Times Quick Cryptic No 1659 by Tracy

Author   johninterredPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

I found this not as hard as Pedro’s yesterday, but still a tricky enough challenge from Tracy today to end the week. There are one or two stretchy definitions and an unusual double anagram, but nothing too obscure, I think. 8A was my FOI and 15A was my LOI. It was good to get a visit from the Pink Panther and the Monty Python seabird morsel (my COD), adding extra smiles to my solve, which took me 5:36. Thank you Tracy! How did everyone get on?

Addendum: Thanks to all who had a go at my amateur QC The Eccentric Horitculturalist two weeks ago and for the kind comments. Encouraged by the response I’ve had, one of our well-known contributors (and expert solver), Phil Jordan has had a go at compiling a Saturday Quick Crossword for you all to try too. You can find it and links to PDF and interactive versions and solution here. Many thanks Phil for adding to the extra-curricular fun!

Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, deletions and [] other indicators.

Across
1 Top comedic actor’s books sold in large numbers (11)
BESTSELLERS – BEST (top) SELLERS (comedic actor) – Peter Sellers had a long and distinguished career with his best known roles being one of the Goons and Chief Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther films. Gosh. It’s nearly 40 years since he died.

Image from Britannica
8 Out of bed, drunk is nervy (7)
UPTIGHT – UP (out of bed) TIGHT (drunk).
9 A pot I ordered for courtyard (5)
PATIO – (a pot I)* [ordered].
10 Reverses through, then goes (9)
OVERTURNS – OVER (through) TURNS (goes; as in a game). You need to separate “reverses through” to get the definition.
12 Stuff farm animal (3)
RAM – Double definition. A bit of a chestnut this one.
13 Mark sailor has to achieve (6)
TARGET – TAR (sailor) GET (achieve). I was slightly dubious about this but Chambers has “an object to be aimed at” for Mark, so that’s all good. [Update: As zylanthic has pointed out below this could also be parsed as a semi-&lit as referring to the points in a yachting course].
15 Operation on cheek for career (6)
GALLOP – OP (operation) [on] GALL (cheek). Another where I thought the definition was a bit of a stretch, but it is in Chambers too.
17 Bird frequenting quagmire, mudlark (3)
EMU – Hidden in [frequenting] quagmirE MUdlark.
18 Disgusting ruling involving opener for Peterborough United (9)
REPUGNANT – REGNANT (ruling) outside [involving] first letter of [opener] Peterborough U (United).
20 Understand king needing knight’s backing (5)
LEARN – LEAR (king, as in the Shakespeare play) N (knight in chess notation).
22 One in record book, typical example (7)
EPITOME – I (one) [in] EP (extended player; record) TOME (book).
23 Vigorous rubbing of joint with oil (5,6)
ELBOW GREASE – ELBOW (joint) GREASE (oil).
Down
1 Take a swim in city close to seaside (5)
BATHE – BATH (city) and last letter of [close to] seasidE.
2 Tourist showing sense — wise man (9)
SIGHTSEER – SIGHT (sense) SEER (wise man).
3 Ridicule side’s leader, a bore (6)
SATIRE – Side’s [leader] A TIRE (bore).
4 Cheek, and other facial feature (3)
LIP – Double definition.
5 Rental stupidly parked across hotel entrance (7)
ENTHRAL – (Rental)* [stupidly] outside [parked across] H (hotel in the phonetic alphabet). I’ve not seen “parked across” as an inclusion indicator before.
6 Morsel, pretty poor for an oceanic bird (6,6)
STORMY PETREL – (Morsel pretty)* [poor]. A bird I can’t see the name of without thinking “…on a stick”. Albatross, anyone?
7 Without warning, released article about old female, depressed (3,2,3,4)
OUT OF THE BLUE – A five part charade here – OUT (released) THE (article) [about] O (old) F (female), then BLUE (depressed).
11 Hangs out with dreadful liar in imaginary paradise (7-2)
SHANGRI-LA – A double anagram –  (hangs)* [out] and [dreadful] (liar)*.
14 Plant with edible stalks? Nonsense (7)
RHUBARB – Double definition.
16 Get here, a soft fruit (6)
APPEAR – A P (piano; soft) PEAR (fruit). Slightly odd definition, I thought.
19 Pay for part of that on expenses (5)
ATONE – Hidden [part of] thAT ON Expenses.
21 Recently discovered tailless amphibian (3)
NEW – NEWt (amphibian) without its last letter [tailless].

