Times Quick Cryptic by 1740 by Oink

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Solving time: 6 minutes. At the moment I seem to be regularly out of step with other opinions about the difficulty of puzzles, but dare I suggest this is all reasonably straightforward? 6 minutes is my fastest regular time, achieved so far on 36 puzzles or 2% of the total 1741. My times always include parsing so I feel I am unlikely to beat the 5 minute barrier very often and so far that measure of my success stands at only 4 puzzles or 0.23%.

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 Some feared capricious military cop (6)
REDCAP : Hidden in [some] {fea}RED CAP{ricious}
4 Records entitlements of the Speaker (6)
WRITES : Sounds like [of the Speaker] “rights” (entitlements)
8 Bet    your eyelashes can do this! (7)
FLUTTER : Double defintion. I wonder if they have a flutter on the horses across the pond?
10 Have fun in small place like Dover? (5)
SPORT : S (small), PORT (place like Dover)
11 Doctor loves crack (5)
SOLVE : Anagram [doctor] of LOVES
12 Friend in Paris, clever and cheerful (7)
AMIABLE : AMI (friend, in Paris), ABLE (clever)
13 Reader put off leaving (9)
DEPARTURE : Anagram [off] of READER PUT
17 A group working in desert (7)
ABANDON : A, BAND (group), ON (working)
19 Eliminate king in peace (5)
ERASE : R (king) contained by [in] EASE (peace). One’s mind can be at ‘ease / peace’ although mine seldom is these days.
20 Reportedly the most important US state (5)
MAINE : Sounds like [reportedly] “main” (the most important)
21 Festival given name from China? (7)
EASTERN : EASTER (festival), N (name)
22 Goods in river an annoyance (6)
NIGGLE : G G (goods) contained by [in] NILE (river)
23 Conservative failure is not so far away (6)
CLOSER : C (Conservative), LOSER (failure)
Down
1 Say no to   waste! (6)
REFUSE : Double definition
2 Handing cards out twice? That’s cheating (6-7)
DOUBLE-DEALING : A cryptic hint precedes the main definition
3 An idiot in Belgian port (7)
ANTWERP : AN, TWERP (idiot)
5 Dish served in bistro’s tinned! (5)
ROSTI : Hidden [served] in {bist}RO’S TI{nned}
6 Maturer blokes somehow becoming rabble-rousers (13)
TROUBLEMAKERS : Anagram [somehow] of MATURER BLOKES
7 Dolly,  an artist’s model (6)
SITTER : Two meanings, the first, in ball games, a ball that is easily caught or hit
9 Change in bottom line (9)
REARRANGE : REAR (bottom), RANGE (line – of clothes for sale, for example)
14 Help in the kitchen? Cook let us in (7)
UTENSIL : Anagram [cook] of LET US IN
15 Nag mom to make something to eat (6)
GAMMON : Anagram [make] of NAG MOM. Our setter’s customary piggy reference!
16 Small amount earned from singer, I hear (6)
TENNER : Sounds like [I hear] “tenor” (singer). This is twice recently we’ve had ‘tenner’ clued as a small amount. It was a fortune when I were a lad but I suppose it says something about inflation that setters now seems to rate it alongside ‘cent’ and ‘penny’ as an insignificant sum of money.
18 Live with wife in valley (5)
DWELL : W (wife) contained by [in] DELL (valley)

58 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic by 1740 by Oink”

  1. Felt like this should have been faster, but I kept making mistakes. I read the enumeration of 1 Across somehow as (4), so I dismissed REDC and scratched my head and moved on. I’ve been pushing myself to work out anagrams in my head and am happy to report that I was able to do today’s without pen. The puzzle as a whole didn’t feel hard. Answers like DOUBLE-DEALING and chestnuts like REARRANGE helped to split open the grid.

    My Maine — er, main — loss of time was my last in: WRITES. It took an alphabet trawl, I’m afraid. Well, whatever gets you past the post.

    Edited at 2020-11-09 01:39 am (UTC)

  2. Slowed down by LOI SITTER, since I had no idea what ‘dolly’ was doing. I don’t think ‘flutter’ is used in the US, and this also took some time, as I could only think of ‘bat’. I see now that ODE marks it as UK. 6:18.
    1. No surprise there then, eh! Kevin? Also note that there is no election transition period – hereabouts. Once one is voted out, it’s time to beat a hasty exit! Otherwise one is a cad and a bounder (Bertie Wooster).

