Quick cryptic No 583 by Pedro

Author   TheRotterPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
15 minutes, so at the harder end of the spectrum for me, with a couple of more difficult or unusual words to grapple with.  It is also unusual that this grid contains no 7-letter words – it has long been my belief that 7-letters is more common in crosswordland than in language generally, but that is based on no science whatsoever.

The less common vocabulary (14, 3, 5, 13) may cause a problem or two, but the clues are generous enough to make it all fair and above board.  I enjoyed this, so thanks to Pedro.

Definitions are underlined, anagrams indicated by [square brackets] and deletions with {curly ones}

Across
1  Virginia with hat is perfectly OK (5)
VALID – VA (Virginia) with LID for hat, as in ‘skid lid’
7  Work on furniture tore blush badly(9)
UPHOLSTER – anagram of [TORE BLUSH] with ‘badly’ as the indicator
9  Section of chin as a location of facial feature (5)
NASAL – hidden, indicated by section of, in {chi}N AS A L{ocation}
10  Defeat vet and friend (9)
CHECKMATE – to vet is to CHECK with MATE as the friend
11  Bird subsequently losing head (3)
HEN – subsequently is {t}HEN with the first letter dropped (losing head)
12  Almost daring to tuck into food for the good of one’s health (9)
MEDICINAL – daring is DICIN{g} with the last letter dropped (almost), all tucked into MEAL
14  Offender is soldier perhaps behind nasty crimes (9)
MISCREANT – an ANT (of the soldier persuasion) behind an anagram (indicated by nasty) of [CRIMES], gives us the first of our slightly more difficult words
16  Cut down highest vegetable (3)
PEA – highest in this case is PEA{k}, which has been cut down (dropped the last letter) to give what for me is the acceptable face of vegetables
18  Regarding joint pain, arranged him a cure – about time (9)
RHEUMATIC – anagram (indicated by arranged) of [HIM A CURE] around T{ime}
20  Go into the heart of America, not the capital (5)
ENTER – in the US of A they spell ‘centre’ {c}ENTER.  The first letter is dropped (not the capital)
21  Area in Spain – and a large one in USA (9)
ANDALUSIA – AND (and) A (a) L{arge} followed by a I (one) in USA.  A kind of flat-pack clue (assemble it from the instructions) for the rocky area in the south of Spain, home of tapas and flamenco – I wonder if that is where Pedro hails from?
22  No extra money after dismissing one Scandinavian (5)
NORSE – NO followed by R{i}SE, where rise is the extra money, and one is dismissed

Down
1  Disappear, rather like a motor vehicle? (6)
VANISH – double definition, the second one being a bit cryptic
2  Go wild in Revolutionary Paris? (4,4,4)
LOSE ONE’S HEAD – which is what happened to a lot of the people, particularly the upper echelon, in revolutionary Paris
3  Historic instrument: relic spattered with mud (8)
DULCIMER – anagram (indicated by spattered) of [RELIC] and [MUD].  A DULCIMER is either a primitive piano-like instrument where the hammers are hand-held or it’s a Jewish bagpipe.  Either way, it is another unusual word, at least for me, but it did ring a bell somewhere in the back of my mind.
4  Started to carry large protective item (6)
SHIELD – to start can be to shy, as in ‘SHIED away from’, and in this case L{arge} is included (carried)
5  Small piece, incomplete, gets criticism (4)
FLAK – the incomplete small piece is a FLAK{e}, and FLAK can be adverse criticism as well as anti-aircraft fire
6  Gold transaction is a difficult time (6)
ORDEAL – OR is gold with DEAL for the transaction
8  Railway devotee excited by stat in report (5,7)
TRAIN SPOTTER – straightforward anagram (excited) of [STAT IN REPORT]
13  Whale of an ace, etc, played (8)
CETACEAN – another anagram (indicated by played) of [AN ACE, ETC.], this time for another unusual word that I learned whilst reading Ishmael’s narrative (Moby Dick)
14  Human’s memory recalled most of story (6)
MORTAL – the memory referred to and reversed (recalled) is the ROM of computer fame, which is followed by most of TAL{e} to give MORTAL which can mean human as well as having other (and arguably more usual) definitions
15  Drawer of some of chart is thorough (6)
ARTIST – hidden (indicated by ‘some of’) {ch}ART IS T{horough}
17  A bit of poetry? Not inclined (6)
AVERSE – A plus VERSE (the bit of poetry) pushed together.
19  Graduate and lieutenant making whisky (4)
MALT – the grad is an MA with LT (the standard abbreviation for lieutenant – the (usually) thrusting young defence executive.  I was once one myself.)

30 comments on “Quick cryptic No 583 by Pedro”

