Quick Cryptic 2996 by Jalna

Author   CuraristPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Quite chewy in parts with some slightly odd wordplay. I have a feeling this will trip up quite a few. A way over-par 9 minutes for me.

Across
1 Very square Aussie is upset if I am drunk (4,6)
FAIR DINKUM – anagram (‘upset’) of IF I AM DRUNK. I have never heard an Australian say this.
8 Get it and become popular (5,2)
CATCH ON – double definition
9 Best possible current agreement (5)
IDEAL – I (current) + DEAL
10 Pretty short sound made by a bird (4)
TWEE – TWEE[T]
11 Disliked being emailed again by senior journalist (8)
RESENTED – RE-SENT + ED[itor]
13 Regular appearances from wild, foolish megastars (5)
IDOLS – alternate letters
14 Bad-tempered and certainly devoid of energy (5)
SURLY – SURELY minus E for energy
16 Roget possibly includes the synonym for “well-organised” (8)
TOGETHER – anagram (‘possibly’) of ROGET with THE inserted
17 It’s highly unlikely some stufF IS Actually returned (2,2)
AS IF – reverse hidden word
20 Two people wanting large car (5)
COUPE – COUPLE minus L for large
21 One entering revenue receipts on the left hand side (7)
INCOMER – INCOME + R (the left hand side of ‘RECEIPTS’). This took me a while to work out.
22 Mediocre actors need to be changed (6-4)
SECOND-RATE – anagram (‘to be changed’) of ACTORS NEED
Down
1 Newspaper introducing fantastic feature (5)
FACET – FT is the newspaper, with ACE inserted
2 Where you see marathon athletes at the end of the day? (2,3,4,3)
IN THE LONG RUN -cryptic definition
3 Author ate up approval, finally (4)
DAHL – HAD (ate) up (backwards) + [approva]L
4 Elderly relative put up in French city (6)
NANTES – NAN + SET (put) up (backwards)
5 All that is in place for learning poetry (8)
UNIVERSE – UNI  (place for learning) + VERSE (poetry)
6 Awesome rants about former country (7,5)
WESTERN SAMOA – anagram (‘about’) of AWESOME RANTS. Former name of Samoa
7 Grand noblewoman welcomes Liberal with a smile? (6)
GLADLY – G (grand) + LADY with L inserted
12 In a way, we are essentially breaking into a part of the Web (2,2,4)
AS IT WERE – WE + R (‘are’, essentially) inside A SITE. I may have seen this ‘essentially’ device in the 15×15 but I think it’s a bit harsh for the quickie.
13 International group of performers still together (6)
INTACT – INT + ACT
15 Strand of polymer in one type of fabric (6)
MERINO -hidden word
18 Might put pressure on (5)
FORCE – Double definition
19 A police department is far from basic? (4)
ACID – A + CID, basic as in acid/base.

68 comments on “Quick Cryptic 2996 by Jalna”

  1. 12 minutes. I was slow to write in ACID, waiting for checkers as I didn’t know its connection with ‘basic’.

    I’ve always assumed FAIR DINKUM meant nothing more than ‘fair enough’ so I’ve learnt something new today.

  2. A great puzzle, much better than my typing – where it was the Ws that let me down. A straightforward NANTEw at the top and a more annoying AS Iw WERE lower down that mucked up TOGEwHER too. Annoying as after a slow start that saw just four across clues go in followed by just one of the downs I’d been pleased to cross the line in 22.59. Only knew WESTERN SAMOA from Rugby World Cups and didn’t know it was an ex-country and wasted a long time wondering how a theasaurus could help me solve a clue I couldn’t break down. Very slow to IN THE LONG RUN and AS IT WERE before finishing with COUPE. All so clear once solved.

  3. I never really got into a rhythm here, but after two frustrating DNFs in a row I was determined to finish and came home in 12:55, with not all parsed – I needed the blog for AS IT WERE (I had an anagram of “we are”, which left just SIT to work in) and for the R in INCOMER. I’m also another who didn’t realise WESTERN SAMOA had changed its name, but the anagram was straightforward enough.

    Many thanks Curarist for the blog; as you say, definitely chewy at times and for me, relief at the end more than many smiles.

