QC 3095 by Joker

Author   MerlinPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Yesterday’s Trelawney puzzle had one of the lowest QUITCH ratings ever, and multiple bloggers identified Personal Bests including me. Well done Mendesest, Roundabout Here, andybry, Pi-curious, xwordnumpty, Bevets, simjt, MartinRG, Dvynys, DearHector, Nutshell, Wombat, dr.shred, Boovers, curryown, Steel city and Desdeeloeste. An extraordinary 18 Personal Bests, but before we all get too carried away, Verlaine completed in 1:27. I tried filling every letter in with an A, and it still took me longer than that.

As simjt pointed out, I used to indicate my scores by giving a historical fact for the time, (a practice that he has taken up) I remarked that if I ever reached the 5th century I would actually be in the “times of Merlin” and yesterday’s 4:49 (449 AD) meets that.

And my time today is in much more recent times. 17:45, rise of Bonnie Prince Charlie.

Across

1 Neat small tool plus second utensil (5,3,4)
SPICK AND SPAN – S{mall} + PICK (tool) + AND (plus) + S{econd} + PAN

My daughter used to have two goldfish called Spick and Span.

‘Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable’ (a great reference work, BTW) gives :

Quite and entirely new. A spic is a spike or nail, and a span is a chip. So that a spick and span ship is one in which every nail and chip is new. The more common expression today is spick and span, meaning all neat, clean, bright, and tidy.
8 Structure in support of motorway (4)
FORM – FOR (in support of) + M{otorway}

I really wanted this to be PROM, thinking a Promenade is a structure.
9 Two cuppas you finally got in stately home (7)
CHATEAU – CHA (tea) + TEA [both cuppas] + {yo}U
11 Troublesome old emperor coming to US (7)
ONEROUS – O{ld} + NERO (emperor) + US
12 Sense of dissatisfaction when nuisance is about (5)
ENNUI – hidden in “when nuisance”

Very common word in crosswords.
14 Holiday afloat for Tom? (6)
CRUISE– Tom Cruise, the actor
15 Increase of noise in Great Haywood initially (6)
GROWTH – ROW (noise) inside GT (great) and H{aywood}

GT is a legitimate abbreviation, as on a map for, say Gt. Yarmouth.
18 Wide awake right after beer (5)
ALERT – RT (right) after ALE (beer)
20 Climber’s aid is fiddle around slope (7)
CRAMPON – CON (fiddle) contains RAMP (slope)
21 Order international court to stop appointment (7)
DICTATE – I{nternational} + CT (court) inside DATE (appointment)

The International court is actually called the ICC. I=International is one of those second order abbreviations, it is only ever seen inside another abbreviation. See previous rant about A=American.
23 Plant, one to come up endlessly (4)
IRIS – I (one) + RIS{e} (come up)

I was sure this one was going to be IRISH truncated.
24 Excessively high prediction of rigged Emirates vote (12)
OVERESTIMATE – (EMIRATES VOTE)* [rigged]

Is it just me, or are the phrases it’s difficult to overestimate or it’s easy to underestimate (or variations of the two) very confusing?

Down

2 Take action against core set-up that goes wrong (9)
PROSECUTE – (CORE SET UP)*

And if you don’t pay close attention to the anagram, it’s very easy to make PERSECUTE fit.
3 Greens perhaps in parliament (7)
COMMONS – Cryptic Def

A village green is also a Commons, and the Commons is one of the Houses of Parliament.
4 Point the finger at copper in unusual case (6)
ACCUSE – CU (copper) in (CASE)*
5 Padre condemned hanging (5)
DRAPE – (PADRE)*

“Condemned” is a bit of an odd anagram indicator, but its a past participle, so it’ll do. In fact just about any part participle can be justified as an anagram indicator.
6 Bake Off item regularly taking prize (3)
PIE – P{r}I{z}E [regularly taking]

This is a reference to the British Baking Show, where cakes and bread feature. Not often pies though. 
7 Word broken by Sunak on good nursing? (10)
NOURISHING – NOUN (word) contains RISHI (Sunak) + G{ood}

That’s the second time I’ve seen Sunak=RISHI, that might end up being his only legacy.
10 Risky feel with journey (5,3,2)
TOUCH AND GO – TOUCH (feel) + AND(with) + GO(journey)

There’s an internet meme that says “How old were you when you learned that the game TAG stands for “Touch and Go”?  It doesn’t. 
13 Modern athletics event and where it’s reported (9)
NEWSPRINT – NEW (Modern) + SPRINT (athletic event)
16 Common sense is in the monarch’s domain (7)
REALISM – IS contained in REALM (Monarch’s Domain)
17 Emphasise account needs money (6)
ACCENT – AC (Account) + CENT (money)

Although “accentuate” is the usual form for “emphasize”
19 Very little to track down and find (5)
TRACE – Double definition

I think this is right, but you could maybe stretch this to a triple definition, if we think that trace=”track down” and also “find”. 
22 What actor must follow Bond’s tech wizard, reportedly (3)
CUE – Sounds like Q (Bond’s tech wizard)

74 comments on “QC 3095 by Joker”

  1. 13:28. CHATEAU and CRAMPON were favourites. I thought MEMBERS first for COMMONS but luckily it seemed so weak I rethought.

