Quick Cryptic No 2934 by Joker

Author   DoofenschmirtzPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

 

When the first seven acrosses all went in at first glance, I hoped I was on for a fast time, perhaps even close to a record. But then – of course – the simple fact of having that thought meant that I lost the plot entirely and the SW corner stayed blank. I still finished in a fast-for-me time of 11:41. (Only to be told, “This puts you in position 6 of 6 for this puzzle” when I submitted it. Ho hum, it keeps me modest.)

My COD goes to ENTRANCEMENT, because I can never resist a pun.

Thanks to Joker for a fine puzzle.

Definitions underlined, synonyms in round brackets, wordplay in square brackets and deletions in strikethrough. Anagram indicators italicised in the clue, anagram fodder indicated like (this)*.

Across
1 Tribunal date officer announced (5,7)
COURT MARTIAL – COURT (date, as in woo), + a homophone [announced] of MARSHAL (officer).
8 Cold season killing off first plant (5)
INTER – wINTER (cold season) without its first letter [killing off first].

Both “plant” and “inter” mean “dig a hole and put the thing in”, but I’m not coming up with a sentence where they could be sensibly switched. At least, not without sounding like an actor in a third-rate gangster film.
9 Speech limit after Oscar (7)
ORATION – RATION (limit) after O (oscar in the NATO alphabet).
10 Wow! Lovely ornamental moulding (7)
CORNICE – COR (wow) + NICE (lovely).
11 Coming before  head of house (5)
PRIOR – A double definition, the house in question being a priory.
12 Wild garden hazard (6)
DANGER – (garden)*
14 A small seabird at the rear of the ship (6)
ASTERN – A + S for small + TERN (seabird).
17 Bottle never gets broken (5)
NERVE – (never)*

This was where my run of getting them all in a row came to an end. For some reason, I looked at this and didn’t spot any 5-letter possibilities for an anagram. Sigh.
19 Peter perhaps brewed top ales (7)
APOSTLE – (top ales)*
21 First male worker in firm (7)
ADAMANT – ADAM (first male) + ANT (worker).
22 Do be serious — that does contain fat (5)
OBESE – Hidden in [that does contain] dO BE SErious.
23 Down-to-earth subject in front of Mercian king and court (6-2-4)
MATTER-OF-FACT – MATTER (subject) + OFFA (Mercian king) + CT (court, as in a street address).
Down
1 Unplanned rebuilding of a noted clinic (12)
COINCIDENTAL – (a noted clinic)*
2 Deliver golf club without its head (5)
UTTER – pUTTER (golf club), minus the first letter [without its head]
3 One of the social insects, they’re regularly seen with arachnid (7)
TERMITE – Every other letter [regularly] of ThEy’Re + MITE (an arachnid).

If you had asked me if a mite was an arachnid, I wouldn’t have had a clue. But it had to be, so I have learned something today.
4 Declared Authorized Version outstanding (6)
AVOWED – AV (standard abbreviation for the Authorized Version of the bible) + OWED (outstanding, as a debt).
5 Derelict public transport vehicle close to dump (5)
TRAMP – TRAM (public transport vehicle) + last letter [close to] dumP.

That’s the noun sense of ‘derelict’: ‘a person without a home, job, or property’ per Oxford Languages.
6 A serious error in English is foolish (7)
ASININE – A + SIN (serious error) + IN + E (English).
7 Complete absorption of doorkeepers with time? (12)
ENTRANCEMENT – Doorkeepers could be ENTRANCE MEN, + T for Time.

Today’s entry for the Uxbridge English Dictionary.
13 Band’s vehicle caught in dreadful rain (7)
NIRVANA – VAN (vehicle) in (rain)*
15 Attention seeker’s reason for returning tickets? (4-3)
SHOW-OFF – if the show is off, the tickets could be returned.
16 Forcefully hit  one in (6)
BATTER – Double definition, the second being from cricket: when one is batting, one is “in”.
18 Force out former performers in light entertainment (5)
EXACT – EX (former) + ACT (performers in light entertainment).

