Quick cryptic No 563 by Hawthorn

Author   TheRotterPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Some very nicely compact cluing today, with a nice mix of double definitions, anagrams, hidden and reverse hidden clues, using most of the weapons available in the Setter’s arsenal.  This took me 18 minutes today, which is either at the hard end of the spectrum, or could be a result of my brain not being fully functional at 05:30 this morning.  There is a clue to why that might be the case in the last answer below.

A nice puzzle from Hawthorn, thanks.

Definitions underlined: DD = double definition: {} deletions, [] anagram fodder

Across

1 See storm smashing county (8)
SOMERSET – anagram (smashing) of [see storm]
5 Noisily peel fruit (4)
PEAR – homophone or sounds like (noisily) peel, as in PARE – to peel or strip off the outer edge
9 I love wearing stupid expression (5)
IDIOM – I then O (love) inside (wearing) DIM (stupid)
10 Passed out at end if upset (7)
FAINTED – anagram (upset) of [at end if]
11 Spreadable paste a brunette put in a stew (6,6)
PEANUT BUTTER – anagram (in a stew) of [a brunette put]
13 Build up a team reportedly (6)
ACCRUE – sounds like (reportedly) a crew
15 Break alcove (6)
RECESS – straightforward DD
17 Lean one knee out, keeping centre of gravity balanced (2,2,4,4)
ON AN EVEN KEEL – anagram (out) of [Lean one knee] including (keeping) the middle letter (centre) of {gra}v{ity}
20 Letters from within Cairo and Lima, possibly (7)
AIRMAIL – middle letters of {C}air{o} with an anagram (possibly) of [Lima]
21 Rubbish piece of offal (5)
TRIPE – another straightforward DD
22 Sharply pull back king? No! (4)
YANK – king gives us a K, No! gives NAY, reverse it all (back) and Bob’s your uncle!
23 Extension incorporated front of roof with ease (8)
INCREASE – incorporated gives INC, front of r{oof} and ease gives EASE

Down

1 Travel down piste with daughter and slide out of control (4)
SKID – travel down piste gives SKI with D{aughter}
2 Edible plant I found in labyrinth (5)
MAIZE – the labyrinth is a MAZE, put an I in it
3 Old-fashioned character in MCC, perhaps (5,7)
ROMAN NUMERAL – misdirection to make you think this is today’s cricket referenced clue, but MCC, as well as being the HQ of cricket, is also an example of a roman numeral, and is equivalent to 1200 in the Arabic kind that we use today.  We had a question a couple of days ago about whether a numeral was in fact a character.  My view is that we describe the set of letters and numerical digits that we use as alpha-numeric characters, so this is perfectly OK in my book.
4 Weak part of racket effective on return (6)
EFFETE – hidden (part of) and reversed (on return) in {rack}ET EFFE{ctive}
6 Give right name (7)
ENTITLE – another DD
7 Medical organisation is ruddy annoyed (3,5)
RED CROSS – ruddy gives RED and annoyed is CROSS
8 Sportsperson works out on a trek for a change (6,6)
 FIGURE SKATER – works out gives FIGURES and the rest is an anagram (for a change) of [a trek].  Bung in a space, and you have the (usually) elegant answer
12 Tree a pig’s tucked into a lot (8)
MAHOGANY – the pig is A HOG, which is inserted (tucked into) MANY (a lot)
14 Irritation? After tea, smile (7)
CHAGRIN – Tea is nearly always CHA in crosswordland, and smile is a GRIN.  Chagrin, clued here by (Irritation?) is defined in my dictionary as a feeling of vexation, annoyance or embarrassment, which could mean the same thing.
16 Large island in Swiss capital or German capital (6)
BERLIN – put L{arge} I{sland} inside the Swiss capital (BERN) to give the German one.
18 Some lounge lizard’s girl (5)
ELIZA – hidden answer in {loung}E LIZA{rd’s}
19 Fair charge to include last of supplement (4)
FETE – charge gives FEE, bung in the last letter of {supplemen}T and you have a FETE, which is what I am enjoying this week, waiting for LCFC, aka the Foxes to be awarded the champions trophy on Saturday.

18 comments on “Quick cryptic No 563 by Hawthorn”

  1. Pretty straightforward; I even spotted the hiddens, something I can be quite slow to do. 9ac puzzled me for a bit, although I was sure it was IDIOM; I didn’t see the ambiguity of the clue (I & O in [stupid], which gets us nowhere; and I, and O in [stupid], which does). I liked 17ac for its surface, although ‘out’ was overly helpful, and the K made the anagrist fairly visible. 4:52. I see that I was able to respond to this blog even before The Rotter posted it.