      Edited at 2020-11-09 12:27 pm (UTC)

  3. SITTER was my LOI since I had no idea about the Dolly thing either. And WRITES took far too long.
  4. Just over 9 minutes. It was more or less a write-in – so how do people get such low times? I can’t imagine doing it any faster! Anyway, it’s good to have a confidence builder like this one. Thanks.
  5. I’m another WRITES casualty. All but two in under 7, which is very, very fast for me but ERASES and WRITES, even with all the checkers, took half as long again to give a finish just under 10 – still fast but a pb was on the cards. I could only see ‘gratis’ or ‘grates’ for WRITES neither of which made any sense and I lost enthusiasm for my alphabet trawl when I got to T – should know better by now. Eight on the first pass of acrosses which is about as good as it gets. Didn’t know ANTWERP was a port – I’ll file that in the same place as the Cinque Ports in my brain – it’s just the site of a reliably huge traffic jam on the way to holidays to me.

    Edited at 2020-11-09 07:54 am (UTC)

  6. Just about within my usual 30 minutes. Didn’t connect dolly but had to be sitter. On reflection, remembered cricketing term dolly and dolly drop. Puzzled over 11A for ages before I solved it. Can’t think why but it’s not unusual for me to miss the starringly obvious after the fact.
    Good start to the week. Thanks Oink and Jackkt.
  7. Good to be back in the land of finishing, after a poor showing last week with a steady today time of 13:53.

    Nothing too taxing, and also had LOI of WRITES with both A & E providing plausible vowels. I am sure we have had GREAT/GRATE and near misses such as freight, trait, crete, fright kept me in the hunt.

    1A, REDCAP was Penultimate LOI, as I was looking for MP, then an anagram (“capricious”) of “feared” which gave “RED EAF”, which I was close to putting in.

    COD : UTENSIL very nice surface, “Cook, let us in”.

    Has anyone tried the 15×15 today, and if so, how does it rate (I think they are easier on Monday, and my only solves have occurred on Mondays)

    1. I did the 15 x 15, but it took me just short of an hour, so I’d say quite tricky – my usual time is around 40 minutes
  8. Quickish for me at 8:17 after a disappointing start on the across clues, but everything else seemed to just fall into place. Nothing much to say about any of the clues
  9. A gentle start to the week with my only slight pause being the SITTER/WRITES combo. For some reason I couldn’t get Dolly the sheep out of my head which didn’t help. Finished in 6.29. FOI RECDAP and LOI WRITES.
    Thanks to Jack
  10. I enjoyed this, finished in under 20 minutes, a very good time for me.

    I didn’t understand DOLLY and biffed it but hopefully I’ll remember it in future.

    Thank you Oink and Jack for a satisfying start to the week.

    Diana

  11. Another puzzle that I thought I had completed unusually quickly but which actually took 15 mins. I must have been totally absorbed. Yes, LOI WRITES caught me out as well and I wasted time when I stupidly looked at the first and third letters of 17a and biffed Atacama for desert. I soon saw my error but then wasted time with a blind spot wanting to write amicable instead of AMIABLE – why? A good puzzle with some well-hidden bear (or maybe boar) traps. Many thanks to Oink and Jackkt. John M.

    Edited at 2020-11-09 09:46 am (UTC)

  12. Very quick for me too thanks Oink and Jackkt. Actually you are right to question tenner in my opinion. If like me you have a few bob, a tenner here and there is a small amount. But even in 2020 you won’t have to go far to find people who think its a fortune – ask the people queueing at the foodbank!
  13. A very nice puzzle from Oink; not his most taxing.
    My FOI was AMIABLE and last two were WRITES and SITTER.
    I’ll give COD to Troublemakers; such a long anagram, well clued and I had to write it all out.
    Time 09:10.
    David
  14. REDCAP was my FOI. I’m another who didn’t get the dolly reference and just biffed it. WRITES was also my LOI. 6:34. Thanks Oink and Jack.
  15. I’d say it’s definitely worth having a go at the 15×15 and seeing how you get on. Perhaps try hopping around the grid looking for some easy ones to get a foothold rather than getting bogged down on anything early on. There are some long answers that may jump out at you, but if they don’t, set them aside until you have some checkers.
  16. Fun puzzle with lots of super-slick surfaces. Oink really is a great addition to the stable of QC setters. (Can you have a pig in a stable?) Nice GAMMON too!

    I was another person who had to trawl for WRITES; otherwise pretty quick but none the worse for it, lots of amusement on the way.

    FOI REDCAP, LOI WRITES, COD SOLVE (that is just a brilliant surface, take a bow), time 1.2K for an Excellent Day.

    Many thanks Oink and Jack.

