Times Quick Cryptic 1926 by Oink

Author   chrisw91Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic

8 minutes for this fun puzzle. I didn’t get 1ac at first and ended up working clockwise from NE round to SW. Nothing too hard in my opinion, entertaining cluing – a good QC which also has two of our setter’s trademarks.

Definitions are underlined.

Across
1 Policemen’s ball? You might be arrested there (3,4)
COP SHOP – policemen’s ball (COP’S HOP).
5 Position of faculty announced (4)
SITE – homophone of sight.
7 Old writer on about Sir Len Hutton? (6)
OPENER – old (O), writer (PEN), on – re – about (ER). He was an English cricketer who played as an opening batsman for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1934 to 1955 and for England in 79 Test matches between 1937 and 1955. Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack described him as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket.
8 Some Mexican aperitifs and a bite to eat? (6)
CANAPE – some of Mexi(CAN APE)ritifs.
9 Picnic, and what you might eat on it? (5,2,4)
PIECE OF CAKE – a tasty double definition.
10 Give first of benzedrine tablets to wife (6)
BESTOW – (B)enzedrine, tablets (ES), to (TO), wife (W). Bend and bow were in mind for ‘give’ until it turned out to be the definition.
12 Wail about that woman making fruit (6)
CHERRY – wail (CRY) about that woman (HER).
14 Support rebellious modern teens (11)
ENDORSEMENT – anagram (rebellious) of MODERN TEENS.
17 Idiot in school becoming a pain (6)
STITCH – idiot (TIT – it’s in Collins) inside school (SCH).
18 Threatening words occasionally worried London Stock Exchange (2,4)
OR ELSE – occasional letters from w(O)r(R)i(E)d, London Stock Exchange (LSE). I liked this one – seems an unusual sort of clue.
20 Raised money, they say (4)
BRED – homophone of bread.
21 Good getting young ones to shine (7)
GLITTER – good (G), young ones in the porcine World (LITTER) – thanks Oink.
Down
1 Curb champ from time to time (3)
CAP – some letters of (from time to time) of (C)h(A)m(P).
2 Powerful pressure on a French chap of good standing? (7)
PUNGENT – pressure (P) on ‘a’ in French (UN), chap of good standing (GENT).
3 Animal with a sore throat, by the sound of it (5)
HORSE – homophone of hoarse.
4 Peaceful surroundings of Tahiti? (7)
PACIFIC – double definition.
5 Worker in Salvation Army who brings you presents? (5)
SANTA – worker (ANT) inside Salvation Army (SA).
6 Street cop being beaten up is confidential (3,6)
TOP SECRET – anagram (being beaten up) of STREET COP.
9 Ridiculously stern peer who introduces radio show? (9)
PRESENTER – ANAGRAM (ridiculously) of STERN PEER.
11 Creature on the Serengeti developing a growth (7)
WARTHOG – anagram (developing) of A GROWTH. Oink!
13 Mountain most demanding in leader’s absence (7)
EVEREST – most demanding s(EVEREST) without the leading letter.
15 Old-fashioned saw (5)
DATED – double definition. Held me up at the end until that meaning of ‘saw’ dawned. COD
16 Smiley face perhaps in demo, jittery? (5)
EMOJI – inside d(EMO JI)ttery.
19 Danger briefly upset teacher (3)
SIR – danger (RIS)k breiefly (without the last letter) and upset (upwards/backwards).

55 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1926 by Oink”

  1. Just under 6 minutes for me, which is about as fast as I get on the Quickie. I didn’t know who Sir Len Hutton was, but it turned out that didn’t matter.
  2. Like Paul, I DNK Hutton. Biffed COP SHOP. PUNGENT took unduly long for some reason. LITTER is not particular to swine–dogs and cats have litters, for instance–so I’d say we just have the one piggy clue from Oink. 4:59.
  3. All done in 9m, less than half yesterday’s time. Enjoyed the range of references from Hutton to Es and EMOJI. I was so busy wondering if they lived on the Serengeti I missed WARTHOG as Oink’s trademark reference — I wasn’t sure I approved of what I’d thought it might be. Enjoyed STITCH although it had me spluttering into my coffee. Held up by PIECE OF CAKE because the leap from ‘it’s no picnic’ to ‘easy peasy’ took a while — which is probably why I’m not faster at these after all these years! LOI PUNGENT where I was misdirected totally — big groan when I saw how the clue should have been read. Good one!
  5. A swift solve today, with the only brief delays caused by assuming that the first word of 18a was going to be ON and working out the parsing of BESTOW. Other than that a top to bottom solve, but no less enjoyable for it. Finished in 5.58 with LOI BESTOW and my favourite being STITCH.
    Thanks to Chris and Oink
  6. Enjoyed this puzzle and did biff 10 across eventually and finished in 17.03, but have no idea how you get ES from tablets ?
    1. In the Chambers Crossword Dictionary “E” is under tablet. I guess tablets would be Es.