  1. A bit of a mixture, with some write ins 8d, some clever clues, 21a for example, and some I hummed and hoed about, needed the blog to parse 20a can’t say I liked it even then, but on the other hand 9a one of the nicest hidden clues I have come across, great surface. Lovely misdirection in 4d. So all in all a thumbs up to Pedro and thanks therotter for the blog.
  2. Rather too many were easy to biff and parse afterwards. Strongly dislike the new online format where you can only see the clues one at a time. Katie Rose.
    1. I still seem to get the online crossword in a way that shows all the clues. It is very similar to the appearance in the actual paper version. Not sure if that helps but it shows that (somehow) this can still be done.
    2. What device are you using, Katie? I’ve seen that from time to time and I think on a PC or laptop you can change it by zooming out or using a different browser. Sorry to be vague but I can’t reproduce it just at the moment to be more specific.
    3. I use Internet explorer 11 and various older versions on a variety of PC’s, all of them give all of the clues.
  3. Having just started on my adventure with The Times crosswords, yesterday was the first quick cryptic I managed to complete. Today was the second in 34 minutes (just over 10 quicker than yesterday). I must admit that there were a few answers that I got but couldn’t fully parse until I read this blog (hen, medicinal, miscreant and enter). Not sure I would have ever parsed ‘enter’ though. Dulcimer and cetacean were words that I wouldn’t have put my house on, but I was quietly confident they had been plucked from the dark recesses of my brain. COD – mortal, LOI – miscreant
    1. Welcome Stefan, and good luck with your future Times adventure. It sounds like you are doing well enough so far with two out of two completed.
      1. Thank you, but it’s only 2 out of 2 when you consider the last 2 days. The first part of the week I didn’t manage to complete. But really struggling with the step up to the main crossword. Having had 2 blank days though, I have managed a couple of clues so far today, so slowly moving in the right direction 😊
        1. Try Rufus in the Guardian on a Monday (usually) – a good half way house. Invariant
  4. 10 minutes but got one wrong at 13dn where I put “catecean”. I’m not a fan of technical or obscure answers being clued as anagrams so that, unless one happens to know the word, having put in all the checkers one can only guess where the remaining letters go.
    1. As I have a science degree from a non-Oxbridge university, play hockey and have never been in the armed forces, it makes a refreshing change from the endless classics, military and cricket based answers. It is certainly no more obscure than dulcimer or Andalusia.
      1. With you on all counts, you’ll see me moaning about tired old abbreviations. In fact, my rant about ‘SA’ (sex appeal) for ‘it’ seemed to inspire a Times leader column a couple of weeks ago.
  5. I thought this was particularly enjoyable. Completed most of it in about 20 minutes but had to take a break to complete my LTI – the 14s. I was convinced for a while that 5d would start with an s, which held me up for a while. 13d I somehow managed to dredge from the memory once all the checkers were in place.
    COD was 4d for the misdirection – I was sure this one was going to start with a c.
  6. Two out of two is indeed very good for a beginner. Myself having banned biffing, lots of pauses for thought today. Liked 1d particularly. The DULCIMER is played by the Abyssinian maid in Kubla Khan. 6’18” today, thanks Pedro and Rotter.
  7. I thought this was very hard for a QC, or maybe I was just having a bad day. Either way it took the best part of an hour and I finished with a sense of relief rather than satisfaction. Invariant
  8. Found this the easiest of the week so far but biffed quite a few. Therefore thanks for explaining the parsing on these especially enter and mortal.
  9. A steady solve today, not helped by spelling Andalusia with a C for a while until I sussed the parsing and didn’t parse medicinal or shield at all, so thanks Rotter.

    I’ve got an Aerosmith album (Pump) with a track titled ‘Dulcimer Stomp’ on it – not sure if it’s a cover version though.

  10. Started meeting up with a friend once a week to have a go at qc. We failed yesterday but I’ve completed today’s in an hour. 1d made me chuckle. Enjoy the blog but havent a clue about biffing, parsing, COD, LOI etc can someone help out here? Thanks Pedro I enjoyed today’s xword and to the rotter for the blog.
    1. I was the same yesterday, and did a bit of Googling to find out haha

      COD = clue of day
      LOI = last one in (final answer entered into the grid)
      Parse = break down the clue into it’s component parts, to see the definition and the cryptic clues that come to the answer. In the blog, the definition is underlined and then it explains how the answer is corroborated using the rest of the clue
      Biff = entering an answer without fully understanding its parsing

  11. Unlike the blogger, I happened to find this one the easiest of the week so far. I suppose it is much like a quiz, if you happen to know the answer then the question is easy. Particularly liked 1dn and 2dn
    PlayupPompey
  12. Great blog thanks – having the “solution” rather than just the answer has more or less halved my times since I discovered the blog a couple of weeks ago

    On biffing – most of my answers are, at least in part! Only 1a today was totally solved from the cryptic, whereas 14d sat with the TAL in for a while, then got the M from Miscreant and was then biffed. As I am in IT its a bit embarrassing to not notice the MOR from “memory recalled”.

    COD – 1d made me chuckle

  13. 16:10

    I found this quite straightforward. Fortunate to have head of a DULCIMER while reading about historical pianos.

  14. Another good time, 19:37. Quite a bit of Biff-first-parse-second today. And thanks blogger for explaining ENTER, and MORTAL. I work in the computer business and haven’t heard ROM for quite some time.
    1. Thanks for support above – it would be great to see much more of the answers drawn from a wider pool, the reason neither of us got ROM was because there are so few IT terms ever used we are not expecting one, or science, or engineering, or economics, or construction, or business, or politics, or finance, or banking, or utilities, or electronics, or any sport except cricket, or entertainment later than the 60s, I could go on.
      1. I just looked at the main crossword answers – they are still using 1930s films – ho hum
  15. This took me 25 minutes and I thought there was a lot to enjoy especially 1d.
    I could not parse Enter so thank you Blogger for that. David
  16. Have been attempting QCs for a while now and although am steadily improving, I do always need the blog to finish them off. However, this one was one of my best and I thoroughly enjoyed it. COD 1d. Thanks for parsing help.
  17. I’ve been having a lot of success with the QCs lately but I realise now that I do a lot of biffing!

    Maybe I was having a bad day but this one was definitely too hard for me 🙁

    Edited at 2016-06-04 09:39 am (UTC)

  18. I realise now that I do a lot if biffing!

    Maybe I was having a bad day but this one was definitely too hard for me 🙁

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