    1. Top left was the hardest bit but circled back to it eventually. No complaints, enjoyable puzzle.

  4. Slow going today. I found the definition for FAIR DINKUM a bit tricky and needed most of the checkers before the penny dropped and also found the SW tough. Spotting COD TOGETHER eventually opened that quarter up which just left me wanting to put an ‘l’ into the car 🤦‍♂️.
    Finished in 10.23.
    Thanks to curarist and Jalna

  5. Could not parse AS IT WERE (thanks Curarist) and like others re SAMOA. I suppose COD IN THE LONG RUN but lots to like. Looked rather sparse till the downs filled up nicely but still took 26m. Thanks Jalna.

  6. I remember Western Samoa beating Wales in the 1991 rugby World Cup to which one of my mates quipped “Lucky they weren’t playing the whole of Samoa”. 12:58 for the solve.

    Edit: I had INCOMER parsed as R=Revenue (part of HMRC abbreviation) with Receipts=Income place to its left. Not sure whether Receipts is valid synonym for income.

  7. 22m. FAIR DINKUM took a while to emerge, and it (inexplicably) took ages for me to catch on to CATCH ON.

    Pi ❤️

  8. Never parsed AS IT WERE. I’ve seen FAIR DINKUM once in my life, and it was written, by a Japanese colleague. Somehow it’s stayed in memory for 30 years or so. 8:32.

  9. Haven’t managed a Jalna yet and this wasn’t going to be the first. FOI SURLY; eventually got all but the NW corner, just no way in there. Thought maybe LATCH ON, but isn’t “become popular”. Threw in the towel.
    Ah: no wonder, thank you, Curarist. That NW corner is full of obscurities. NHO FAIR DINKUM; you mean, an Aussie says this to mean someone is “very square”, meaning old-fashioned? Still not clear about this. Sure Tina would tell us but haven’t seen her for a while?
    Don’t CATCH ON to FACET: clear the newspaper was either FT or Sun, but where’s the fantastic? – and why is feature = ACE, which is usually expert or first-class (or just one)?
    It had to be ACID, but my knowledge of chemistry is nil, so please, what does “acid/base” (and setter’s “far from basic”) mean?
    (Finally: have to confess I too bunged in AS IT WERE without managing to parse it.)

    1. Martinů, You have the wrong end of the stick. Facet is the feature, and Ace is fantastic.
      See TC below for FD

      1. Oh now I see – thank you. Was nowhere near – needed that! Thanks too to TC for this absolutely brilliant, exhaustive and authoritative exegesis on FD (below) – all fascinating but only confirms the suspicion that this is somewhere between obscure and extremely obscure, especially given setter’s slightly off-piste definition. Thank you both!

    2. A Base, something “basic”, neutralises an acid, and so is “far from” being one.

  10. 14:03 Fair Dinkum the Ideal Universe will never Catch On, sums up my difficulties.
    Once I had the last three the checkers led to the PDM. Imho very square is not the most obvious of definitions, genuine or reliable might have got me there sooner!
    It seems that no-one is certain of the origins but a chap called Bruce Moore ( a director of an Australian dictionary) in a book about origins of Australian words postulates that it could be…

    This is the beginning of the story, which will emerge more strongly in the following decades, that dinkum is Chinese. Here are two recent manifestations of the story:

    (2004) Fair dinkum is derived from the Victorian gold rush days when gold had to be sold to government assayers. The Chinese (Cantonese) would say their pickings were ‘ting kum’ meaning genuine gold.3

    (2005) It is more than possible that that most dinkum word ‘dinkum’ has its origin in the Chinese ‘ding kam’, meaning ‘real gold’.4

