Times Quick Cryptic No 1522 by Noel

Author   plusjeremyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Introduction

Hey all. On vacation here, on an unfamiliar laptop, so forgive the terseness and messiness. At the very least, have a look at the answers in the four corners of the grid.

Solutions

Across

1 Trees seen by pressman stuck in traffic? (6)
CEDARS (trees) = ED in CARS

5 Little son, worried and frightened (6)
SCARED (frightened) = S + CARED

8 Sacked from bar finally, I scarpered (6)
RIFLED (sacked) = last letter of BAR + I + FLED

9 Rascal’s given one seafood (6)
SCAMPI (seafood) = SCAMP + I

10 Some area’s education facility (4)
EASE (facility) = hidden in AREA’S EDUCATION

11 Mr Leslie, out of tune, is humming more? (8)
SMELLIER (humming more?) = MR LESLIE anagrammed

13 Doctor instructs dire visiting health worker (8,5)
DISTRICT NURSE (visiting health worker) = anagram INSTRUCTS DIRE

16 US lawman overwhelmed by rage, for example? Possibly (1,4,3)
I DARE SAY (possibly) = DA inside IRE + SAY (for example)

18 Snapper caught row of celebrities, first of all (4)
CROC (snapper) = first letters of CAUGHT ROW OF CELEBRITIES

20 Accept pet auk must be replaced (4,2)
TAKE UP (accept) = PET AUK anagrammed

22 Good work with shed is to come to nothing (2,4)
GO PHUT (come to nothing) = G + OP (work) + HUT

23 Little bag, scarlet, that one can’t touch (6)
SACRED (that one can’t touch) = SAC + RED

24 Rogue concerned with small revolutionary groups (6)
CADRES (revolutionary groups) = CAD + RE (concerned with) + S

Down

2 I have raised volunteers for show (5)
EVITA (show) = I’VE reversed + TA (volunteers)

3 No one can stand being in such a stadium (3-6)
ALL-SEATER = cryptic definition: this is a stadium wherein all patrons have an assigned seat (of course, patrons could stand, but never mind that…)

4 Fizzy drinks help to keep a daughter on the up (5)
SODAS (fizzy drinks) = SOS (help) around A + D (daughter) reversed

5 Dubious sects up for reorganisation (7)
SUSPECT (dubious) = SECTS UP anagrammed

6 Gang mad that odd characters are not in range (3)
AGA ([cooking] range) = GANG MAD without the odd-numbered letters

7 Politician arriving in before soldiers evacuated Victoria?
EMPRESS (Victoria?) = MP in ERE (before) + SOLDIERS without middle letters (evacuated)

12 Platform united in wild handclap (6,3)
LAUNCH PAD (platform) = U (united) in anagram of HANDCLAP

14 State home attended by lady of the hunt? (7)
INDIANA (state) = IN + DIANA (lady of the hunt, from mythology)

15 Tasteless sauce mostly isn’t one for picking up (7)
INSIPID (tasteless) = DIP (sauce) + almost all of ISN’T + I, all reversed

17 Shy about hugging US private into posturing? (5)
YOGIC (into posturing?) = COY reversed, around GI (US private)

19 Old electrical device, valuable (2,3)
OF USE (valuable) = O + FUSE

21 Hesitate on run, and get lost? (3)
ERR (get lost?) = ER (hesitate) + R (run)

33 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1522 by Noel”

  1. 20 mins, same experience as yesterday, got bogged down by 3 clues: cadres, of use, and the unknown go phut.

    COD smellier.

  2. Slowed down a bit by unfamiliarity with 3d, 22ac, and 17d. Biffed 13ac and 12d. Thanks, Jeremy, for pointing out the anagrams in rows 1 and 13; also note columns 1 and 13. 6:46.
  3. Pound for pound I found this harder than today’s 15×15.
    About 15 minutes with 22ac GO PHUT and 1dn OF USE my LOIs.

    FOI 3dn ALL SEATER

    COD 16ac I DARE SAY

    WOD 13ac Nurse Gladys Emmanuel

    Do try today’s Championship 15×15 it’s really rather easy.