    1. Members of the Commons sit on green benches whereas the House of Lords Have red benches. That is my reasoning rather than being party political.

  2. 5:49
    Biffed 1ac (I’d spell it without a K). I spent too long taking ‘Tom’ to be a cat, and needed all the checkers before I got CRUISE.

    2. I’d always assumed my “[Our] poor monkey brain[s] just can’t deal with complex combinations of certain logical operators”. That’s a very interesting discussion of the linguistic alternatives for the phenomenon.

        1. I hope I didn’t offend anyone there and I’m very sorry if I did. Just to clarify in case I did: the “monkey brain” quote came from the top of the linked post itself as the first hypothesis as an amusing and very pithy summary of another post on the site which referred to a natural aversion to double negatives in humans or at least the impulse to resolve them as a possible explanation for the confusion caused. It definitely wasn’t meant to be a lack of respect. Quite the opposite! I was just trying to convey my appreciation in a light-hearted way.

          I very much appreciated the link and reading it and it gave me a lot to think about.

    4. Thanks, dr. shred, very interesting. I realise I come out with a lot of these phrases without really thinking what I’m saying or meaning.

  5. 9:04. Yes, I think I was tail-end Charlie for yesterday’s Trelawney and for some reason I found today’s a bit gentler. Some enjoyable clues, especially the ‘Greens perhaps in Parliament’ and the ‘Modern athletics event’ that wasn’t.

    No spoilers, but a couple of similarities here with today’s 15×15.

    Thanks to Merlin and Joker

  6. Very nice puzzle, smooth solve in 8:27. Not often I find Joker in such a friendly mood, and I’m sure after such a start to the week the latter puzzles will be real stinkers.

    A quirk about the COMMONS clue is that the seats in the House of Commons are green (those in the Lords are red). But I don’t think it is part of the wordplay, much as I hoped it might be.

    Many thanks Merlin for the blog.

  7. Had to go all the way through to OVERESTIMATE to get my first letters on the page after a longish delay to try to get ‘knife and fork’ to parse for 1a. Downs didn’t go that much better but gave enought to get me going. Solved roughtly anticlockwise, finishing in the SW with TOUCH AND GO – needed all the checkers and to be written out horizontally before I saw it. All green in 11.55.

  8. 9 minutes. There’s nothing on my printout other than the letters in the grid so I must have found this easy.

  9. Back to earth after yesterday with 12.17, an enjoyable solve. A bit annoyed that I missed CRUISE, TRACE and COMMONS until the end, but that’s the way it goes. Thanks Joker and Merlin.

  10. 17:34 ennui with nourishing cruise pie was my downfall. I’ll stick to croissants on a campsite.
    Ta MAJ

  11. I was way off the pace today, which I’m going to blame on the dog for disappearing for 30 minutes on our walk and ruining my morning routine.

    With hindsight this was a fairly straightforward puzzle with lots of Joker’s usual wit and sparkle but it took my brain about 5 minutes to tune into it.

    Started with CRAMPON and finished with COMMONS in 10.41. COD to CHATEAU.
    Thanks to Merlin and Joker

  12. 48:53 (average: 37, target: 31)

    Definitely back to reality for me. I really enjoyed this one though. There were lots of easier ones to give checkers for a way in to the harder clues and I was never lost for something to try and was engaged all the way through. I found the NW corner to be particularly challenging.

    Last three were COMMONS, PROSECUTE (my two joint CODs) and finally CRAMPON (which was a BHO for me).

    Thanks Merlin for the positive write up and interesting facts and thanks Joker for the enjoyable reality check.

  14. 6.53

    Slightly sluggish but nice puzzle and liked some of the gentler ones – PIE and DRAPE. Amusing blog as per normal. I’ll be thinking of a grid full of As all day now!

  15. 17.07 for two good days in a row. This one just seemed to fly in.
    COD to CHATEAU and praise for the cleverly hidden ENNUI.
    Thanks Joker and Merlin.

