Quick Cryptic 739 by Rongo

Author   galsprayPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
5:47 to complete this one.  So that’s four more or less standard Quickies in a row after Izetti started the year off with a bang on Monday.

Nice offering this from Rongo, with a variety of clue structures in play, including the relatively rare triple definition.

Now on with the job…

Clues are reproduced in blue, with the definition underlined.  Anagram indicators are bolded and italicised.  Then there’s the answer IN BOLD, followed by the parsing of the wordplay.  (ABC)* means ‘anagram of ABC’.

Across
1 Line used in print run (4)
DASH – Double def
3 Light musical seen back in latter epoch (8)
OPERETTA – Reverse hidden (seen back) in lATTER EPOch
8 Dog to reach across field without boundaries (7)
SPANIEL – SPAN (to reach across) + {f}IEL{d} (field without boundaries)
10 Father badly ruffled strip of cloth (5)
FRILL – FR (father) + ILL (badly)
11 In a neighbouring valley, or past it? (4,3,4)
OVER THE HILL – Double def, one literal and one proverbial
13 A constant fraction of dollar, in a manner of speaking (6)
ACCENT – A + C (constant) + CENT (fraction of dollar)
15 Banqueter ignoring a brew (6)
FESTER – FE{A}STER (banqueter), ignoring ‘A’
17 Upper-class art initial adjusting makes functional (11)
UTILITARIAN – U (upper-class) + (ART INITIAL)*
Keep an eye out for “posh” or “upper-class” to clue U.  Very common in Crosswordland.  U and non-U were terms coined in the 1950’s to distinguish between linguistic usages of different classes.  Think I’d be non-U.
20 Frequently aged less than eleven (5)
OFTEN – OF TEN
At the age of ten, you’re aged less than eleven, but somehow this clue doesn’t quite gel for me.
21 Immature, undefiled island, we hear (7)
PUERILE – Homophone (we hear) of PURE (undefined) + ISLE (island)
Well, sort of.
22 Suspenseful film’s human resources beset by director at sea? (8)
THRILLER – HR (human resources) “beset by” TILLER (director at sea)
Director at sea.  Nice.
23 Dark blue vehicle reversing at back of alley (4)
NAVY – NAV [VAN (vehicle) reversing] + Y (back of alley)
Down
1 Throwing away iPod, lass is upset (8)
DISPOSAL – (IPOD LASS)*
2 Son to accept post (5)
STAKE – S (son) + TAKE (accept)
4 Friend rented platform in warehouse, say (6)
PALLET – PAL (friend) + LET (rented)
Friend of mine once had the job of trying to account for the six million CHEP pallets that had gone missing around the world.  Not sure how many he found.
5 Match official with gear (ecstasy, speed) to chill (11)
REFRIGERATE – REF (match official) + RIG (gear) + E (ecstasy) + RATE (speed)
Times setters aren’t just experts on music, religion, literature and plants.  They’re also very drug-savvy.
6 Journey allowed one of three to share birthday (7)
TRIPLET – TRIP (journey) + LET (allowed)
Of course, they might not share a birthday.  In fact, here’s a challenge….be the first commenter to explain how it’s possible for naturally-born twins (with no significant birthing delays) to have their birthdays three days apart.
7 Tool for cutting around left wheel shaft (4)
AXLE – AXE (tool for cutting) atound L (left)
9 Deliberate sabotage of online titan (11)
INTENTIONAL – (ONLINE TITAN)*
12 Grand publicity incorporated small cathedral city (8)
PRINCELY – PR (publicity) + INC (incorporated small) + ELY (cathedral city)
14 Man on board to speak against serving area (7)
COUNTER – Triple def!
The first def references a marker in a board game.
16 Faint prayer to lose last depression evident in face? (6)
DIMPLE – DIM (faint) + [PLE{A} (prayer) to lose last]
18 Informal business in Iowa or Mediterranean island (5)
IBIZA – BIZ (informal business) in IA (Iowa)
From what I’ve seen on TV, it looks like it would be worth travelling a long way to avoid this place.
19 Female also overturned base (4)
FOOT – F (female) + OOT [TOO (also) ‘overturned’]

25 comments on “Quick Cryptic 739 by Rongo”

  1. Cheers. LOI PRINCELY which took me a little while even though I could see that it probably ended in -ELY. Luckily most of the other long words were clued with anagrams.
  2. DNK PALLET, so that took me a while. As did PRINCELY, even though I assumed that ELY was in there somewhere; taking ‘small’ to be S slowed me down a bunch. 6:31.
  3. Jack is born at 23:55 on Feb 28, 2015 ; Jill is born ten minutes later. In 2016 they share birthdays three days apart.
      2. So: maybe they were born either side of midnight on one of those days when the calendar moved from Julian to Gregorian. That could account for up to eleven days, I think.
        1. Not bad Merlin. The approved answer is that the first twin is born just before midnight on Feb 27 of a non-leap year. The second twin is born just after midnight, and just after the ship they’re on (oh, did I mention they were on a ship?) crosses the international date line, travelling west.