    But that it is most likely…

    A large number of Australian words derive from British dialects, and dinkum is one of them. In the dialects of Lincolnshire and Derbyshire there is a word dinkum that means ‘work; a fair share of work’. There is an 1891 record from a coal-miner who says ‘I can stand plenty o’ dincum’, that is, ‘I can put up with any amount of fair work’; and from north Lincolnshire there is the record of a person who says ‘You have gotten to do your dinkum’. The first record of the word in Australia has this meaning. It occurs in Rolf Boldrewood’s Robbery Under Arms (1888): ‘It took us an hour’s hard dinkum to get near the peak’, that is, ‘an hour’s hard work’. A more recent Lincolnshire dictionary defines dinkum: ‘It means to give fair or deserved punishment to; the correct punishment, justice; to do what is fair and right.’6 The Essex dialect has dinkum meaning ‘above-board, honest’.7 More importantly, in the north Lincolnshire dialect there occurs the idiom fair dinkum meaning ‘fair play’, ‘fair dealing’, ‘that which is just and equitable’. In fact, the notion of ‘fairness’ has always been associated with dinkum. It is from this connotation of ‘fairness’ that the particularly Australian meaning ‘reliable, genuine, honest, true’ developed in the first decade of the twentieth century. This dialect evidence is so dinkum that we do not need to look elsewhere, and certainly not to Chinese miners.

    Thanks Doc and Jalna

    1. My rule of thumb on this is anything a tour guide tells you is probably false. See also Pom, Posh, Kilroy etc.

  11. Finished but couldn’t parse AS IT WERE or INCOMER, and NHO acid meaning base. Thanks Curarist for explanations. Definitely one of the trickier QCs for me.

    1. Acid and base are opposites on the ph spectrum, thus ACID is “far from base”. How I hated chemistry class! But apparently something stuck.

  12. Chewy. ACID, TOGETHER, DAHL unpaused and several others needing much head scratching. A longish 27:38 to finish.

  13. Another quite difficult one from Jalna, but at least there was some really interesting parsing – Incomer, Together and As It Were – to compensate during a near 30mins crawl to the line. Fortunately we had the ‘essentially’ trick a few days ago, so that wasn’t too much of a hold-up. If only I could say the same about Coupe, where I spent too long trying to add, rather than remove, the ‘L’ 🙄
    CoD to 1ac, Fair Dinkum, for the novelty value. Invariant

  14. 10:52
    I was also slow to see the ON in CATCH ON, originally having UP until NANTES forced a rethink.
    INCOMER was my LOI.
    COD to ACID.

    Thanks Curarist and Jalna

  15. Very pleasant stroll through. Thanks to both. Also couldn’t parse As it were. The scientific definition of a base (something basic) is complicated and a little hazy (to differentiate from an alkali) but from the crossword perspective they neutralise acids and so are “far from” being one.

  16. 7:43

    A shade easier than middle-of-the-road I’d say, though for a while, had very little in the NW corner. Some clues had me thinking more deeply, writing out the letters for both 1a and 22a. Known of FAIR DINKUM since I was a kid, a typical Aussie comment from some comic strip maybe? The 6d anagram went in more smoothly.

    Thanks Curarist and Jalna

  17. Rather enjoyed this on a pleasant Friday morning. It was a bit hard in places but would we have it otherwise?
    42 minutes to complete which is more or less on par with the rest of the week, apart from 31m on Tuesday.
    Fair Dinkum was LOI mainly because I misread the anagram, or more likely was deliberately misled by Jalna. Nice clue and my COD.
    Thanks Jalna and Curarist.

  18. 5:26 after a slow start. I took way too long to see FAIR DINKUM, even though it’s a phrase I use occasionally. More often heard these days as an expression of exasperation.

    Thanks Jalna and Curarist.

  19. 5:07. No real hold-ups for me. LOI NANTES only because it was the last one I came back to. Thanks Jalna and Curarist.

  20. 15:19

    Very few of the acrosses on first pass but the downs seemed easier and once the checkers were in place this didn’t seem too bad. LOI IDEAL.

  22. Another DNF.
    Totally forgot about FT being a newspaper.
    Looking back the couple of clues I couldn’t do were straightforward.
    Oh well.

    Thanks for the blog.

  23. Can someone please explain acid being far from basic. I gave up chemistry 60 years ago.

          1. Thank you – I’ll now be suspicious every time I see base in a clue.

  24. 20:39 after a very slow start.

    Didn’t know WESTERN SAMOA was no longer. That was my go-to country when needing one starting with W. Now have to rely on Western Sahara, or Wales.