I pencilled in EVICT here first without being able to parse it fully (although I had thoughts of the Old Vic), but ADAMANT forced me to rethink it, fortunately.
20 Particular thanks in letter from abroad (5)
THETA – THE (particular) + TA (thanks).

I think ‘the’ for ‘particular’ is in the sense of singling out one instance of a class of objects or people: “it’s not any old book on the subject, it is THE book on the subject”.

 

99 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 2934 by Joker”

  1. I was absolutely flying through this, on track for a very rare sub-10 minute finish, until I hit ENTRANCEMENT, my LOI, which delayed me for a full 9 minutes, taking me beyond even my QC average time.
    I think we’ve had PRIOR for “Head of house” recently, and APOSTLE very recently, which both were useful. I DNK the Mercian King but the answer seemed obvious enough.
    Thanks to Doofenschmirtz & Joker.

  2. Managed to misspell martial so couldn’t get TRAMP for a while, and just couldn’t see PRIOR for some reason. Thought the clue for EXACT was a bit long-winded, think it would’ve worked with less. Liked ENTRANCEMENT when I finally saw what was going on with complete absorption. Thought seriously about the anagram garden/DANGER after yesterday. Didn’t know a mite was an arachnid either but TERMITE couldn’t be anything else. Liked particular for ‘the’ in THETA. COD to ASININE because of my spelling of court martial. Good fun.
    Thanks D and setter.

  3. 7.05, enjoyable puzzle. LOI ENTRANCEMENT which took a while even with all available checkers. I noticed in the SW two musical acts, NIRVANA and ADAM ANT, intersected. What might this mean? Thanks to Joker and the Doof.

  4. My first ever completed cryptic crossword, having never understood them at all until about a week ago. Enjoyed 10a and 23a in particular, and might have finished in under an hour if it weren’t for 7d.

    Time: 64:52

    1. Brilliant EJGN, well done. You’ll find you’ll get faster (if indeed you want to) as you do more of them. You’ll also find you’ll never get anything else done!

    2. Congrats! I remember the feeling of utter bewilderment when other people tried to explain cryptic crosswords to me, which wasn’t too long ago. Welcome to the place that made my kids say “Dad’s found his peeps”.

    7. Welcome! Isn’t it a great feeling. I’ll never be fast, but I enjoy every completion (well, most!) as a little plus to the day. 🍾😊

    8. Adding my congrats – its a great feeling and a testament to perseverance. My full time wife would like to get into the cryptics and the Times QCC and this blog are a great starting point so Im trying to bring her along. Sometimes the rapid times on here are a bit off putting but just being able to solve a complete puzzle is an immense achievement.

      1. Well done EJGN, when I stumbled across this site via a google search to explain some obscure clue it completely changed my approach to cryptics and opened so many doors. Some people obsess too much about times, I reckon the journey matters more than the arrival and that’s where the enjoyment lies .

    13. Brilliant! Congratulations. And what we love, is the reality that you never know when you will complete it again, how often and how many minutes it will take….yet, you can still tell that you are, regardless of inconsistent times, getting better at it.

    14. How many weeks, months or years did it take 🙂 I’m still a rank beginner getting between two and 16, never got close to finishing. I guess I’ve been at it about six months now.

    16. Keep at it. We were all there once… it gets easier once you get to know some of the techniques and standard clues. Well done !

    17. Your first completion in just one week? It took me six months 😂 The first of many, that’s for sure!

  5. 4:19. Not too many hold-ups although it took a while to see what was going on with EXACT.

    Thanks Joker and Doof.

  6. Doofers, your third-rate gangster reference is the correct explanation as ‘plant’ is slang for burying a body or interring it.

    I was also slow taking 14 minutes to get within two answers and then needing another 7 to polish them off making 21 minutes in all. But at least it was an improvement on Joker’s last time out when my time was 23 minutes.

    The sticking points on this occasion were the intersecting answers ENTRANCEMENT and PRIOR. No excuses; my mind just went blank at that moment.