    Edited at 2016-05-05 06:59 am (UTC)

  2. I did enjoy this, with plenty of misdirections as the admirable blog pointed out, but I would add “paste” in 11a and 23a which was my LOI as I was looking to incorporate R in a word meaning extension. COD 17a. A good QC with write ins, e.g. 1a, and some that tested the little grey cells. Thank you Hawthorn and blogger.
  4. Enjoyed this as there was no need to know anything obscure! All the clues were good puzzles for me and could be solved cryptically with only a decent level of general knowledge. My opinion of course! Had to come to the blog to get the parsing right for 9ac IDIOM though, and having seen it had a little chuckle at how my brain got stuck wanting I and O together to be the ‘I love’ part of the clue. Happy to be outfoxed! Just under 20 minutes which is fast for me.
  5. I dislike football (soccer), but even I note that I once visiting LCFC for a conference. COD 13ac. I find clues like 17ac accessible given the large number of words. 5’34” today, another PB 🙂
  6. A good mix of straightforward clues and those that got me thinking. It was a slow solve today (over and hour over a couple of sittings). It took me an age to spot the anagram in 11a and I went down the cricket route for 3d which also held things up. My LOI, 13a, was the real road block though.
  7. 24:40 A few tricky moments – YANK taking a while to parse – and biffed IDIOM and PEAR (still not particularly convinced by that clue / parsing – not sure if misspelling in blog, but I don’t think the “peal” step is necessary).
    1. You are right – misspelling in the blog, now repaired. Of course, I meant to say that the answer sounds like pare
  8. I started quickly getting 1a immediately and others followed. Perhaps a record time?
    No, because three long clues would not succumb – 3d, 8d and 17a.
    Also Fete was not immediately obvious. Anyway after 30 minutes I finally got my LOI 3d. An excellent clue I thought as I was thinking of old-fashioned types at cricket; then I thought it was a typeface e.g. Times New Roman.
    A very good mix of clues and an enjoyable puzzle. David
  9. As a newcomer to crossword land what is the meaning of “surface” as in ” I liked 17ac for its surface ” ?
    1. That is an excellent question for a newbie cruciverbalist. It is something I have struggled with myself, although not knowing the specific answer hasn’t ever detracted from my enjoying the puzzles.

      Since I blog the Times Quick Cryptic once a fortnight as a kind of payback for all the help such blogs provided me when I was new to this art form, I have always tried to make things as clear as possible for those of you that are in the position of trying to learn.

      I did a quick google search of the key words in your question, and found this answer / definition, which I hope helps (unfortunately, I have now lost the source, so can’t credit it)(on edit, I found the source, so the following comes from bestforpuzzles.com):

      The surface meaning (often shortened to surface) of a cryptic clue is its apparent or literal meaning.

      The surface meaning should always be coherent. In the best cryptic clues the surface meaning conjures up an amusing or intriguing mental image, although this is totally irrelevant to the true import of the clue.

      What this means is that, if we forget for the moment that this is a crossword clue and just read it as a phrase or sentence we might encounter in a passage of prose, it should be coherent.

      For example: A member of the opposition in Victorian times? (4)

      If you allow yourself to be led astray by the surface meaning, you may be racking your brains for the names of 19th century politicians, whereas in fact it is a simple hidden word clue.

      I’m sure that one of my fellow bloggers with more experience can add more if that is considered necessary.

      Edited at 2016-05-05 03:03 pm (UTC)

  10. Another ‘humph’ for me again today – I also failed to see MCC as a numeral and had been forced to go for 3d -General hoping I could work it out later. That forced 13a accrew as an old version of accrue! In other words I was well and truly misdirected and proved once again that jamming in answers just doesn’t work.
  11. After a perfect 5 last week a second DNF this week, although I am applying a cut off at 45 mins. MCC did for me, as did 13 across, where I ‘got’ the clue, but after running through accord, ascend, ascent, access I never quite made it to accrue.
  12. Just less than an hour for me, but at least I got there today. Idiom and Roman Numeral slowed me down like it did many others. Once I cracked Roman then the MCC suddenly dawned on me. Great clue!
  13. Started well, but then struggled with the two long down clues, so left it for a few hours. On return, they dropped out easily enough. Good misdirection in 3d, but COD goes to 17ac. Thanks to setter and blogger. Invariant
    1. Only just read this so a bit late with the reply, noisily means in this case sounds like, so PARE, to peel, sounds like a fruit PEAR. Last week Verlaine explained to me that “picks up” means the same thing. These are not my favorite clues I must admit as sometimes I don’t know which one to put in.
      1. Thanks Tim, couldn’t have put it better myself, and saw the question a little after you. I would have replied direct to the asker but was unable to do so as she/he asked anonymously. Hopefully, she/he will remember to come back and look at the response.

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