    Edited at 2020-01-08 06:17 am (UTC)

  4. 9 minutes for this interesting puzzle. I was alerted to the possibility of a hidden ‘something’ as soon as I saw the name Noel. This setter has given us only 8 puzzles starting on Christmas Day 2014, 5 as Noel and 3 as Alfie, and all of them have been themed or had hidden content.
  5. Had ALL SEATED for 3d which made 16a a challenge, particularly as I didn’t spot Yogic. Couldn’t justify Magic or Logic so eventually settled on Yogic which took me back to Seater. Biffed Insipid and couldn’t parse it. Over an hour in the end, so, a bit grim.
    Thank you Noel and Jeremy
    1. Seated slowed my pace too. Yogic Phut didn’t come to mind and I dare say should have sooner. Around 36
  6. Didn’t like some of the choices of words; phut, yogic, seater. Most of the clues were fine. Took a bit longer than usual. Victoria was Empress of India.
  7. It’s not just the four corner answers (which are all anagrams of each other) – the letters down the outer rows read CREDITS and DIRECTS (also anagrams of each other). Very neat. If only I’d worked it out sooner I might have faster on my LOI, CEDARS.

    I enjoyed that; a little bit quirky but fun to have a change from our staple diet. All done and dusted in 1.4 Kevins for a Very Good Day.

    FOI SCARED, LOI CEDARS, COD I DARE SAY. Thanks Noel and Jeremy.

    Templar

    Edited at 2020-01-08 09:36 am (UTC)

  8. Nothing wrong with all-seater as a description of eg a stadium. If I was going to be pedantic sacred doesn’t always or even usually mean untouchable, and worried is a little misleading for cared, but all in all fair enough for me. Thanks setter and blogger.
  9. I liked this slightly quirky puzzle. Just off-beat enough to cause some head-scratching in parts but accessible. Thanks to Noel. It took me 2.5K but I would have been quicker if my ipad had not frozen towards the end. Last in were 1a & 4d. I enjoyed RIFLED, I DARE SAY, SACRED, CADRES, INSIPID, but YOGIC too aome time. Thanks to Jeremy – a short, focussed blog is very acceptable, eapecially when it highlights multiple anagrams (corners) that I missed! John M.

    Edited at 2020-01-08 09:43 am (UTC)

  10. Was all going in okay within 20 mins – good for me – but held up then gave up on RIFLED.
    Have a good holiday, Jeremy, and thanks to Noel for the enjoyable extras.
    Wasn’t Noel the Xmas puzzle with no L?
    1. Noel was, indeed, responsible for that work of art – the double lipogram with No Ls in neither grid nor clues.
      1. Thanks to you both for highlighting this brilliant Christmas ‘Noel’ idea from Noel.
        I had not been aware of it and was most impressed.
        I will take a closer look at Noel’s puzzles in future. John M.
  11. I was another who had ALL SEATEd which when corrected gave me I DARE SAY and YOGIC (I am a yogi but have never heard of yogic). My LO’sI were OF USE and finally GO PHUT which I had dismissed on first glance. Over 2K (14 mins) on the clock when I submitted and I failed to appreciate the NINA until I came to the blog. Thanks Jeremy and Noel.
  12. Spot on 10 minutes for this very enjoyable puzzle, I was looking for and found the trick.
  13. ….in which, as usual, the NINAS passed me by. I parsed SODAS afterwards. I took twice as long today, almost to the second, as I did on Monday.

    FOI SCARED
    LOI GO PHUT
    COD INSIPID
    TIME 5:58

  14. … It also passed me by completely.

    Something slightly offbeat about this one that I really enjoyed – probably the quirky definitions and un-QC vocabulary.

    My thanks to Noel and Jeremy
    5’45”

  15. An enjoyable puzzle from Noel. I didn’t notice the Nina until Verlaine pointed it out on the Crossword Club Forum, but then I rarely notice these things. CEDARS was my FOI and SACRED was my last. Fortunately a quick proof read revealed that I’d typed SCARED and changed INDIANA to INDIANC before I submitted. Phew! 7:52. Thanks Noel and Jeremy.
  16. Like Jackkt, I was alerted to the possibility of a theme when I saw our setter was Noel. And very neat it is too. I liked GO PHUT, a phrase I remember my father using. Thanks Noel and Jeremy 4:58.
  17. Fully 5 mins for GO PHUT, with several alphabet trawls. No idea why i couldnt think of HUT as a synonym for shed. I never notice NINAs either.