    I didn’t have any problem coming up with NIRVANA from wordplay and checkers but I was puzzled over the definition until I realised it must refer to yet another pop band that I’ve never heard of.

    1. Bit more than a pop band Jack! I was curious that a couple of commenters had NHO Nirvana so I entered the words “biggest band of the 90s” into Google and there was only one answer.

      1. Yes, but I never heard of Freddie Mercury until his death was reported in 3 inch headlines which were impossible to avoid! My knowledge of chart music mostly ends around 1969.

        1. Fair enough. I’m pretty useless at anything beyond 1980, as my kids are quick to remind me at quiz nights. But Nirvana…

          1. My comment was, typically obscure for me, reference that those two have come up in recent QCs; or at least Oasis was used to get AS-IS last week.

  7. I’m another that was just left with ENTRANCEMENT at the end after quite a tussle at the bottom. Before that I’d struggled to get MATTER OF FACT, COURT MARTIAL and BATTER. Favourite was THETA reminding me of how Starfire in Teen Titans would say thank you – that programme seems to have been on almost constantly for the last two years in our house it seems. I miss the Octonauts. All green in 13.40.

  9. Joker was in a benign mood with this one. My only real delays were with MARTIAL and COD ENTRANCEMENT.
    Started with COURT and finished with BATTER in 5.21.
    Thanks to Doofers

  10. Wouldn’t have got either ENTRANCEMENT (for absorption) or ENTRANCE-MEN (for doorkeepers) in a million years – presumably both are words in the language, but not such as you would actually use. Otherwise fine; NHO band NIRVANA but had to be. Thanks to Doofers.

  11. Really nice puzzle from Joker, we always enjoy them. All went pretty well and like others were left with entrancement which was a lovely PDM at 19.45. Whacked it in quick for a rare sub 20 only to discover we’d missed theta, d’oh! 20.03 in the end for an enjoyable solve.

    COD to cornice

    Thanks Joker and Doofers for the entertaining blog

  12. 12:11. That’s a relief, my first completion in three days.

    Held up by CORNICE, as was looking for an ING word to mimic stunning/coving.

    Also slow with COINCIDENTAL where ACCIDENTAL and INCIDENTAL kept tempting me. Decided to work bottom up with DENTAL, to see if that worked.

    Confused about TERMITEs now, how can they be both insects and arachnids? How many legs have they got? Seven?

    COD MATTER OF FACT, although I’ve seen this Mercian king before, and Mercia often is handy for those of us who convert our times into historical dates. (Mongols invade China for my time today). Honourable mention, SHOW OFF.

    1. Termites are insects, mites are arachnids – and I’ve now learnt something about both!

  13. Like Plett I was left with blanks for MARTIAL (solved quickly) and ENTRANCEMENT. Unlike him I had to engage in long and painful trawls to get the latter, and that pushed me out to 08:28 which feels a bit rubbish after a flying start. A Disappointing Day.

    COD to COR! NICE! That really made me chuckle.

    Many thanks Joker and Doofers.

      1. I didn’t say it was a rubbish time: it’s pretty close to my average. I said it felt a bit rubbish after a flying start, which it did. It’s all relative.

  14. An unusually gentle one from Joker but it still had its challenges. I started very quickly but slowed at the end to complete in 17.40; I managed to see ENTRANCEMENT after entering the ..MENT ending. I extracted AVOWED slowly and biffed my LOI BATTER which came to mind early but which I didn’t enter because I couldn’t parse it (cricket again!). Thanks Doofers.
    I liked COINCIDENTAL and NIRVANA (knew the name but not the music).
    Thanks to Joker for offering an accessible, high quality challenge.

  15. I was another who flew (in my terms: a halting shuffle for others) through most of the top half, but slowed somewhat as I moved down. CORNICE was my COD for its humour and the fact it reminds me I need to repaint mine.

    1. Yes, I thought CORNICE was a humorous clue too but then got to thinking this is a word I’m familiar with but not exactly sure of the meaning. Anyways research shows my humble apartment doesn’t seem to have any- maybe at best quasi- or pseudo- ones over some doors and windows.