    Templar

    1. To comment at the end, or to reply to someone who cares about the level of K? That is the question.
      I realise I risk showing off but it’s not every day that I get 5:01 and over a minute off a K. Parsed as well as it all just fell into place. I didn’t solve from top to bottom but used the checkers from the long downs and filled back in to the middle. A WONDERFUL DAY!
      1. Kongratulations, Fellow K-Klubber!!

        What a kronological koup. Kudos.

  17. 11 minutes here, with LOI WRITES, FOI REDCAP and COD SOLVE. I was looking for Oink’s trademark reference from the second answer I entered, but it took a while to get around to GAMMON. Thanks Oink and Jackkt.
  18. … which took me 8 minutes, definitely faster than usual. Only hold-up was 14D Utensil, where I had a mental block and was trying to fit US into a 5 letter word for Cook (the person). Quickly realised it couldn’t be done but then could not refocus on the clearly sign-posted anagram for ages!

    A tenner as a small amount? I always think of words like fiver and tenner as referring to the physical notes (bills), and when the £10 note was reintroduced in 1964 it was, I see from the internet, worth around £175 in today’s money. Certainly not small change then! But even today I would certainly pick one up if I saw it lying in the street, and as GCook says, for many people, even in the wealthy West, it still represents a considerable sum.

    Home-cured some gammon over the weekend – no I did not have prior notice of Oink’s puzzle, but it made breakfast today (gammon and eggs) a most appropriate accompaniment to it, and my COD therefore has to be 15D!

    Many thanks to Jack for the blog
    Cedric

    1. Certainly not small change then! But even today I would certainly pick one up if I saw it lying in the street, and as GCook says, for many people, even in the wealthy West, it still represents a considerable sum.

      Over an hour’s wages for many people …

      H

  19. Didn’t time myself but it seemed much easier than last weeks’.
    Only hesitated over LOI the very easy Solve. Was wondering at first where a doctor fitted in, then realised it was an anagrist. Was OK with Writes though.
    I did vaguely remember the term dolly drop for an easy catch.
    Amused by the anagram Maturer Blokes = Troublemakers.
    I guess a tenner would be a small amount for a singer to earn!

    Thanks all, as ever. Tasty Gammon.

  20. I started well and was expecting to come to a halt somewhere but, other than having to leave ABANDON (so to speak) until I had some checkers in place, it was a top to bottom solve.
    ANTWERP and TENNER made me smile and TROUBLEMAKERS is such a wonderful anagram it has to be my COD.
    Thanks to Oink for enabling an 8.5 minute finish and also to Jackkt for the blog which I just needed to check the Sitter/Dolly meaning.
  21. I was going well on this and arrived at one to go (7d) with about 14 minutes on the clock and was hoping for a second ever sub-15 solve. Unfortunately I had biffed ORATOR for 4a, which seemed to fit with having RA for “artist” in 7d, but after a long time trying to work out a four letter word for model to fit T_E_, I realised I might be barking up the wrong tree. As an S at the top of 7d seemed likely, I did think of SITTER. I wasn’t convinced it went with “Dolly”, but in the back of my mind I could somehow hear a cricket commentator using the word. The best I could come up with for 4a was PRATES though. I knew it was probably wrong but I’d spent long enough on it and stopped my watch on 33 minutes. Not often I don’t finish an Oink puzzle, but maybe I’ll have better luck with the 15×15 later. Thanks Jack and Oink.
  22. Lovely start to the week. Great clues, no disasters and the second 10 minute puzzle for me in a month. Like others, I too stumbled over WRITES, wondering for longer than was sensible whether it could possibly be ORATES, with ‘rates’ as some kind of stretched and hopeless definition of “records ” / “entitlements ” / “speaker “…. Uh, no. Very much liked SOLVE and ABANDON. I’ve only ever heard of “dolly “, 7 down, as a girl’s name, a cloned sheep, a toy, part of an electrical switch, or as the wooden agitator in a washing tub. But SITTER had to be the answer so it wasn’t a hold-up. Thanks, Jackkt, for the blog and thanks too to Oink for a great puzzle.
    1. part of an electrical switch

      New one on me!

      I do know it as a wheeled trolley, the sort of thing they used to push TV cameras around on. Maybe they still do?

      Congrats on the sub-10. Now for sub-9 :))

      H

      1. I only know it because, when we had our Edwardian house extended, our friendly electrician asked if we wanted dolly switches or not. They’re the old-fashioned kind with a sort of knob-ended pin that you flick up or down.

        Ah…is it a “dolly-trolley”?

        Thanks so much for your congratulations. It’s taken me three years to get to sub-ten. It might take just as long to discover if I’ve peaked!!