    NANTES is pretty obscure, I knew it through studying Michelin maps, but still tough.

    2. Could still be on shaky ground with both of those W countries Merlin, depending on the rules.

      Actually I don’t think there are any undisputed W’s as it currently stands.

      1. One is a backward province on the western edge of a landmass known for its resentment of its larger neighbour, ancient castles, and incomprehensible language that sounds like someone gargling gravel…

        The other is Western Sahara.

  25. I was held up in the NW mainly by FACET, FAIR DINKUM and LOI DAHL.
    13 minutes in all.
    I had no idea Fair Dinkum means a very square Aussie, whatever that means.
    Anyway I enjoyed the puzzle overall.
    COD to RESENTED.
    David

    1. It doesn’t. It means honest or genuine, or something to be taken seriously.

  26. Found this tricky in parts, especially the parsing of AS IT WERE. Nothing wrong with being tricky though. Much to like. Thanks Jalna and curarist

  27. I often struggle with Jalna puzzles so I was pleased to complete this in 17 minutes. Didn’t parse AS IF or AS IT WERE so thanks to Curarist for the blog.

    FOI – 9ac IDEAL
    LOI – 8ac CATCH ON
    COD – 16ac TOGETHER. Also liked INTACT

    Thanks to Jalna and Curarist

  28. 7:29 with two letters wrong!

    The culprit was the irritating TWEE, which I just couldn’t parse. “Short sound made by a bird” was just too long a phrase for my brain to consider it to be indicating one thing, especially with the pesky “a” in there. Is that indicating anything? I went for TEEL, which it turns out isn’t a bird, but I half-convinced myself it might be and knew I wouldn’t get anywhere with further thought.

    UNIVERSE and RESENTED should have gone in far more quickly. Otherwise pleased to have a sub-10 finish, as recent solves have been very slow, though my aim is sub-5.

  29. OK until I stuck in SW so DNF.
    IN THE LONG RUN (of course!) COUPE, TOGETHER, INTACT, all fails.
    On the other hand, I did solve WESTERN SAMOA, FAIR DINKUM, FACET, and the rest. Except I biffed Detested instead of RESENTED, so not a good day.
    Thanks vm, Curarist.
    Has anyone mentioned the song ‘I love you fair dinkum, dinky di I do’?! Surely FAIR DINKUM means ‘fair and square’.

  30. Thank you Curarist and Jalna.
    Good Xword IMHO.
    6d W Samoa; DNK about the name change, but western fell out of the anagrist leaving OAMAS which wasn’t hard to solve. So I have now read up about both S and American S. So something learned then.
    20a Coupe, as Plett11 I was trying to add an L to a car to make a couple. DOH!
    Thanks to TC for 1a Fair Dinkum. I DNK the fair & square def, thought it was just a facetious Ozism that only Barry McKenzie would use.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_McKenzie

  31. I certainly struggled with this one today, not for the first time this week. I eventually staggered over the line in 13.20, but it was hard going all the way. In my haste I put CHIC in for 10ac without properly reading the clue, and only returned to it when I solved 1dn which I then knew didn’t end in a C.
    My total time for the week was 58.29, giving me a daily average of 11.42 for a tougher than average week.

  32. Another tricky one for me, just squeaking out of the SCC with 18:29. I’ll look forward to seeing how Simon Anthony gets on with it later.

    Thank you for the blog!

  33. Good puzzle from Curarist – 9:12 for me but with a fat fingered T on the end of TOGETHET .

    LOI the well hidden MERINO.

    Thanks Jalna

  34. 15.46 A good time for us – it’s true, fair dinkum! – both Australian though children born in UK and now we have grandchildren, yet Aussie bits remain. Have heard FD said, though in our experience more common in the outback.
    Held up by last two in – ACID and INCOMER. ACID never occurred to me – I tried to parse ACED. Himself, a science based lad had a PDM. Neither parsed AS IT WERE.
    Really enjoyed this. Thank you Jalna and Curarist.