63 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1659 by Tracy”

  1. Wasted time at 15ac (LOI) thinking ‘cheek’=LIP, forgetting that, as Jackkt has reminded us, A on B= BA. Also mistakenly tried to make something of (isnervy)*. 6:11, with Vinyl breathing down my neck.
  2. 12 mins, most time spent untangling the unknown stormy petrel.

    Thanks for the Saturday crossword, I don’t understand the logic for the Times having normal crossword Mon-Sat, and the QC Mon-Fri.

    COD uptight, describes me as I have committed to cooking scouse tonight for guests.

    1. I think management have said in the past that there isn’t room in the Saturday paper for a Quicky, though I would have thought there were plenty of ways they could get round that (e.g. ditch some Sudokus) if they really wanted to. Unfortunately it may come down to simply not wanting to pay a setter for another puzzle each week …
  3. Thanks to Kevin for the name check re 15ac, but how embarrassing that on this occasion I didn’t think of advice I’ve so often given to others about the word ‘on’ in Across clues. I suspect it had something to do with LIP appearing clued as ‘cheek’ at 4dn that I immediately wrote in LIP for ‘cheek’ at 15ac whilst thinking that it was rather feeble to have the same thing twice in the same puzzle. Of course, quite apart from the ‘on’ rule I should have realised that a master setter such as Tracy would never have done such a thing! Anyway I paid the price because, having solved all the rest of the puzzle within my 10-minute target I was then stuck trying to think of a word to fit ?A?LIP, and it took me another 2 minutes to realise my mistake and correct it. 12 minutes with target missed for the second consecutive day.

    Edited at 2020-07-17 06:08 am (UTC)

  4. Surprised to learn that I only know three three letter farm animals. Having considered and rejected hen, cow and pig I was stuck until the R from ENTHRAL dropped in. Totally agree with John’s assessment of this one as hard but not as hard as yesterday. Five went in from the acrosses on first pass and then I filled about half the grid pretty fast but in getting there I knew I was going to have a battle in places. Didn’t know the word REGNANT but checkers and PU made me confident REPUGNANT was right, did exactly the same as Jackkt with LIP in 15a and those hold ups kept checkers from STORMY PETREL which remained to the end when I entered with confidence in PETREL and being fairly sure I couldn’t do much else with the remaining anagrist. LOI was OVERTURNS, even with all the checkers it took at fair chunk of my nearly 19m to crack. Top moment of relief was spotting EMU at the second visit because the clue left me baffled – while we’re on crossword laws I think Kevin once shared “if in doubt look for a hidden” which I’ve tried with varying success most days since. I’ll try to get the on rule to stick this time too.
    1. Don’t forget hog, sow, tup, ewe, teg, nag, dam, cob and probably a few others. They all appear occasionally.

      Edited at 2020-07-17 10:05 pm (UTC)

  5. I found this difficult with a time of 28:52. Think my brain’s not working properly today as there were several easy things I didn’t get straight away – APPEAR which has been seen clued in the same way many times before, ‘tight’ as ‘drunk’, RAM, and many more. EPITOME was my LOI as it took me a while to realise I wasn’t looking for a record book (like a register, hansard etc.) to put I in.
  6. I thought this was going to be an absolute stinker as I didn’t get my FOI until ELBOW GREASE. However as I worked my way up from the bottom my brain cell seemed to wake up and progress was relatively smooth thereafter. I had an MER at PATIO being a courtyard but I assume it’s in all the usual sources and fell into the same LIP dilemma as others with LOI GALLOP. RHUBARB is now firmly lodged in my ‘words only found in crossword land’ mental file. An enjoyable end to the week with BESTSELLERS getting my COD. Finished in 10.37.
    Thanks to johninterred
  7. I agree with the assessment of this puzzle. It was tricky for me but enjoyable. Thanks Tracy and johninterred. I think Sellers is just about fair enough but as was pointed out he died 40 years ago and naturally the films get aired less regularly. I think some of the setters are on a mission to keep some memories alive. I wonder if that risks killing off these crosswords??. I’ve mentioned before that I would like my lads to get into cryptics but quite often if you are younger than 60 or 70 you wouldn’t stand a chance.
    1. Agree to some extent – I’m 23 and have heard of Sellers but it’s not a name that would leap out of me, and made the clue more difficult to solve. I don’t think it risks killing off the crossword though – as new generations of setters join the ranks the references will be updated
        1. …and they really SHOULD know about giants such as Sellers
          I remember introducing mine to Victor Borge and they were transfixed (Fork ‘andles, Silly Walks, Mr Preview and many others have followed since)
          It’s part of a parent’s responsibility and should probably be part of the National Curriculum

          I’ve had cause to fill in a LOT of knowledge gaps revealed through crosswords (OK, it’s not the only way to discover “unknown unknowns” but it’s an enjoyable one, that doesn’t judge)

  8. After 20 minutes I had just one to go, but a DNF with GALLOP. I wasn’t surprised to fail as I thought a lot of the puzzle was a bit loose and I got a lot of the answers from just the checkers, without really working out the clues.
    Thanks to John for the excellent blog, I needed it today!

