Times Quick Cryptic No 1363 by Wurm

Author   TheRotterPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Well I took 17 minutes – 2 over target – as I am still getting accustomed to Wurm’s style.  However, as long as you are familiar with the movers and shakers of Quantum Physics, Jane Austen’s oeuvre and a bit of geography, there should be nothing here to cause any real problems.

Thanks Wurm for a nice work out with a few little challenges.  Solvers and wannabe solvers, do let us know how you got on.

Across
1         Firm needs million to guarantee settlement (10)
COMPROMISE – CO (firm) and M{illion} with PROMISE (guarantee). 
8  National Trust engages a certain ensemble (5)
NONET – NT (N{ational} T{rust}) engages (includes) ONE (a certain) to give the name for a composition for 9 performers (ensemble).  I wondered about ‘certain’ being redundant for a while, but ‘A’ on its own is indefinite, whereas ‘ONE’ is defined in my Chambers as ‘a certain’.
9 Polite knight coming in to buy fish (7)
GENTEEL – GET (buy) and EEL (fish) surrounding (coming in) N (Knight in chess notation).  GENTEEL means well-bred or graceful or polite.
10  Eccentric man adored group of stars (9)
ANDROMEDA – Anagram (eccentric) of [MAN ADORED].  ANDROMEDA is a constellation in the Northern sky.
12 Trouble encountered in Porthmadog (3)
ADO – Hidden in the spelling of the small Welsh coastal town {porthm}ADO{g}.
13 Jack is dishonest person (5)
KNAVE – Double definition, the first being alternate names for the same court card in a deck of cards, and the second referring to a dishonest or deceitful man.
15  Excellent daughter returned to home land (5)
INDIA – A1 (excellent) and D{aughter} reversed (returned) following IN (home) to give INDIA, the most populous democracy in the world.
17  Disturbance curtailed in South American city (3)
RIO – RIO{t} is the disturbance, dropping the last letter (curtailed).  RIO is the second most populous municipality in Brazil with about 12m inhabitants, about 100 times smaller than the population of India at 1.3b, but about 7 times more densely populated than the sub-continent.
18  Compiler is ready – solver reportedly unprepared (9)
IMPROMPTU – I’M (compiler is) PROMPT (ready) U (solver reportedly – sounds like ‘you’).  IMPROMPTU can mean spontaneous or unrehearsed (i.e. unprepared).
20  Hilly region ahead with lights (7)
UPLANDS – UP (ahead) and LANDS (lights, as in dismounts).
21  Heading for border (5)
BOUND – Double definition
22  Belief in Jane Austen’s work (10)
PERSUASION – Double definition, the second referring to Jane Austen’s last completed novel.

Down
1         Cross river shortly after two vessels (12)
CANTANKEROUS – CAN (our first vessel) and TANKER (the second) followed by OUS{e} (river, shortly, i.e. drop the last letter).  CANTANKEROUS becomes my WoD.
2  European in intelligence worked underground (5)
MINED – E(uropean) inside MIND (intelligence).  Perhaps a question mark is needed, as it is possible to have MINED without working underground, as in open-caste or surface mining.
3  Rubbish from Jethro Tull (3)
ROT – Hidden in {jeth}RO T{ull}.  I like to think this is referring to the Rock Band rather than the Agriculturist they are named after – Song for Jeffrey anyone?
4  French painter drinks gallon in attractive bar (6)
MAGNET – MANET (French painter) around (drinks) G{allon}.  Maybe another question mark needed, as not all MAGNETs are bars.  This is a contender for CoD.
5  Romanians ransacked small republic (3,6)
SAN MARINO – Anagram (ransacked) of [ROMANIANS].
6  Artist, detained outside, produces trumpet (6)
HERALD – RA (artist, from Royal Academician) with HELD (detained) outside it.
7  Without warning disorder alas unfolded (3,2,1,6)
ALL OF A SUDDEN – Anagram (disorder) of [ALAS UNFOLDED]
11  Previously guards live and die, showing respect (9)
OBEDIENCE – ONCE (previously) outside (guards) BE (live) and DIE (die).
14 God appearing in an election round (6)
APOLLO –  A (an) POLL (election) and O (round).  Nice clue!
16  Works bringing power into Cockney homes? (6)
OPUSES – ‘OUSES (cockney homes, dropping the aitch from hOUSES) and inserting P(ower).
19  Pilau cooked for physicist (5)
PAULI – Anagram (cooked) of [PILAU].  Wolfgang Ernst PAULI was a pioneer in Quantum Physics.
21  Stole pig that has no tail (3)
BOA – BOA{r} is the pig with no tail (dropped last letter), and it is a stole over one’s shoulder rather than a past act of theft.  Awarded CoD for the misdirection.

24 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1363 by Wurm”

  1. 10:40 for me. I had trouble getting started since none of the first clues I looked at fell on a first reading. But no complaints. I biffed OBEISANCE without bothering with the wordplay, which I think is a better answer for “showing respect”, although of course, the wordplay gives slightly different letters.
  2. Only in just under the wire at 10 minutes today. DK PAULI but it was obviously going to be an anagram of ‘pilau’ and even without checkers in place the answer wasn’t likely to be anything else.
  3. Just scraped under 24 minutes.
    Was cantankerous at first as I found it hard to get going, but then finished all of a sudden.

    We also have a perv then ap in the 4th column.

    Fav clues: genteel, magnet, and herald.