    11:26.

    1. yes, also my LOI and unable to get the word play.

      I DARE SAY – dare I say it, isn’t this more ‘probably’ than ‘possibly’?

  18. An interesting puzzle that took me about an hour. Held up by 22ac “Go Phut” and 17dn “Yogic” as I hadn’t heard of them, although I couldn’t see what else they could be.

    Struggled at first with 10ac “Ease” as a definition for facility – mainly because I was thinking of it as a verb (thus “facilitate”).

    FOI – 2dn “Evita”
    LOI – 17dn “Yogic”
    COD – 11ac “Smellier” (for the good use of humming!)

    Thanks as usual.

  19. Nothing like a deadline to focus the mind! I did this in approx 11 minutes this morning in a tearing hurry before going out for the day, only to discover when I got in that I’d left out 8a! Despite that slip, I didn’t find this too hard.

    As others have said, as soon as I saw the name Noel, I thought we’re in for some fun here, but still never saw the Nina/s!

    A fun puzzle, with some quirky clues and vocab – I haven’t heard ‘go phut’ for decades. Perhaps it’s time to reintroduce it 😊

    FOI Cedars
    LOI (by about 7 hours) Rifled
    COD Smellier – a brilliant clue IMO

    Thanks to Noel for the fun and Jeremy for the blog – neither terse nor messy. Hope you’re having a good break.

  20. Found this tricky – failed on 17d, not picking up coy for shy, so did not get the unknown yogic. Not getting 24a which we should have done did not help. Thanks Noel for the workout.
  21. Solving on paper today after a round of golf. It only started raining as we left the 18th green which has to count as a Very Good Day.
    As for the puzzle, as soon as I saw the name Noel, I thought there may be something hidden. I finished in just under 18 minutes but didn’t spot anything. My last two were RIFLED and EASE which shows I couldn’t even spot an obvious hidden till late in the day.
    An enjoyable and different test. COD to GO PHUT.
    David
  22. Needed a break after the Sudoku this morning, so picked this up relatively late in the day. Noticed it was by Noel, but still didn’t spot the Nina(s), despite having a quick look on completion. FOI was Evita (again), which helped sort out the NW, and it was a fairly steady solve thereafter, with the tricky Yogic/Cadres pair pushing my time out to 27 mins. CoD to 16ac, I Dare Say, just ahead of Go Phut. A nice quirky puzzle. Invariant
  23. An enjoyable solve with a slightly different feel to it. Like others I looked for the Nina but it passed me by as usual. I was slowed down at the end by OF USE and GO PHUT but completed it in a respectable 11.20.
    Thanks for the blog
    1. Well, the new measuring system has me at 1 x P11, more or less! Nothing negative about that 😊
  24. … which seems to be de rigueur these days about every third day!

    A puzzle with a difference, and some very nice clues. I guessed 17 D Yogic; it could only be that from the clue but I did not know the word. Took an age to see 19D as I convinced myself it started On …

    FOI 1A Cedars
    LOI 19D Of use
    Time 12m 45, which I am pleased to see is not quite as slow as I feared.

  25. All seated slowed me down until I saw my error and put in my last two 16a and 17d, so I slipped over my target 20 minutes by 2. Wasn’t feeling too bad until I realised that I had put ATA instead of AGA at 6d. I have no idea why!!! So a DNF for me.

    My favourite was GO PHUT because my Dad often said it (happy memories) and, as a result, I have been known to say it myself!

    Amazed by Noel’s clever compiling and impressed that Jeremy picked up on it. Thank you both! I never spot these things but am delighted with them when they are pointed out. MM

  26. … how “go phut “was spelled. Never seen it written down before.

    A great puzzle. Tks.

    Diana

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