    Brian

    Edited at 2020-07-17 08:31 am (UTC)

  9. “I thought you said your derrrg ders not bite!” “That is not my dog”. Oh the laughs. Not sure how the younger generation will get on with that clue though.

    Super puzzle, completed in about 1.8k for a Good Day. Would have been a lot faster if I could have got OUT OF THE BLUE before having almost all the checkers! I also forgot Jackkt’s Law and was completely bamboozled by what I am sure is the very old trick of entrance/entrance! Great fun.

    FOI BESTSELLERS, LOI TARGET, COD ATONE (brilliantly concealed).

    Thanks Tracy and John. And now we have the intimidating but exciting prospect of a puzzle from Phil for the weekend! Huzzah!

    Templar

    1. Don’t worry. It has been test solved by several who say it is a reasonable QC difficulty.
  10. A nice puzzle but with some neat mis-direction and a couple of bear traps. Like jackkt, I immediately wrote in LIP for 15a and only saw the light at the very end when the penny dropped. I liked REPUGNANT, ENTHRAL, and EPITOME (I wonder for how long EP and LP will be recognised by younger solvers). A bit faster than yesterday but still a couple of mins over target at 17.04. Many thanks to Tracy and John for an enjoyable Friday outing. John M.
  11. 11 minutes and fastest of the week I think. COD ATONE which I thought was cleverly hidden. Thanks John and Tracy.
    1. It is a pretty neat surface too.

      Edited at 2020-07-17 09:22 am (UTC)

  12. FOI LIP and a fast start to what seemed quite an easy puzzle at first. I was quick to see GALLOP assuming LIP would not be repeated. After 11 minutes just needed 10a and could not see the definition. OVERTURES kept playing in my head. An alphabet trawl got me to overturn overtures and I finished in 12:20.
    SHANGRI LA reminds me of a very good but overlooked Kinks song. Check it out if you have time.
    David
  13. I know that lots of people will disagree but, to me, this seems to have been a pretty challenging week overall. I think this might be the third crossword in a row where I’ve become too fed up to bother finishing it. Very depressing. It’s certainly making it a hard sell to my little group of crossword beginners whose enthusiasm has certainly been flagging at this week’s level of difficulty.

    I think there were some super clues here – I really liked 4 down, LIP and 5 down, ENTRANCE (even though it took me ages to see how this fitted with the definition – so clever! ).

    But I absolutely did NOT like 22 across, EPITOME because, surely, at least in common parlance, this is the BEST example of something, not a “typical ” one? In fact, I put episode in for this answer, even though I couldn’t quite see how the parsing would work. But I’m not sure I cared by that point. I felt similar irritation at 3 down, SATIRE because I cannot imagine ever describing “a bore” as “a tire”.

    I see the really experienced solvers describing puzzles like this one as easy and simple and it makes me feel that there is a yawning abyss of competence between them and me. I think it’s good that there are posters like them who race through these puzzles and posters like me who can only limp. But I sometimes feel I’ll always be a limper, and never a racer. Eek. Don’t mean to sound so blue.

    Anyway, my thanks as always to John and to the setter

    1. I took the bore = tire clue to be using them as verbs, as in something bores/tires me.
      1. Ah, yes, I can see that now. Thanks. I think the problem for me was that I was feeling so contrary by this time, I was almost looking for things I didn’t like. Not very worthy – but probably true.
    2. I think bore as in the verb.
      Don’t get despondent. I used to get very frustrated by some setters (mainly tracy!). But after a while you get familiar and see things again epitome for example, rather than best example.

      Right i need to stir that scouse!