  23. 16mins for everything apart from 4ac. I agonised over, but resisted, an Orates biff, as I couldn’t match O/record, but it took a long alphabet trawl – did anyone else hear ‘alphabetisation’ used on CNN at the weekend? – before I was able to stop the clock just inside 20mins with Writes. Chestnut or not, CoD to 9d, Rearrange. Invariant
  24. Took me longer than it should have at 29 mins. Like most I was held up by the WRITES/SITTER crossing and also to a lesser extent by EASTERN/TENNER (took a while to parse EASTERN and I have the same reservations as others about a TENNER being described as a small amount). An enjoyable puzzle though, so thanks to Oink and to Jackkt for the blog.

    FOI – 1ac REDCAP
    LOI – 4ac WRITES
    COD – 1dn REFUSE

  25. What a great day. I solved this puzzle in a smidgen less than 6 minutes so recorded a sub Kevin. My only question mark was with my POI SITTER. My LOI was WRITES. The good news doesn’t stop there as I have also found out the I have joined Phil as a winner of the Sunday Times clue writing contest. I started having a go at clue writing during the first lockdown and have to confess I think it has helped my QC solving abilities.

    Edited at 2020-11-09 12:01 pm (UTC)

    1. Fantastic: can you share your clue here, and give the answer tomorrow. No spoilers please, fellow bloggers

    2. Well done indeed ! I saw the clue on the Club site earlier, but didn’t realise it was yours. I’m not going well on those at the moment, and I’m having trouble coming up with anything credible for this week’s “bonsai” challenge.
      1. I agree re bonsai. Might have to skip a week! Sometimes I even have to look up the word I’m suppose to be cluing e.g. ‘Anticline’.
  26. I must be an exception as I found this tricker than usual from Oink and it took me 35 mins to complete. Main hesitations were 11ac “Solve”, 4ac “Writes” and 7dn “Sitter” which probably took half of my time and even then I wasn’t sure if it was right. As above, I also couldn’t get the sheep out of my head and then swapped between a child’s toy, camera rig and an old washing implement.

    Personally, I think a “tenner” is quite a lot of money. Whether it’s linked to the singers earnings or not, I’ve filed it away in my mental “I’m not sure about that” list of dubious/inappropriate crossword clues.

    FOI – 1dn “Refuse”
    LOI – 7dn “Sitter”
    COD – 9dn “Rearrange”

    Thanks as usual.

  27. eight and half mins.

    FOI 1ac REDCAP (used to seem them aplenty on a Friday night at Platform 10 – King’s Cross Station.)

    LOI 4ac WRITES

    COD 7dn SITTER

    WOD 8ac FLUTTER – CRS ‘Avin’ a flutter, Dolly?’

    1dn + 12ac + 13ac = REFUSE AMIABLE DEPARTURE – an unwitting NINA!

    Edited at 2020-11-09 12:46 pm (UTC)

  29. A third of my time on this was spent breaking down the anagrist for TROUBLEMAKER, and it shouldn’t have been necessary. I’ve given myself a good talking to.

    FOI REDCAP
    LOI WRITES
    COD ABANDON
    TIME 4:36

  30. Really enjoyed Oink’s QC which we completed in a satisfying 7 minutes (I think that equals our PB). Lots of write ins and some fun clues too.

    FOI: redcap
    LOI: writes
    COD: double dealing

    Thanks to Jackkt for the blog.

  31. Really enjoyed Oink’s QC which we completed in a satisfying 7 minutes (I think that equals our PB). Lots of write ins and some fun clues too.

    FOI: redcap
    LOI: writes
    COD: double dealing

    Thanks to Jackkt for the blog.

  32. Played with Rights and Rites but forgot about Writes. Note to self- don’t forget silent Ws and Ks.
    Dolly and sitter usually associated with failure. In England Dolly invariably cricket but Sitter many sports. 25 today bar 4ac. Johnny
  33. 5:42 for me. Didn’t notice the setter until I popped GAMMON in and then I checked and smiled 🙂

    LOI WRITES
    COD TROUBLEMAKERS

    H

  34. so close to a sub-phil.

    4:47, with a few extra seconds for WRITES.

    I love a gammon at Christmas, with red cabbage.

  35. After a 14:35 solve of the weekend QC (lovely puzzle, greatly appreciated – thank you, Phil) and a 10:40 solve today, I am feeling much better. I didn’t manage one under my target 20 minutes last week. Having said that, I do enjoy being stretched some of the time but I was beginning to get a bit despondent! Thanks to Oink for a gentle start to the week and to Jackkt for the blog. MM
    FOI: 8a
    LOI: 4a
    COD: 11a ‘Doctor loves crack’ conjures up an interesting image!!

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