      However, I myself am puzzled as to the E meaning tablet. Perhaps it’s a Latin medical abbreviation used by doctors.

    2. Ecstasy is a popular recreational drug which usually comes in tablet form and is abbreviated to E
      1. Of course!! How did I, as an ex-military policeman, not get that one? D’oh!

        PS: For those thinking, “Hey, PW, didn’t you say you were a medic in the Navy?” The answer is yes. When I joined the RN in 1992 you could not join as a Navy Policeman, you had to join as another trade, and then after a few years you could apply to transfer to the “Dark Side”. I joined as a medic, did that for 11 years, then transferred to the RNP in 2003. When I left in 2017, the Navy was introducing direct entry police.

        Edited at 2021-07-27 08:10 am (UTC)

      2. As popularised by The Shamen and their song Ebeneezer Goode (and pretty much any other dance tune from the late 80’s and early 90’s)
      3. Ah , yes, for some reason I could not see it, but now I could kick myself. Thanks
  7. FOI: 3d. HORSE
    LOI: 20a. BRED
    Time to Complete: 43 minutes
    Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 22
    Clues Answered with Aids: 2
    Clues Unanswered: Nil
    Wrong Answers: Nil
    Total Correctly Answered (incl. aids): 24/24
    Aids Used: Chambers

    Another slow starter for me. Initially I thought to myself “This is a QC?” It just seemed too hard to me. But perseverance ended up being my friend, and I came to the conclusion that it was not actually as hard as I initially made out.

    17a. STITCH – This was one of my earlier answers, but I was hesitant to enter it. Surely TIT
    wouldn’t be part of the clue in a paper as gentlemanly as The Times? Turns out I was right. Well, in all my born days!

    I did need help with two of the clues (7a and 9a). I had never heard of Sir Les Hutton, and even then, it did not immediately help me. Then I saw OPENER and remembered that it is a cricketing term.

    A completion in a 7 minutes under my average, so I am happy.

  8. I found the acrosses very resistant today and was anticipating a slow time, but then the downs fell in a flash and the mopping up wasn’t too bad.

    As someone married to a hobby dog breeder, I can confirm that Kevin is definitely right to say that litters are not confined to pigs!

    TIT for “idiot” may be in Collins, but then there are probably lots of words in Collins which would be mildly surprising to see in the Times crossword (as opposed to Private Eye’s).

    FOI COP SHOP, LOI STITCH, COD PUNGENT, time 07:02 for 1.4K and a Very Good Day.

    Many thanks Oink and Chris.

    Templar

    1. I’ve just been filling a grid for a future Weekend QC, and had to resist entering LEG OVER (annoyingly, I’d thought up a really decent clue for it !)
      1. Does your ‘leg over’ clue make reference to Jonathon Agnew’s famous remark to Brian Johnston when Ian Botham didn’t quite avoid knocking off a bail against the West Indies, back in 1991?
        1. I daren’t post it on here — it was definitely only suitable for “Private Eye” !
  9. Finally managed a sub-20, though the Dated/Bred intersection did their best as a rearguard. Bestow initially looked wrong but separating Es and To gave the right answer. Cop Shop was another that was easy to guess but then tricky to parse. Not sure I’ve come across Pacific in the peaceful sense, but it just had to be. Invariant
      1. Yes, Pacific is in all the usual sources, but I can’t recall ever seeing it used that way. Must get out more.
  10. Enjoyed this one.
    Liked COP SHOP, OR ELSE, BRED and many others.
    I am old enough to remember Len Hutton – my father followed cricket – but there cd have been a more modern opener??
    Thanks all, esp Chris.
    1. The choice is restricted by the Times convention that people have to be dead (except for Her Maj). So it couldn’t have been Gooch, Boycott, Atherton, Strauss or Cook. Sadly it could now include Edrich, but then he’s not as well known as Hutton and some people might have missed his relatively recent death.
  11. A gift from the porcine one. Thanks, Oink. Nice puzzle and, for me, unusual in that I filled in the top half without a gap. I was 4 mins under target (just under 11 mins) which makes a change after the last week or two. I liked STITCH, OR ELSE, WARTHOG, EVEREST, SIR, DATED, and my LOI 14a clicked quickly when I had the crossers!
    Dare I point out that Chris has included the odd typo (at the moment)? Tanks for a crips bog, Chris. John M.