    3. The abyss may yawn, for all I know, but it’s not likely to be one of competence; experience, more likely. Which, after all, is where competence tends to come from.
      1. Thanks so much for this, Kevingregg. You are so experienced, and so good at crosswords, that your opinion, and your advice, is definitely to be valued. And I really do. Maybe I’m just experiencing Lockdown Grumps. Anyway, I do feel better for reading the kind and sensible comments that people have made in response to my, bit dismal, post. What a lovely, and supportive, group this is !
    4. I find it’s best to ignore the “I knocked this trivially simple one one off between putting on my socks”. It smacks of showing off and, as my saintly mother used to say, nobody likes a show off. I suspect you and I are more typical of the usual solvers, where sometimes it comes together and sometimes it doesn’t . I’ve chucked many a half-finished puzzle in the recycling as, once it stops being fun, I can find other things to do which are. No point in keeping banging your head once the dizziness starts.

      Chin up, it’s just a bit of fun (sometimes)! You’ll breeze through the next one. I often compare this lark to golf, where even after a seemingly endless series of shanks and divots, one good connection convinces you you’ve cracked it…🙂

      1. Thank you! Very much looking forward to getting out of the bunker next week…. fingers crossed….
      2. Well said. But I don’t think our earlier commenter who said it was an easy one meant it was trivial for him, just that he found it easier than usual. As a relatively experienced solver when blogging I recognise I don’t always spot what less experienced solvers will find difficult, which is my bad, but at least I try and explain all the answers for those who aren’t sure. Today’s, I thought, was harder than average, but I know that my solving times aren’t necessarily a good indication of how others find it. Maybe we should have a QC version of the SNITCH?
        1. Thanks, John. I know we need a range of difficulty and it would be awful – and nonsensical – if the really experienced and skilful solvers felt themselves obliged to temper their responses based on whether or not newer solvers like me might be upset by their faster times. I think that there has to be a spectrum of comment as well as a spectrum of difficulty and I think that’s what we have here. I love reading all the comments and I know I’m learning from them. It’s just a bit frustrating to feel that my progress is slow! I’ve been stuck around the 15 to 30 minute solving time for ages! I love the idea of a QC Snitch.
    5. What was it that golfer once said? “The more I practice, the luckier I get”.

      Definitely applies to cryptic crosswords. During lockdown I have been doing 3 per day, up from just the QC which I used to do at lunchtime in the office – both Times puzzles, plus the Guardian – my ability to read “crosswordese” has improved no end.

      1. I’m sure you’re right. It’s just that I only really have 30 – 40 minutes to spare on crosswords. Usually I finish around the 20 minute mark but I’m not sure I have the stamina to start another one after that! I do miss it on the weekend, though, and have very much enjoyed John’s Saturday puzzles.
    6. You are not alone! I enjoyed this one, which is unheard of for me on a Friday, but I still need a good hour to work through each puzzle and get very very frustrated when it takes longer than that! But don’t give up, the blog needs its share of people who don’t finish each QC in 5 to 10 minutes regardless of difficulty level. I like to think those of us who take longer inspire newbies to keep trying, knowing that other people got frustrated as well! And we can all aspire to reach 10 minutes solves after much (much) practice. Years perhaps?!
      1. I too think that it’s good for total newbies to read slower times and solving difficulties. One day, with luck, effort and a following wind, you and I might be in the Speedy Coach Club…
        1. The emphasis on time taken as a measure of enjoyment is odd. Half the fun is parsing the clue, but each to their own.
          1. Time taken is far from being the most important thing, although, to my mind, it does matter. I’d like to get faster if I could. I agree the parsing is half the fun.
  14. I completely stymied my solve by chucking in PIG at 12a and KNOWN at 20a. The latter resolved itself when I OUT OF THE BLUE solved 7d and PIG became RAM when I realised that there was no G in the anagram of ‘Morsel pretty’. 1a held out to pretty much the end. My last three were ENTHRAL, BESTSELLERS and finally SATIRE. Solved in 1.9K for an OK day. Thanks John for the blog and Phil for the Saturday QC.
  15. Oh dear, and I thought I had done rather well and been relatively quick. Too quick as I put overtires.

    Liked Bestsellers, Gallop. Again guessed many without parsing. I put in Enthral from the clueing but was still stupidly trying to think of a word for entrance door.

    Thanks for helpful blog as ever. FOI Target and Patio and Shangri La. LOI mistaken Overtires.