  35. Found this one easier than last few but needed blog to parse AS IT WERE – many thanks C. Knew FAIR DINKUM from watching Home and Away (Aussie teen soap) back in the day; it was a catchphrase of the Alf Stewart character, along with ‘flamin’ galah’ 😆 Google AI overview suggests FAIR DINKUM describes something ‘genuine, honest and authentic’. Liked RESENTED as it took me so long to work out. Many thanks Jalna.

  36. DNF Got royally confused by many! Thought of MERINO as a kind of sheep or wool so fabric threw me. Wanted thorough for well organized instead of TOGETHER. ACE for fantastic and TWEE for pretty beyond me. Oh well, I did enjoy UNIVERSE, GLADLY, and INTACT.

  37. 12.58 WOE. Slightly faster than average but more carelessness with WESTERN SOMOA. Stuck in the SW until IN THE LONG RUN opened it up. Finished with COUPÉ. Thanks Curarist and Jalna.

  38. After a speedy start with IN THE LONG RUN going straight in, I chewed on this for almost 19 minutes, a not-so-speedy time for me. Pleased to finish without a pink square in less than 30 minutes for the first time since Monday. Working out FAIR DINKUM, which I must have seen some time without bothering to learn what it means, was tricky and satisfying. WESTERN SAMOA was another unknown that took some time.

    Favorite clues included TWEE, TOGETHER, COUPE, and AS IT WERE. “Receipts on the left hand side” must be one of the longest ways I’ve ever seen to clue one letter. At the end of the day I was pretty slow to CATCH ON.

    Thanks to Jalna and Curarist.

  39. Dnf…

    A dreadful end to the week. Got everything after 35 mins, but then put “In the Long Bus” for 2dn, thinking that’s where all the knackered marathon runners would be. A ridiculous answer I know, but I’d been out on my bike for a lengthy ride. I find as I get older that, post exercise, my brain stops functioning for a good few hours.

    FOI – 5dn “Universe”
    LOI – 2dn “In the Long Bus” 🚌 (incorrect)
    COD – 11ac “Resented” – made me chuckle.

    Thanks as usual!

    1. . . .and thank you for that very useful excuse for avoiding strenuous exercise🙂

  40. Chewy indeed. I started this just before I was due to vacate my holiday cottage in Skipton and managed to complete with 2 minutes to spare, but it was a close run thing. Didn’t have time to comment then, but back home now, unpacked and with the washing in. Still got the 15×15 to do. Started with TWEE and finished with FACET once FAIR DINKUM went in. I’m sure I’ve heard the expression in the Crocodile Dundee films. Held myself up with a biffed ON THE HOME RUN until TOGETHER put me right. 9:07. Thanks Jalna and Curarist.

  41. I was on Jalna’s wavelength today and finished in a speedy-for-me 8:31. The only hold-up was the surprise when SAHARA wouldn’t fit where SAMOA had to go.

    Thanks to Jalna and Curarist.

  42. I got there in a little over 35 minutes, but only after an extended struggle over the last eight clues or so (15-20 minutes on these) – a typical pattern for me.

    FAIR DINKUM was my favourite solution, but really difficult to find, partly because I thought it meant something completely different. ACID was entered with fingers crossed, due to my ignorance of all things related to chemistry. My final four in were CATCH ON, NANTES, UNIVERSE and RESENTED.

    Thanks to Curarist and Jalna.

  43. Great puzzle! No hurry as waiting A&E….
    FOI 14a surly
    LOI 11a resented ; toyed with detested and rejected but neither satisfied the clue
    COD 12d as it were
    I guess I’ll have to try the DT next….. as Missus still waiting and may be referred for MK to L&D As long as she gets the necessary treatment…

  44. 06:28 despite being knackered after Creach Beinn on Mull. Yippee! Now hot bath, supper, dram and bed.

    Many thanks curarist and Jalna.

  46. 17 mins.

    Over 2 hours for week.

    Less than half on 15 x 15 in almost 2 hours ☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️

  47. Not quite on the wavelength but at least I finished today. A significantly slow 17:00. Liked ACID and the well hidden MERINO. Couldn’t parse AS IT WERE (thank you, Curarist!) and might not have seen LOI IN THE LONG RUN (easy in hindsight) without the G from POI TOGETHER which was also quite a hold up. Thanks also to Jalna.

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