    Edited at 2021-07-27 08:30 am (UTC)

    1. No need to dare – you are encouraged! Thanks – I spotted 4. I’ll have to have words with my co-writer the spell checker who appears to have been AWOL.
  12. FOI COP SHOP and LOI BRED. A fairly straight forward solve. I guessed Hutton was a cricketer, I didn’t properly parse BESTOW and had to resist the urge to biff EVEREST from just reading ‘Mountain’. The ENDORSEMENT anagram took longer to work out than it should have but I’m more than happy with my solving time of 7:09.
  13. Inside 10 minutes today, despite being distracted by the Olympics on at the same time, so an easy puzzle on the Rotterometer. I liked STITCH, LOI was BRED, otherwise no problems. Thanks both.
  14. This was my best time for an Oink at 06:28.
    FOI SITE after a brief delay getting started. Then swiftly to LOI PUNGENT.
    A very good QC I thought with Oink’s usual sense of humour.
    COD to PIECE OF CAKE.
    David
  15. 12:02 with at least a minute for FOI CANAPÉ. Things moved on nicely from there. Lots of classy clues, PIECE OF CAKE in particular.

    But saw=dated was very clever, so COD for that.

    LOI OPENER

  16. Steady solve until the last three: PUNGENT, BRED and DATED took a while for the penny to drop.
    Yes, GOOCH or ATHERTON (The Times’ own excellent cricket correspondent) maybe for (ahem) younger solvers.
    BW
    Andrew
    1. Sorry, forgot to log on for my comment there.
      Helpful blog as always
      A
    2. See above – they’re still alive and therefore excluded by Times convention.
  17. What others have said

    Neat tidy puzzle from Oink as always

    Liked lots of the clues, SANTA and DATED amongst others

    Thanks Oink and Chris

  18. A friendly puzzle from Oink …
    … which I much enjoyed and finished in just under 7 minutes — very fast for me. Doubly surprised at the time as it comes after a very broken night: great celebrations last night as we were with my daughter who has just got engaged — cue much champagne — and then a storm at 3.00 a.m. which was noisy enough to wake the dead not just the seriously hung over.

    All parsed except 18A Or else, where I failed to make the connection London Stock Exchange = LSE. Doh!, but in my defence LSE only ever means my alma mater the London School of Economics.

    Many thanks to Chris for the blog, and time for a restorative coffee — black and strong I think.
    Cedric

  19. 14 minutes, so on the quick side ( for me); very straightforward until I got to the last few at the bottom of the puzzle which took nore thought. Thanks.
  20. 16 minutes for a fun puzzle from Oink.

    Didn’t recognise Sir Len at first, but should have and also didn’t know “pacific” was a definition of peaceful. For quite a while had 9ac as a “plate of cake” until I slapped myself a few times and realised I was being a bit of a 17ac.

    14ac “Endorsement” took an age to fathom.

    FOI — 1dn “Cap”
    LOI — 7ac “Opener”
    COD — 5ac “Santa” (less than 5 months until he visits us once again)

    Thanks as usual!

    Edited at 2021-07-27 10:53 am (UTC)

    1. Thank goodness, I was beginning to think it was just me (pacific)
      1. Guessed it had something to do with “pacify” — but a lot of time was spent trying somehow to fit the edges of Tahiti into the answer.
  21. 28 minutes, which is a good time for me. However, I could have achieved a very rare sub-20 had I thought of GLITTER before ‘glister’ and ‘glinter’, both of which I knew were wrong, but couldn’t get out of my head.

    My FOI was CANAPE and much of the RHS followed quickly thereafter. COP SHOP wouldn’t come until I got CAP, and OPENER required all of the chequers. Otherwise, it was a relatively smooth and enjoyable solve – until GLITTER, that is.

    Mrs Random is now tackling one of her outstanding QCs from last week, but she appeared to complete today’s Oink in around 15-20 minutes. I won’t try to find out her precise time, for fear of disturbing her concentration and the possibility of me getting my head bitten off.