  16. Great puzzles from Joker. ENTRANCEMENT my LOI and COD. Thanks Doofers for the blog – also a learning day for me about mites.

  17. A very nice puzzle, all done in 8:40, with only Nirvana the rock band not known – sorry Galspray! But easy to get from the wordplay and checkers.

    Offa is the quintessential Mercian king, indeed probably the only one most people have heard of. A shout-out though for Æthelflæd, Myrcna Hlæfdiga or “Lady of the Mercians”, who ruled Mercia in the early 10th century. She welded her country to Wessex and by doing so was the driving force that led to the creation of England. Looking back from 1,100 years later it looks so inevitable, but it was an astounding piece of stateswomanship and nation-building, and she has a fair claim to be the most important woman in England’s history.

    Many thanks Doofers for the blog.

  18. Good QCC from the Joker. Like Templar feeling a bit meh about my time of 9:14 as felt I breezed through it. LOI was ENTRANCEMENT. COD was the one with OFFA in it.

    APOSTLE I swear we’ve had in last week either in this or longer form of the game.

    Didnt really like INTER but get it and despite probably having attended around a 100 test matches still miss some of the more subtle cricket stuff so thanks Doofers for parsing BATTER

  19. Solved steadily with no great problems but had to guess that it must be the NHO ENTRANCEMENT (entrance + ….). 21:58 – quick for me for a Joker puzzle.

  20. 8:13
    A very fast start, slightly slowed down by ENTRANCEMENT, where I needed all the checkers before finally spotting the answer.

    I would have needed to be 14 to 16s faster to have been able to have converted my time into an OFFA related date. Most of his reign was in the last 40y of the 8th century, which does not work for the time to date game. In 813, Coenwulf of Mercia was possibly doing something annoying in East Anglia or North Wales.

    Thanks Doofers and Joker

  21. 1a didn’t jump into view so I started with INTER, then tried the downs. This paid dividends and COURT MARTIAL soon popped up. Steady progress left me with 7d which took a moment or two to materialise. 7:40. Thanks Joker and Doofers.

  22. Enjoyable puzzle. Was slow to get going, then once I got 1a and 1d, very fast until I stuck temporarily on COD ENTRANCEMENT, which made me smile, as did CORNICE and SHOW OFF.
    LOsI PRIOR and A SIN IN E.
    NIRVANA rang a very faint bell, so biffed. We were mostly abroad in the 90s and anyway am ignorant of pop culture after the epic 1960s.
    CNP MATTER OF FACT, but will try to remember this use of OFFA – Mercian King who built a dyke somewhere.
    Thanks vm, Doofers.

  23. A disaster 40:23 where I had put an unparsed “infringement” as I was bored of alphatrawling and working back along the middle row of the keyboard. Too many 15×15 worthy definitions here for me to enjoy with exact=force out, inter=plant, the=particular, mite=arachnid, didn’t know OFFA off the top of my head, batter / prior too complicated. Hard to enjoy a puzzle which takes 3-5 times longer than I want from the QC.

    Edit: a quick review of my video solve shows I only had five left to do at 8mins (BATTER, PRIOR, MATTER-OF-FACT, ENTRANCEMENT and SHOW-OFF) which seems in line with other solvers’ experiences. So no wonder I didn’t enjoy a puzzle which then took me a further 32mins to DNF with an alphatrawl.

    1. I was half expecting a 7 or 8 min solution from you New Driver based on your recent times – sounds like you had a mare.

      1. Thanks James. Not sure what happened other than just couldn’t crack the last few. You had a good one, so well done you 👏

    2. Oh dear! Looks like ND reverted to LP today. Let’s hope for a smoother ride tomorrow.

  24. Didn’t manage to finish today, with 4 clues unfinished. Need to brush up on my cricket knowledge and Mercian Kings, but learnt a lot of interesting things, like how mites are arachnids. Thanks for the explanations of the clues

  25. Court Martial and associated offspring saw me off to a flyer, but Exact and Show-off slowed things down a little. The Prior Entrancement rearguard then put up a terrific fight, so I found myself next to Jackkt in a search for a window seat.
    Relatively straightforward by Joker’s standard, so feeling a little annoyed at missing a sub-20. Theta was going to be my CoD, but Matter of Fact just got ahead at the line for the creative use of Offa. Invariant

  26. A very good puzzle from The Joker who always seems to maintain a high standard. By The Jokers standard I thought this was relatively easy, at least I found it as such, finishing in 8.39.

