Quick Cryptic 1384 by Joker

Author   CuraristPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Mainly straightforward with a couple of stiffer ones. It took me a while to spot 4dn, tried to put a Y in 8ac because it’s too early in the morning and I can’t spell. a shade under 10 minutes for me.

Across
1 Like beauty of elaborate pine desk (4-4)
SKIN-DEEP – anagram (‘elaborate’) of PINE DESK
5 Potato with small pudding (4)
SPUD – S + PUD
8 Prince confused about His Excellency’s code (8)
ENCIPHER – anagram (‘confused’) of PRINCE with HE (His Excellency) inside. HE is often indicated by ‘ambassador’ in the 15×15
9 Good, clear network (4)
GRID -G + RID
11 Some concur I offer something odd (5)
CURIO – hidden word, indicated by the classic trigger ‘some’: conCUR I Offer
12 Acquire professional remedy (7)
PROCURE – PRO + CURE
13 Sycophant men say needs to change (3,3)
YES MAN – anagram (‘needs to change’) of MEN SAY
15 Measurement system encountered has even elements of pre-Inca (6)
METRIC – MET + alternate letters of pRe-InCa
18 Note less industrious glass fitter (7)
GLAZIER – G + LAZIER
19 Walkway in supermarket is dividing beer (5)
AISLE – IS inside ALE
21 Certainly, old girl (4)
OKAY – O (old) + KAY (girl)
22 Lionheart losing head and running? Not him (8)
ANTIHERO – anagram (‘running’) of (L)IONHEART without the first letter
23 Initially mixed with everybody in shopping area (4)
MALL – M (first letter of MIXED) + ALL
24 Relaxed first gesture from conductor (8)
DOWNBEAT – double definition

Down
1 Son sailing boat on Friday, ultimately a bit rough (7)
SKETCHY – S + KETCH (two-masted sailing boat) + Y (last letter of FRIDAY)
2 Suffer with one new dog that’s aggressive (5)
INCUR – I + N + CUR
3 Like foreign relations getting certificate on time, I note (10)
DIPLOMATIC – DIPLOMA + T + I + C (note)
4 Central indexing deemed acceptable for one paying no tax (6)
EXEMPT – This might trip up a few. It’s the central two letters of three words: indEXing deEMed accePTable
6 Sound of contentment about girl’s follower (7)
PURSUER – PURR with SUE inside
7 Avoid Venetian magistrate imprisoning daughter (5)
DODGE – DOGE with D inside
10 Restraint in allocation under way (10)
MODERATION – MODE (way) + RATION
14 Coastal barrier cutting velocity of rising waves and everything (3,4)
SEA WALL – ‘waves’ rising would be SEVAW, cut V for velocity makes SEAW, add ALL for everything
16 Revolutionary part of plant used in cigar (7)
CHEROOT – CHE (mass-murdering Argentine racist who I would prefer didn’t appear so blandly in crosswords, let alone glorified on T-shirts) + ROOT
17 Public Record Office not working quickly (6)
PRONTO – PRO + anagram (‘working’) of NOT
18 Chap at wedding in grand space (5)
GROOM – G + ROOM
20 Took action against eastern leather (5)
SUEDE – SUED (took action against) + E

26 comments on “Quick Cryptic 1384 by Joker”

  1. Whistled through that (by my standards) in 6 mins – except for the one I never got, DOWNBEAT. So a DNF, grrr. I think “relaxed” is a rubbish definition for “downbeat”, which usually means gloomy or depressed. The closest Collins gets is “deliberately casual and not enthusiastic”, but that ain’t “relaxed” either. I know from experience that Jack will now produce several dictionaries proving me wrong! COD EXEMPT. Thanks for blogging, curarist.

    Templar

    1. ODE gives ‘relaxed and understated’ as its 2d meaning of the adjective, the 1st being ‘pessimistic or gloomy’.
        1. Kevin beat me to it, but since you were kind enough to give me a name-check, if you were looking at Collins online, scroll down to the ‘in British’ section and you will find ‘relaxed’ as the third entry. It’s in the printed version too!

          1. For Pete’s sake. So it does. I am finding it very hard to retain a downbeat attitude about this.
  3. I actually managed to spot the EX in EXEMPT and then wonder for a while where the EMPT came from. Didn’t know it could be a person. 4:15.
  4. 10 minutes but so nearly went over my target time with EXEMPT and ENCIPHER both proving a little problematic.
  5. On the wavelength straight away with this one, missing a clean sweep by 1 clue, ANTIHERO, which was thus my LOI. COD to the neat OKAY. 3:37
  6. 10.52 but last 3 mins on alphabet trawls for what went on front of RATION at 10D and for 21 where I contemplated momentarily whether OGAL was a word but happily kept looking…

    NeilC

  7. I found this quite tricky too. Took me a while to find the ex + em + pt – clever that ! I enjoyed this in the main – thanks all. I do agree with the comment about downbeat. It does nearly always mean gloomy or similar. relaxed is an obscure use. Just because it’s in a dictionary doesnt make it fair 🙂
  8. I reached my 20 minute target with just 24A and 10D to go. Five minutes later I got MODERATION, and in another five I gave up on DOWNBEAT. I would never have thought of it as ‘relaxed’ (although it is) and I didn’t know the orchestral term, which made the double definition rather difficult!

    Brian

    Edited at 2019-06-28 10:09 am (UTC)

  9. I thought there was a lot to enjoy in this puzzle from Joker. A good mix, with a few tricky ones to balance out the more straightforward clues. 24 mins (or one and a half services… ), with 24ac my CoD (sorry Templar) – I needed all the crossers to see what was going on, but still a nice penny drop moment. Invariant
  10. I chugged through without many problems, although I was held up for a while by ANTIHERO, DOWNBEAT and MODERATION. Scraped in under my target at 9:26. Thanks Joker and Curarist.
  11. Good puzzle. LOI MODERATION. Similar time to yesterday (and the rest of the week +/- a minute). I seem to be stuck in a rut of going very quickly (even with some clues that others found challenging) and then hitting a rough patch with other clues that are straightforward when they click. Thanks to Joker and curarist. John M.
  12. I also gave up on DOWNBEAT. May be in the dictionary, but not in my vocabulary in that meaning at least.
    PlayUpPompey
  13. Apart from a definition for relaxed, which would have never occurred to me, I’m not sure about conductor’s first gesture. Different conductors- different techniques. Anyway, the first gesture is probably to acknowledge the applause as he/she walks on! Still, really enjoyed this puzzle.
  14. Thanks. Not quite a PB. I have been faster 2 or 3 times, but I’m not often below 4 minutes. PB is 3:02 in Feb this year.
  15. All done in 20 minutes with Moderation LOI before just 24 across remained. Gave up after approx 5 minutes and don’t believe I would have ever got it.
    Pleased to get everything else including Encipher and Exempt quickly,
    Thanks all
    John George
  16. We join the comments about 24a, downbeat, despite the dictionaries. Quick solve until stumped by that clue.
  17. ….and didn’t time it as I was in a noisy bar in Chester. I’d guess around 4 minutes, with COD the clever EXEMPT.
  18. Done in a quiet bar in Ealing so no real excuse for 6’15”. Couldn’t see the anagram in 22a for the life of me. Otherwise quite straightforward, really liked EXEMPT, very much a 15×15 clue.
    My usual but still earnest thanks to setter and blogger.
  20. Held up at the end by PRONTO and DOWNBEAT, which I also found to be a bit of a stretch for relaxed. Otherwise all good fun, completed in 14.28.
    Thanks for the blog

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