took me quite some time to fill (as was the case today……).

    Edited at 2020-11-17 09:55 am (UTC)

  12. Good time, (15:18) with a surprising number of minutes burnt on LOI PROMPT. Sometimes clue-blindness takes over, I have all the correct checkers, understand the clue, do an alphabet trawl but still can’t get it. I’m sure other solvers have experienced this.

    When I saw M_R_I_ at 17d I had hoped that my pseudonym might appear.

    COD ARMY: Agree, a Marmite clue.

    1. Yup. Clue-blindness was my affliction today – affecting more than just PROMPT! John

      Edited at 2020-11-17 09:53 am (UTC)

      1. The answer is in the stars, or Wikipedia . I did watch the last Transit on on Nasa TV and found it strangely moving.

        Edited at 2020-11-17 02:14 pm (UTC)

      2. This is a bit of trivia I came up with. Astronomers can predict these transits, and the next one 100 years later was observed. Since they are just about impossible to see with the naked eye, this was the last time Venus slipped across the sun without someone observing it.

    3. PROMPT was my LOI too. Couldn’t get the DD and took several alphabet trawls before the MPT ending gave the game away. So obvious when you know the answer!
  13. I’m happy to have finished under target (9:11) because the downs in the NW corner gave me considerable pause for thought. My last three in were SPREAD, GUNSMITH and finally ARMY. Like our blogger I DNK that SP is an abbreviation of special. I had deduced SMITH was the tail end of 1d but GUN took a while and as for ARMY I was trying to parse prey as the answer before restarting an alphabet trawl at A. Other than being stuck in the NW I realized I biffed GRAPHITE thinking GR stood for Greek. Thanks Hurley and Chris.
  14. So nearly a true clean sweep but alas. All the acrosses fell in sequence but then when I turned to the downs it got harder despite having all the checkers. GUNSMITH was a successful wrestle, but SPREAD and MARGIN evaded me and needed second visits (and in the case of SPREAD, much pencil chewing).

    Very good puzzle, tough grid.

    FOI UMPIRES, LOI SPREAD, COD GUNSMITH, time 1.8K for a Decent Day.

    Many thanks Hurley and Chris. I’m agnostic about answers in the preamble: my own habit is never to look at the blog till I’ve finished or given up, so it doesn’t affect me either way. I love the blogs though!

    Templar

  15. ARMY and GUNSMITH took a while but I worked steadily through the puzzle and came in just under my target at 9:47.FOI, HIM, LOI, NOISE. Thanks Hurley and Chris.
  16. LOI by a long way: I did put Gunsmith because it couldn’t be anything else. Having worked out Smith, I struggled to parse Gun (failing to add S) and then I had forgotten that piece could mean weapon.

    FOI Earth. Rest of grid fell in quickly with a lot of guessing before parsing. So I was on the right wavelength for vocab, at least. Army made me smile.

    As for the blog, I like it very much. I don’t read it until I have finished all I can do, which is often most of the puzzle these days (apart from last week) thanks to the bloggers. You are right not to put full answers in the preamble.

  17. Thought I was going to be working now, but apparently I’m not needed until this afternoon so I got to run another five miles (boo) and do this in good time (hooray). Anyway, a very enjoyable puzzle from Hurley I thought, and I chugged along at a good pace for me. Nearly snuck in under 20 but the G and N of GUNSMITH held me up for a couple of minutes and I stopped the watch on 20:16. Still, that allows me to remember Leicester City winning the Premier League, the Brexit vote, Trump getting elected and celebrities dropping like flies. And we thought it was a weird year.
    LOI and COD to GUNSMITH. Thanks Chris and Hurley
  18. I carelessly biffed Nostalgic at 18a and that led to a major delay at the end with LOI GRAPHITE after a correction. But I found the rest of the puzzle quite tricky and not a helpful grid.
    Some good clues. I liked LONDONER and GUNSMITH. Time was 13:50.
    David
  19. I found this a tale of two halves, with the bottom going in incredibly quickly. Overall, it took bang on 20 mins with the main hold ups being oddly 3dn “Army”, 4dn “Estate” and 6dn “Prompt”. The first one definitely left me scratching my head but the other two should have been much more straight forward.