  27. DNF.
    Did not get ENTRANCEMENT. Needed recourse to thesaurus for some others.
    Managed to get TRAMP but was unaware ( or had forgotten) that “close to” can mean end letter.
    Enjoyed some of the across clues but found quite a few of the down clues very tough.

    Still to complete a QC by Joker.

    Thanks for the much needed blog.

  28. POI 7d EntraRcement was made more difficult by having entered 14a Asterr rather than astern. Otherwise 16d Batter delayed me until the penny dropped.
    Thanks Doofers & Joker.

  29. Relatively easy by Joker’s exacting standards, I thought – home in 7:08, despite a full minute (and felt like ten) on LOI and COD ENTRANCEMENT. Lovely crossword, thanks J and Doofers

  30. For once the long answers around the edges didn’t hold me up……well except for my penultimate solve of MARTIAL. I was a little slow to solve the anagram for APOSTLE and spot the hidden OBESE but my LOI BATTER took a good minute to appear. 7:15 and thanks Doofers.

  31. The precise opposite experience to that of Desdeeloeste above, as all four long clues around the edges delayed me for ages and were among my last few in. With all of those starting (and ending) letters remaining out of reach, it had to be an awkward middle out solve.

    I got there in the end, but not before 40 minutes had passed. Joker is just so difficult, these days.

    Many thanks to Doofers for the blog.

    1. Agree about Joker. Was my fave setter for so long but has just become wordy these days. I have to mourn that loss 😢

  32. 12 mins…

    Not necessarily straight forward, but a good puzzle. 23ac “Matter of Fact” and my LOI 7dn “Entrancement” took up a good chunk of time, whilst I had some doubts about 5dn “Tramp”.

    Always nice to get a decent time after a couple of poor runs.

    FOI – 2dn “Utter”
    LOI – 7dn “Entrancement”
    COD – 10ac “Cornice” – made me chuckle when I re-read it.

    Thanks as usual!

  33. No problems with this one. Happy with inter = plant, since I’ve more than once heard “plant” used to mean “bury” (somebody dead), and “planting” used for “funeral”.

    I wasn’t too happy with “particular” for “the”, but it didn’t really matter since, especially with the checkers, the answer was pretty obvious.

  34. Between 16 and 18 minutes, momentarily out of SCC. Interrupted by coffee in a tiny paper cup.
    What fun we had, while squished on a plane travelling from minus 21 Svalbard to the warmth of Dublin.
    Downloaded before boarding, ready to complete (or not) at leisure (on opening the timer was a daunting 223 minutes).
    Really enjoyed this – chuckles of the day to CORNICE and ADAMANT –
    LOI ENTRANCEMENT
    CsOD a lot of them
    Lesson of the day: MITE
    Many thanks to Joker and Doofenschmirtz.

  36. Cracking crossword – I thought it was a return to Joker’s excellent surfaces and wit, because like others, I have found him to be a lot trickier recently. I’ll vote for it as ‘Best Puzzle for Ages’! I liked INTER, CORNICE, NERVE and COINCIDENTAL a lot.
    Got to rush to a U3A meeting, so a flying visit today.
    7:03 for A Very Good Day FOI Oration LOI Exact COD Show-off
    Many thanks Joker and Doofers

    For those of you who haven’t seen it but like a bit of Smells Like Teen Spirit, I recommend Weird Al Yankvic’s version – hilarious!