    1. Ah that’s why I got totally stuck, I simply couldn’t work it out. I kept on trying to make something out of rental , then wondered what link there was between enthral and a door.
      It seems so simple now. Thank you.
      Diana
      1. Ah yes. I maybe should have mentioned it in the blog. Shoddy work. Whenever I see “Entrance” in a crossword clue I automatically put the stress on the second syllable on the basis that the setter is likely to be trying to misdirect us… as today!
  16. Found this one tricky, but at 33:42 it was half an hour quicker than yesterday’s solve and only a little over target, so not too bad. I was glad I’ve been trying the 15×15 lately (if I finish them, it’s usually the next day at best, so I haven’t had the chance to comment yet) because the previously unknown “tight” for drunk came up recently and helped with 8a. Not that I got it before I had all the checkers. I wasn’t sure about 6d because I’ve always seen the bird referred to as a storm petrel. Google says it is a dated term, which would explain that.
    With reference to these crosswords being more accessible to older people because of unknown actors etc, that’s always going to be the case given the rule about not including living people, especially as people now tend to live longer after their heydays. Older people will tend to have more accumulated knowledge as well, not to mention longer experience of crossword solving. However, I don’t see any of that as meaning that crosswords will decline in popularity. Hopefully it will encourage younger people to find out about some of the great people they may have missed, not to mention learning terms that may have fallen out of popular use. Of course, if setters include newer language as well, it helps to keep us all up to date too, so everyone’s a winner. Anyway, LOI 10a, COD to the neat surface of 11d. Thanks Tracy and John.
  17. I started off with LIP and worked my way along the top row, but SIGHTSEER AND STORMY PETREL had to wait for more crossing letters. BESTSELLERS did drop in before I moved on though. Got RAM at first attempt and didn’t consider a second lip for 15a. STORMY PETREL almost a write in once I had GALLOP. LOI was APPEAR. 8:59. Thanks Tracy and John.
  18. Thank you for the encouragement. I really appreciate it. Good luck with the scouse! (what is it? )
  19. ….at a GALLOP and finished comfortably within my TARGET.

    Tracy has (probably unintentionally) referenced Stevie Wonder (“UPTIGHT”), and the Kinks (“SHANGRI-LA”), as well as two albums (ELO’s “OUT OF THE BLUE”, and Paul McCartney’s “RAM”). I half expected 6D to be a nod to the blues classic “Stormy Monday” !

    A most enjoyable puzzle.

    FOI UPTIGHT
    LOI BESTSELLERS
    COD SIGHTSEER
    TIME 0.54K

    Edited at 2020-07-17 11:26 am (UTC)

    1. Your extracurricular QC was pitch perfect. I finished in just under my 10 mins target despite not knowing the bird!
    1. I’m sure you’re right. It’s just that I only really have 30 – 40 minutes to spare on crosswords. Usually I finish around the 20 minute mark but I’m not sure I have the stamina to start another one after that! I do miss it on the weekend, though, and have very much enjoyed John’s Saturday puzzles.
    2. I have a feeling you’ve mentioned it before when one of the answers was scouse…
  21. I took one look at the clue for 1ac and decided to leave it until I had some checkers in place, which was probably a mistake. It turned out to be my Loi, and a very noisy pdm at that. Never really got going, with most of the answers having to be teased out. Fell into the Lip trap with 15ac, and hesitated over the ‘entrance’ anagram at 5d – I seem to get caught out by that one every single time. On the other hand, I did remember Epitome. Just short of 35mins in total, so a tad longer than yesterday – I really should have persevered with 1ac. CoD to the surface in 19d, Atone. Invariant
  22. Slight delay over PIG not RAM but Stormy Petrel soon corrected. 1a fourth to last in and at least 15 minutes on LOI 15a with a mixture of lip and wallop took ages to see gallop. (Hard but fair)
    Then came to the blog to see Epitome not Episode – which didn’t feel quite right but I didn’t return to. 5d took a while too, trying various things
    Thanks all,
    Looking forward to trying Phil’s offering!
    John George
  23. …although I found this easier than yesterday’s, finishing within 19 minutes.
    I struggled with a few along the way – ENTHRAL (I didn’t think of the alternative meaning of ‘entrance’), GALLOP (I too first thought of the ‘lip’ option) and STORMY PETREL (which was a difficult anagram to solve).
    Amongst my favourites were UPTIGHT, TARGET and OUT OF THE BLUE but my COD goes to ELBOW GREASE for reminding me of my father telling my brother to use some of this and he asked where he could get it from!
    Thanks to Tracy and John – and thanks in advance to Phil for the weekend challenge.
  24. Bang on 30 mins for me, but it would have been quicker if it wasn’t for being stuck on 15ac “Gallop” for the last 10 mins. Got “lip” stuck in my head for “cheek” even though it was used in 4dn. Would Tracy have used it twice? Obviously not.