    Many thanks to Oink (I registered WARTHOG as I solved it) and chrisw91.

  22. I didn’t surface until midday today after a night spent in A&E following a mishap with some wasp killing powder, which backfired into my face as I tried to direct it into the nest under the front door. Fortunately my mask and gloves took the brunt of the cloud, but I was left with an unpleasant taste in my mouth and immediately showered, cleaned my teeth and hot footed it to the local hospital with a print out of the Data Sheet for the active ingredient, Azamethiphos. Fortunately there’s no harm done, but it was 6am before I got home to bed. Surprisingly my brain seemed lucid enough as I tackled this puzzle, with COP SHOP in straight away and the rest following with expedition. I hit submit after LOI, SIR at 4:35. A PB, and my first under 5 minutes for the QC. Thanks Oink and Chris.
      1. An unpleasant experience John. I must try to fit AZAMETHIPOS into a future weekender — not !
  23. No — you need to get out less, and stay in and research more !
  24. ….a 30 second hold-up. I knew what my LOI was almost certainly going to be, but only parsed it afterwards. OR ELSE was the really tricky beggar !

    FOI SITE
    LOI SIR
    COD PIECE OF CAKE
    TIME 4:01

  25. Full concentration and shut door etc.
    I was worried that Opener and Cap would do for me (LOI s) and before that SW corner, but all was well after Piece of Cake dropped in.

    Delighted to see Glitter quickly and then be spoilt with Warthog….

    Count me as another unfamiliar with Pacific equaling Peaceful…. But as I just typed pacific, autotype suggested pacifist!!

    Stitch reminded me to get Private Eye out for a try at the crossword! Very good.

    Thanks all
    John George

  26. Twenty minutes again. Seems to be my regular time taken for QC’s. FOI opener, then they went in all over the place but I seem to be lugubrious, enjoying the process rather than getting on with it. LOI site. Did not parse cop shop or dated, so thanks to Chris both for the entertaining blog and for clarifying these. COD warthog. Thanks to Oink for an enjoyable puzzle. GW.
  27. Nice puzzle, finished in abt 23 min which is good for us. Held up briefly in the se corner. I remember the synonym for idiot being used frequently many years ago, to be avoied today!
  28. We’ve all heard of Babe Ruth but America or Jack don’t do ‘crickit’ so we can’t bang on about
    Hutton, Hammond, Bradman, Trumper, or W.G. Grace for too long!

    The Pacific Ocean means the peaceful sea, Phil is spot on!

    FOI 1ac COP SHOP

    LOI 18ac OR ELSE! What nasty little clue.

    COD 9ac PIECE OF CAKE easy

    WOD 16dn EMOJI

    So we have a Military Policemen on board. I’d better watch my Ps and Ws.

    Time 7:45 mins.

  29. With a target time of 20 minutes, I am absolutely delighted to have achieved a PB of 9:22 and all fully parsed as I went along. (Well almost, I have to admit that I wasn’t sure about the ES = tablets in BESTOW but am forgiving myself for that and understand it now.) It is rare that I can even begin to think of timing myself in Kevins but today I took less than 2K!!! Whoopee!! Thank you once again to ChrisW and all the bloggers and commenters on this site who have helped me learn how to tackle the QCs. MM

    FOI: 1a COP SHOP
    LOI: 20a BRED
    COD: 9a PIECE OF CAKE just because it felt like it was for me today. Thanks Oink!!

    1. Congratulations Anon! Perseverance is everything. So happy you’re enjoying this wonderful pastime. If you register for a free Live journal account we’ll know who you are and you’ll get an email prompt should someone respond to you. Keep going and you’ll be knocking out the 15x15s soon.
      1. Thank you!!

        I’ve been doing these QCs for a while now but rarely make much headway on the 15×15. I think it just intimidates me!
        I have been a lurker here for ages but only occasionally comment because I often come to the QC late or even days later. That’s why I have never registered for a live journal. I always sign MM though!

  30. All done in just over 24 mins today which is pretty good for me. All parsed except for BESTOW, but do now remember ‘Es are good’ which was mentioned above. Have never seen pacific = peaceful and was interested to hear about the peaceful ocean. Thanks so much for the blog Chris and everyone’s comments. Always illuminating. Thanks to Oink. Is there always a piggy reference/answer or just today?
    1. I think Oink omitted in one or two early puzzles but there was adverse comment here so they’ve become pretty much a permanent feature now.

Comments are closed.