  37. DNF today, beaten by ENTRANCEMENT/OBESE. I’m blaming my ‘out of routine day’ today. I’m much better solving at coffee time! Still enjoyable although should have persevered 🙄 Liked MATTER OF FACT and NIRVANA (what a great surface). Many thanks Joker and D

  38. 20:14

    I made this much harder than it should have been by having no less than 3 wrong answers on first pass. Put SELL OUT for the ticket returning attention seeker, EXPEL for force out and HAMMER for forcefully hitting one in. Obviously my answers don’t quite fit but finding the mistakes probably cost 5 minutes. Once sorted LOI ENTRANCEMENT took a little unraveling.

  39. Very happy with a 10 minute solve and would have been single figures but for ENTRANCEMENT: annoyingly ANNOUNCEMENT would have fitted until PRIOR dropped in, and then it became clear! What a fun puzzle: COR Joker, NICE one (my COD). Many thanks Joker and Doofers.

  40. 5:29

    Completed whilst waiting to drop off last night. Enjoyed ENTRANCEMENT, but MER for BATTER which I’ll just never get used to as the correct term for a cricketer wielding a bat. Overlooked the parsing of COURT – just bunged whole answer in from definition. NIRVANA very much heard of, and are rightly lauded for bringing excitement and raw energy back into rock music.

    Thanks Doofers and Joker

    1. I agree, about BATTER. But if we must have new terms, I’d prefer BATMAN and BATWOMAN. (Joke)

  41. Faster than recently for a Joker puzzle at 19 minutes. The last 1.5 clues (second part of 1ac and 16dn) took over 3 minutes. I spent some time trying to parse expel at 18dn until adamant forced a rethink. Also spent some time wondering what inter had to do with plants.

    FOI – 9ac ORATION
    LOI – 1ac COURT MARTIAL
    COD – can’t decide between MATTER OF FACT, ENTRANCEMENT and SHOW OFF.

    Thanks to Joker and Doofers

  42. No real problems. Most of the across clues went in on first pass, but the downs were trickier, despite having quite a few crossers. Like others, the LOsI were PRIOR and ENTRANCEMENT.

  43. Excellent puzzle from the reliable Joker. I enjoy how he pushes the language just enough to make me think eg 8a Inter. Several clues have been been seen very recently in the QC. Hard to get my old head around words like the clumsy 16d ‘batter’ which still seems unnatural to me esp when there are alternatives available. Was trying an Alfred in 23a until Offa came to mind – with the F in position the O and FA+CT made the obvious apparent. Got a bit mixed up with 1a with Court for Tribunal and then puzzling over ‘date’ until a PDM moved me a little further along the clue.
    FOI 1d Coincidental – giving useful starters
    LOI 6d Asinine
    COD’s 23a Matter of Fact and 7d Entrancement
    Pleasingly, this lasted until the end of my leisurely Costa so not a fast time for some here but, more importantly, enjoyable. Thx to Joker and our Blogger.

  45. Congratulations EJGN. It was only during lockdown when I was furloughed that I ever got anywhere near completion. I also discovered TFTT which is always a great help and very informative, whether I finish or not. I do the paper version and never time myself, sometimes it takes two or three attempts throughout the day. I’m always reminded of my Mum, who originally taught me the art of the cryptic crossword. I’ve never forgotten if the clue contains the word spectacles or glasses it usually means the letters OO. You don’t see that much nowadays, sadly.

  46. 8.31 That was quite gentle. Last two were ENTRANCEMENT and BATTER, where I didn’t understand “one in”. Thanks Doofers and Joker.

  47. 12 minutes after golf (i.e. tired). No real hold-ups.
    LOI ENTRANCEMENT -my first reaction was is this a real word; so not my favourite clue.
    But a nice QC overall.
    COD to NIRVANA.
    I too refuse to accept batter for a batsman.
    David

  48. Really enjoyable puzzle and perfectly pitched for a QC in my humble opinion. Thanks to Joker and Doofer…

  49. 16:30. I missed COURT=date and wanted expel for EXACT. Light entertainment threw me off because I thought of acts as parts of Shakespeare’s plays. Also force out=EXACT puzzled me.

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