    Quite a few of the long ones were biffed today: 1ac, 2dn,7dn and 23ac all come to mind. For some reason DNK “Tight” = drunk, but couldn’t have been anything else and heavens knows where I pulled “Stormy Petrel” from. For 17ac thought there might be a reference to “Posh”, but I was probably overthinking that.

    A good, if tough, end to the week.

    FOI – 1ac “Bestseller”
    LOI – 15ac “Gallop”
    COD – 18ac “Repugnant”

    Thanks as usual.

  25. … and a good challenge from Tracy. I thought as I was doing it that it was tricky and was quite surprised to see only 13 minutes on the clock at the bell.

    Some very nice misdirections – career in 15A meaning gallop not anything to do with work or profession, and entrance in 5D meaning enthral not way in. Coming straight after hotel meant I was looking for a doorway, lobby or atrium at first.

    I too stared at 8A trying to make an anagram out of isnervy (and when that failed, out of drunkis). Feeling a lot better on reading that so did Kevin!

    COD to 5D Enthral for totally misleading me.

    Now on to Phil’s weekend bonus! I really do thank our senior colleagues for being prepared to fill the gap.

    Thanks to John for the blog and a good weekend to all.

    Cedric

    Edited at 2020-07-17 02:25 pm (UTC)

  26. I found this much the same as yesterday – quite tricky and requiring of a fair bit of thought. I managed to avoid the trap of trying to fit LIP into 15ac but like crispb I’ve never heard of a STORMY PETREL, only a STORM PETREL. Was so unsure of bore = tire that I left 3dn until last, but it couldn’t really have been anything else. Not having 3dn lead me to spend far too long trying to parse OVERTAKES for 10ac. Like jamesed46 I also spent a little time trying to shoehorn POSH into 18ac.

    FOI – 9ac PATIO
    LOI – 3dn SATIRE
    COD – lots of nice surfaces. I particularly liked 23ac and 2dn.

  27. Always keeps me honest, and so it proved today.

    8:36, so again, a good 20% over target.

    BESTSELLERS was last in, and didn’t get it until I came here, despite my father being a massive fan of the Goons and also having watched all the Pink Panther films as a kid.

  28. For once, a Friday crossword that did not make me wish I had never started solving QCs, so many thanks to Tracy for this one!

    Completed in 59 minutes but I did check a number of the harder answers as I went where I couldn’t parse the clue and in a few cases where I didn’t think the answer matched the definition (5D Enthral which did not mean entrance (foyer)… Now I know, thanks johninterred!)

    I did not (thanks jackkt!) fall into the lip trap for 15A even if it took me ages to get Gallop. I did however put pig for 12A and it was only when I had the checkers for 6D that I realised the second word was Petrel, the clue an anagram, and that pig had to go. Anyone else also try rating for 13A?! I was so certain until 7D appeared. Ah well.

    Thanks for the blog and the puzzle. And to anyone who reads the blog but doesn’t want to post because they think they are too slow – do not worry. I did the same for ages but its much more fun getting involved and as long as you enjoy having a go at the QC then the time doesn’t really matter. I’m often one of the slowest solvers who posts and I don’t expect that to change no matter how much quicker I get!

    1. Thank-you for encouraging others to comment. We all learn from each other, which is what makes this community so great. Without this I would never have learnt how to solve the variety of clues we get on Times cryptic crosswords (and other lesser ones). And I learnt so much more by posting comments along the lines of “Sorry, but I don’t understand why….” and getting other comments like “oh I didn’t understand that either”.

      Edited at 2020-07-17 06:54 pm (UTC)

  29. But not a great end to the week as, once again, we romped at a steady pace through this clever puzzle only to be completely stymied by 15A where we were sure lip was involved but couldn’t think of an appropriate biff. Thanks to Tracy for a tasty treat to end the week. We ended up taking about 15 minutes to solve everything except 15A when we gave up at 27 minutes.

    FOI: patio
    LOI: gallop (DNF)
    COD: elbow grease

    Thanks to John for the blog

  30. I’m still learning the ropes (pun intended) but in yacht racing, the course is made up of a series of “marks”..so since this is a reference to a sailor, is it also an &Lit?
    1. Good question. I like your logic (and pun). Yes the whole clue could be conceived of as the definition. MARK, though, is not part of the wordplay, so it could only be semi-&lit but not &lit (where all the words are part of the definition and wordplay). But are the marks on a yachting course also called “targets”? I’m curious.

Comments are closed.