          So their birthdays are Feb 27 and March 1 respectively, which are three days apart in a leap year.

  4. 21:21, another good time. LOI was PUERILE, many words fit those checkers and I fancied PRE or PREM for ‘immature’, otherwise I might have posted a rare sub-20. Expect some complaints about “pure-isle” not sounding like “puerile”. COD for OVER THE HILL, great double def and surface, classic clueing. I always use double defs like this to explain the attraction of cryptics, clues constructed out of ingredients such as 5d tend to evoke disbelief.
  5. Not so easy for me, this one at 14 minutes. I struggled a bit with UTILITARIAN and two or three others in the SE corner. At 23ac I considered RACY (vehicle = CAR reversed + {alle}Y) in the sense of “risque”, and “blue” in the clue could mean “indecent”, but I was given pause for thought by “dark blue” and the correct answer then came to mind. But for “dark” I’d have claimed an alternative answer. I’ve no problem with the dodgy homophone; one has to expect them as one size never fits all.

    Edited at 2017-01-06 05:44 am (UTC)

    1. I followed exactly the same lines of thought on 23ac but then had various in the top half to tidy up. Loi pallet – excellent cluing had me trying to fit in ‘tier’. Unusually just ahead of Jack at 12 mins.
    2. I followed exactly the same lines of thought on 23ac but then had various in the top half to tidy up. Loi pallet – excellent cluing had me trying to fit in ‘tier’. Unusually just ahead of Jack at 12 mins.
  6. and Alan Ross who gave us U and non-U back in the fifties.

    WOD GAULSPRAY?

    This was slightly on the tricky side and took me one Jumbo Jet to complete.

    COD 12dn PRINCELY

    Edited at 2017-01-06 07:07 am (UTC)

      1. Ross only published in Finland! Nancy took the plaudits.

        Edited at 2017-01-06 10:58 am (UTC)

  7. Well, if John Smith (and his twin brother Moe) are born on the 1st, and Mary Jones (and her twin sister Helga) are born 3 days later, …
  8. Good end to the week. After today’s 15×15, a great puzzle, was seeking out odd allusions, did find a couple, possibly. 7′ thanks gal and Rongo.

  9. Well that’s been a week of ups and downs. Needed a second sitting to complete the SE corner today, with 12, 15 and 21 all proving tricky. Some very nice clues, with 14 and 22 my favourites. Invariant
  10. …with the time lost in the SE corner and, briefly, the wrong end of the Mediterranean.
  11. I didn’t think this was as straightforward as others, and there’s definitely a few clues to trip you up, 12dn especially. Was I looking for a word for “grand publicity” or a cathedral city? Neither as it turned out! 16dn and 21 were also tricky and took me a while to get. I often feel I’m not on Rongo’s wavelength. Gribb.

  12. 41 mins
    COD 5d, very funny.
    Couldn’t parse 14d man on board
    and 16d PLE for plea so thanks
  13. I thought most of this was of about average difficulty but the SE felt like a step up. My last 3 in (16d, 18d and 21a) proved to be a bit of a challenge. Completed in 17 minutes, COD 1a (not sure why now but at the time it made me smile).
  14. As often happens, my solving experience mirrored plet11. I had to stop after 15 minutes with three left -16d, 21a and 12d. I got these fairly quickly after my return, with 21a last one in. Under 20 minutes in total.
    I thought this was of average difficulty. Liked 5d. David
  15. 12dn I was looking for an awkward anagram of Coventry meaning publicity, d’oh…
    1. Worth noting that that would be an indirect anagram, which is a no-no in Times puzzles. The anagrist (the letters to be used in the anagram) will always appear in the clue itself.
      1. Thanks for the tip galspray, I fell into the same trap with QC 744 clue 14d, looking for a anagram of “superior” to make a Brazilian port. Got there in the end (with a little help), must try to remember next time!

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