  17. DNF, all complete in 9:54 but pink-squared by DECLARE, which I highly suspected wasn’t right but couldn’t find another word that fit.

    I found this tough, and wasn’t helped by my inability to remember basic words.

  18. I didn’t have any problems here, and took exactly a second longer than yesterday, and two straight passes. Lots to like – thanks Joker, and Merlin for the usual excellent blog.

    FOI SPICK AND SPAN
    LOI NOURISHING
    COD NEWSPRINT
    TIME 3:43

  19. A smooth but steady solve, almost from top to bottom. It felt quicker than 15.28 so I must have been concentrating hard. Lots of good clues but all fair and accessible, I thought; certainly an enormous improvement on Joker’s last few for me (especially his last two!).
    I liked the neat misdirection in COMMONS. LOI DICTATE; CsOD CHATEAU and ENNUI.
    Thanks to Joker and Merlin.

  20. Lazily put Boom (LOI) instead of FORM, though obviously CNP. Must have been due to the warm morning sun shining on my arm.
    Enjoyable puzzle.
    Had to think about DICTATE, TRACE, REALISM, NOURISHING. Must remember to think ‘rishi’ when I see Sunak.
    Liked SPICK AND SPAN, CRUISE, CRAMPON, among others.
    Thanks vm, Merlin.

  21. No problems in today’s enjoyable QC. I have wondered how times under 3 minutes are physically possible. Maybe the superfast solvers don’t take a moment to appreciate the skill of the setters. Thanks Merlin for great blog as usual.

  22. Very enjoyable romp through with no hold ups. I also wrote in SPIC and SPAN and had to go back and re-do when I realised that I had a space left at the end. Thanks to Joker and Merlin.
    “Difficult to over-estimate” is what we used to call a brain-fart, they sound wise and knowledgeable until you try and work out what they mean and then realise that they are somewhat malodorous hot air.
    Merlin – please don’t leave us in suspense, consult your Brewer’s again and tell us where touch and go does come from.

  23. Nothing like a Joker for reminding you that you aren’t as good at crosswords as you thought you were. That felt like an arm-wrestle most of the way through, with my final trio (TOUCH AND GO, CRUISE and COMMONS in that order) putting up stiff resistance. COD to DICTATE, I liked that a lot.

    Buck last week, Cent this week … we’re doing our bit for the State Visit! 😉

    All done in 08:21 for 1.5K and a Regulation Day. Many thanks Joker and Merlin.

  24. 7:06

    No issues though 1a held out for a long time. I had bunged in BENCHES at 3d, thinking of those in the House of Commons. Had to think closely about 7d to see how the answer meant nursing. Perhaps just early morning (9.15am – hah) cobwebs.

    Thanks Merlin and Joker

  25. 11:15 for the solve – was struggling but eight answers plus two confirmed in last two mins make it a decent time. Never seen GT=great in the QC but realised, as Merlin says, it’s on maps. Liked CRUISE when the penny dropped.

    Thanks to Merlin and Joker

  26. 13:55
    May have been 2-3 mins quicker if I’d taken more time to ponder 22d and not bung in ‘Q’UE for 007’s tech wizard.
    Staring at D_Q(U)A_E wondering whether just to guess a word when I realised my folly.
    That said, this was one of the most enjoyable QC’s I can remember, awash with (imho) really clever clue constructs.
    FOI: GROWTH
    LOI: DICTATE
    COD: CHATEAU
    A very big thank you to Joker & Merlin

  27. Was rushing through this at pace, I thought it was fairly straight forwards, however in my haste I had Persecute and Prom 🙁

  28. No problems, easier than the usual Joker, and without the usual annoying ‘two at the end that I can’t get my head around for too long’. Liked NOURISHMENT and CHATEAU. I also started with a tentative PROM before PROSECUTE steered me to the more acceptable FORM.

  29. I always find the Joker takes me to the limit of my target, and today was no exception as I finished a few seconds over at 10.09. A few hesitations on the way where I had to stop myself biffing PENTATHLON for 13dn (which would have annoyed me as it had one too many letters), and ENNUI as I wasn’t sure that dissatisfaction fitted the definition as I always thought it had previously been defined as boredom.

  30. I had difficulty getting started but once going I progressed smoothly to a 15 minute solve with everything parsed. I was another one who wanted 8ac to be prom but I thought the definition was a bit weak so left it until 2dn eventually put paid to the idea.

    FOI – 14ac CRUISE
    LOI – 19dn TRACE
    CODs – 1ac SPICK AND SPAN and 7dn NOURISHING

    Thanks to Joker and Merlin.

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