    Lots to like though with 13dn “Londoner”, 1dn “Gunsmith” and 17dn “Margin” being my personal favourites. Thankfully managed to avoid biffing “Omitted” for 24ac.

    FOI – 16ac “Him”
    LOI – 3dn “Army”
    COD – 3dn “Army” – had to be!

    Thanks as usual.

  20. Made quite a mess of this. After a remarkable (for me) start, with all the across clues (bar Nostalgia and Sirloin) going in on the first pass, I really thought I could be on for a PB. At which point I made the fatal mistake of looking at the clock before I started the downs. CoD Gunsmith and Spread promptly evaded me, confidence flew out the window, and thereafter I was reduced to hopping around the grid to try and fill in the gaps. Having by now blown the PB, I tried to get a sub-20 consolation prize, but foolishly persisted far too long with looking for *igh words for 1d and *pp* ones for 2d, which meant even that was not to be. Limped over the line, suitably crestfallen, after 21mins. Invariant

    On edit: I really can’t recommend today’s 15×15 (aka I didn’t finish), but if you have a few minutes to spare have a go at 28ac – a brilliant clue.

    Edited at 2020-11-17 10:22 pm (UTC)

  21. Finished successfully, and checked before submission. I think I’d have been 30-40 seconds quicker on paper though.

    FOI UMPIRES
    LOI THIN
    COD GUNSMITH
    TIME 4:20

  22. Nice one. A personal best for me at 8:53. Most just fell into place, even the splendid GUNSMITH, but with a bit of a struggle at the end to get both SPREAD and PROMPT – kap
  24. at 5:58, so neither easy, nor hard.

    I liked GUNSMITH! V neat clue.

    Last couple in were SPREAD and PROMPT – unhelpful grid I thought.

  25. …on the across clues but I was then foxed by GUNSMITH, SPREAD and GRAPHITE which all went in unparsed and forced me over my target of 15 minutes by a few seconds.
    I enjoyed SIRLOIN, PROMPT and MARGIN – and, as ARMY made me laugh so much, it has to be my COD (I love Marmite too!)
    Thanks to Hurley for a great puzzle and to Chris for the helpful blog. I really don’t mind if answers are mentioned at the top of the blog as I never come here until I’ve finished. Like others, I’m just grateful that the bloggers give up their time to make the puzzles so much more enjoyable. Thanks to you all.
  26. We also found the top half more problematic, particularly 1and 2d. Enjoyable puzzle, thanks Hurley and for the blog.
  27. I started doing the Times Quick Cryptic right from the beginning. To start with I was lucky to complete three or more clues and even after all this time I have only completed three whole grids. This site and the great works by all the bloggers has helped me and judging from the comments above many others who, like me, resort to the blog having finally admitted defeat.
    I say defeat but it never really feels like that as today, where I was five clues short, I was delighted at not only getting some correct but thanks to this blog understanding the word play and the parsing.
    Also it’s great to read the comment from other newbies like myself, a shared struggle that may yet see me solving the 15×15 before the next American election, assuming this one is over by then!

    Chris

    PS Anyone who knows how to get the blog work on an iPhone please post

    1. Good luck with your endeavours! I use safari on iPad and iPhone – no problems with either.
    2. Enjoyment is much more important than time – more power to your elbow.
      1. I absolutely agree. There does come a stage, though, when you know you’re going to enjoy anyway and the time adds an extra frisson.
    3. Hi, at the beginning I just googled “Times for the Times” and it always loads at the current day. After a while an icon appeared on my regulars page. You can sign in somewhere at the top. I’m not aware of an App..
      Good luck!

  28. Safari is fine it’s the app that doesn’t work 🙁 but it’s a mild inconvenience

  29. My target is 20 minutes, I’m still very much learning. But this was my first sub 12 minute solve. Must have been an easy one today!

    Edited at 2020-11-17 07:20 pm (UTC)

  31. liked GUNSMITH & ARMY
    vis a vis the discussion above, I do also like the DT (Big Dave) site, as one can see the hint without also seeing the answer-checkers thus gained help to solve other clues.

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