Quick Cryptic 987 by Mara

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A neat and entertaining puzzle from Mara this morning, with no hold-ups or unfamiliar vocabulary. Thanks to our setter.

Definitions underlined.

Across
1 Hanger-on, where jumping soldiers found? (8)
PARASITE – cryptic definition. One might find soldiers from the Parachute Regiment at this site.
5 Fraud when computers backed up (4)
SCAM – MACS (computers) reversed (backed up).
9 Fruit old, as it happens (5)
OLIVE – O (old) and LIVE (as it happens).
10 Elation after moving something on foot (7)
TOENAIL – anagram of (after moving) ELATION.
11 Day before some revelry (3)
EVE – hidden in (some) rEVElry.
12 Hot, brewed in red mug, wonderful thing (9)
HUMDINGER – H (hot) then an anagram of (brewed) IN RED MUG.
13 Certain to keep leaders of every country safe (6)
SECURE – SURE (certain) surrounding (to keep) first letters (leaders) of Every Country.
15 Public school distress (6)
HARROW – double definition.
17 Cheat exactly behind joker (4,5)
CARD SHARP – SHARP (exactly) after CARD (joker).
19 Hair somewhat scruffy, viewed from behind (3)
FUR – reverse (viewed from behind) hidden in (somewhat) scRUFfy.
20 Thus a monarch is very wet (7)
SOAKING – SO (thus) and A KING (a monarch).
21 Nation in debt, in arrears initially (5)
INDIA – IN, then first letters of (initially) Debt In Arrears.
22 However, one is a legendary monster (4)
YETI – YET (however) and I (one)
23 Estimate cooking with the most beef, say? (8)
MEATIEST – anagram of (cooking) ESTIMATE.
Down
1 Mastery of witty leaders in the newspapers (7)
PROWESS – first letters of (leaders) Of and Witty inside PRESS (the newspapers).
2 Tossed her in river (5)
RHINE – anagram of (tossed) HER IN.
3 Traditional food dishes here, 2p off (9,3)
SHEPHERDS PIE – anagram of (off) DISHES HERE with PP (2p).
4 Carry mark — symbol (5)
TOTEM – TOTE (carry) and M (mark).
6 Batteries may be attached to this horse (7)
CHARGER – double definition.
7 Second half of larger tooth (5)
MOLAR – MO (moment, second) and half of LARger.
8 Mark, fractionally wrong on medical tip (7,5)
DECIMAL POINT – anagram of (wrong) ON MEDICAL TIP.
14 Fruit in stream, did you say? (7)
CURRANT – homophone of (did you say?) “current” (stream).
16 Permit fighting rhetoric (7)
WARRANT – WAR (fighting) and RANT (rhetoric).
17 Copper retiring, needing little work (5)
CUSHY – CU (copper) and SHY (retiring).
18 Corner, where top cut from knot (5)
ANGLE – first letter taken (top cut) from tANGLE (knot).
19 Manipulate confectionery (5)
FUDGE – double definition.

16 comments on “Quick Cryptic 987 by Mara”

  1. 15 minutes. I struggled with this one in the early hours following a tiring day. After years of practice I seem to be getting slower!

    Edited at 2017-12-20 07:33 am (UTC)

  2. 21 minutes but carelessly submitted prematurely with one clue outstanding. Lots of anagrams today but they were cleverly disguised I thought.

    Last three were shepherd’s pie, parasite, and cushy.

    I had buti for a brief moment in 22a, the legendary sandwich monster.

    I liked Rhine, meatiest, and cushy, but COD to shepherd’s pie, great anagram and a little unusual with the 2p.

  3. My LOI was 8d, for some reason; I had the POINT but just couldn’t come up with the DECIMAL for what seemed like forever. I also tried to make an anagram of HOT RED MUG. 6:08.
    1. Same experience here with my LOI. It didn’t help that I’d also spent time considering PAINT and PRINT before I worked out it was an anagram… Just pushed me over ten minutes.
  4. That was the question.

    SHEPHERD’S PIE LOI for me as I failed to spot the effect of 2p … very neat!

    Nice puzzle in the medium bracket for me, thank you Mara. What joy to discover that you can make TOENAIL out of elation.

    I was the reverse of Kevin – I saw DECIMAL straight away but then carelessly wrote in PLACE without checking the anagrist. Sorted out when I got to INDIA.

    Thanks to William for the blog.

    Templar

  5. Bang on my target of 15 minutes, with no real hold-ups, but with CUSHY and YETI as last two in, for no very good reason.
  6. Tough for me today – 40 minutes! I have absolutely no idea why as in retrospect it looks quite straightforward. I just wasn’t on Mara’s wavelength today. Very good for me.
  7. SHEPHERDS PIE defeated me. Didn’t spot the anagram, and certainly didn’t spot the relevance of 2p. To be honest I struggled throughout with this one. Enjoyed 1ac though.
    PlayUpPompey
  8. PARASITE tripped off the end of my fingers as I read the clue, and I progressed steadily around the grid with 3d resisting until the very end. CUSHY took a minute to see. TISA didn’t make sense as a fraud, so I needed MOLAR and CHARGER before the light dawned. The penny dropped on 3d just as I was about to write it out on paper. 10:03. Nice puzzle. Thanks Mara and William.
  9. plus a few breaks and I cracked it! that’s 3/3 this far this week which is a record for this kid!
    a couple of write-ins for me, but it seemed steady thereafter with a cup of tea helping the completion.
    COD 23a: I just didn’t see it and thought it was cleverly disguised.
    LOI 10a: similar to COD …
    thanks Mara & William.
    Carl
  10. I surprised myself by correctly biffing a few of these along the way, and thought a rare sub 30min finish was in sight. Should have known better: the 5ac/6d pairing just wouldn’t come to mind for ages, pushing me out to 35 mins. 12ac, Humdinger, was my favourite as it’s such an unusual word – derived apparently from merging hummer and dinger, with all three words meaning (roughly) a good thing. Invariant
  11. The two long down clues held me up the most today as my iffy ability to spot anagrams reared it’s head again. I also tried to make an anagram out of hot red mug at 12a for a while despite seeing what the answer should be.
    Despite these hold ups I completed it in 15 minutes with LOI 3d and COD 1a and WOD 12a.
    Thanks for the blog
  12. West side went in nicely but then I ground to a halt. On the second sitting raced through most of the clues that had left me stumped a couple of hours earlier. Left with 10a and 19d, finally realised 10a was an anagram, I utterly fell for the trap set by “after” and was trying to make up a charade of a word to mean elation after one meaning “moving something” to give foot. F_D_E took an age – OK once I’d realised it must be after a second round of alphabet trawl but not a word I have previously associated with manipulate. Solving time – about six hours.
  13. Filled everything in in 7 minutes apart from totem which nobody else seemed to have a problem with. Funny the blindspots that we individually have!
  14. I think you’ll find that the answer to 23a is in fact FEETMEAT, a culinary term for the estimate of cooking time for beef, specifically. For other red meats, the term varies – FLEECEMEAT for lamb, SHEEPMEAT for mutton and SEATMEAT for leather.

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