    Edited at 2019-05-30 07:04 am (UTC)

  4. Like therotter, I still find Wurm quite difficult to fathom. Some easy clues but some difficult ones scattered round the grid and I found it difficult to piece things together smoothly. Like flashman, I found it came together in a rush at the end but, unlike him, I ended up just the wrong side of 25mins. Quite enjoyed it though. I liked OBEDIENCE and CANTANKEROUS, IMPROMPTU, COMPROMISE, and OPUSES. LOI was HERALD. Thanks to Wurm for a good workout and therotter for a good, crisp blog. John M.

    Edited at 2019-05-30 07:47 am (UTC)

  5. More difficult than a few recent puzzles but a very enjoyable 29 minutes. I only had RIO at the end of the across clues so I panicked and looked up the novel, but it went steadily after that with just a few clues semi-parsed.
    LOI was OBEDIENCE, favourites were MAGNET and APOLLO.
    Brian
  6. Like Paulmcl, I biffed OBEISANCE at 11d, then changed it to OBEDIENCE when the wordplay didn’t work. Appropriately for a blog by therotter, ROT was my FOI. CANTANKEROUS was my LOI as I waited for the crossers to help. I was of the persuasion to include PAULI, and with a sudden BOUND all was complete. Nice puzzle. 8:07. Thanks Wurm and rotter.
    1. Likewise with OBEISANCE/OBEDIENCE. Held up for nearly a minute at the end with PERSUASION as I DNK the Jane Austen novel so I was working on just the one definition. 7:01
  7. A puzzle of two halves for me with the top half going in with barely a pause before becoming very stuck in the bottom. OBEDIENCE, IMPROPMPTU and OPUSES proved particularly stubborn before having to resort to alphabet trawls for the unknown Jane Austen novel.
    Collapsed over the line in 22.09 with today’s favourite being MAGNET.
    Thanks for the blog
  8. There wasn’t much of that, although “Passion Play” might be a contender. I saw them live at the APOLLO in Manchester a couple of times.

    Missed my 5 minute target, and found this quite chewy for a QC.

    I was another who immediately thought “obeisance”, but I resisted entering it. DNK PAULI, but “Plaui” looked unlikely. Nice to see MINED clued without it being “denim” reversed (or vice versa).

    FOI NONET
    LOI CANTANKEROUS – a contender, but….
    COD IMPROMPTU
    TIME 5:28

  9. Couldn’t get into this one – particularly SW corner. Not really in the mood and stopped after 25 still needing Apollo Uplands Opuses Obedience Persuasion Bound and Boa.
    Thanks all
    John George
  10. Made hard work of this. Not seen plural of opus before and lost time over this and also looking for an anagram on 7d from disorder alas. Not one of our better days!
  11. I must admit I nearly biffed JEFFREYGOESTOLEICESTERSQUARE for 3dn but it didn’t fit.

    Overall a bit on the tricky side but enjoyable.

    Thanks for the blog.

  12. I believe the more usual plural is opera, which is where the European musicals of that ilk get their name from.
  13. Great stuff from Wurm today. COD to MAGNET.
    I have just left Preston platform 4 on the train back to London. I was not thick as a brick today – 18 minutes.
  14. I came to this quite late in the day and found it properly difficult. In hindsight, I can’t see why, all perfectly fairly clued with no unknown GK or words. Maybe it’s the pre-dinner glass of something whilst sitting on the banks of the River Wye, looking across at the outrageously beautiful view of Ross-on-Wye.
    8’25”
  15. Finished in 30 minutes have only come back to quick crossword after 2 years slogging over the main crossword which i now finish most days but over time.
    Now coming back to the quick crossword i am finding it more demanding than i remember perhaps it is just a different mind set or maybe it has become more demanding always enjoy reading the posts which gve encouragement.
  16. 36 minutes. After 20 minutes, my target time, I still had 9 clues to complete. I have no idea why I found it so tough! Thanks to Wurm for the workout and to Rotter for all the explanations. MM
    FOI: ADO
    LOI: OPUSES
    COD: IMPROMPTU or perhaps CANTANKEROUS
  17. Which means hard work as in toil compared with magnum opus which means great work.
    They are both 3rd declension neuter so the plurals are onera and opera.
    Usually anything in Latin with the suffix -us is 2nd declension masculine. Eg dominus and it’s plural domini. Hence the mistake of magnus opus which makes scholars cringe.
    Opuses is new to me. Where is the world on Latin plurals these days eg stadia/stadiums.? Or should we just use emojis (or is that already a plural? 🤣)
    1. I so agree with you. I was horrified by OPUSES – it is so clumsy! MM
    2. The problem is that we speak English where Latin rules of grammar don’t necessarily apply. All the usual sources (Collins, Chambers, Concise Oxford) recognise usage and list OPUSES as the primary plural form of ‘opus’ with ‘opera’ as a secondary alternative.
    3. imo:

      if you’re referring to an ancient measure of length, then the plural is “stadia”
      if you’re referring to a sporting arena, then it’s “stadiums”

      similarly with words like fora/forums – where the meaning has changed, use the anglicised version

  18. Meaty but enjoyable puzzle. FOI PAULI, being a physicist myself. Always nice to see through mis-direction quickly, which I did with COD MAGNET. Last two in were IMPROMPTU and OPUSES. Would say this took me longer than usual, with BOA the most obscure word for me – I have heard it used in this sense, but it was buried deep in the recesses of my mind.
  19. Quantum physics left me on runway. Whole mission took longer than usual

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