Quick Cryptic 572 by Grumpy

Author   nick_the_novicePosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
An enjoyable offering from Grumpy which I thought was just about right for a QC – nothing obscure, a few splashes of wit and it kept you on your toes throughout.

As usual, definitions underlined: DD = double definition: anagrams indicated by *(–)

Across
1 Hard wood needed for steering apparatus (4)
HELM – H (abbrev. hard) + ELM (wood)
4 Church one left in no-frills area (8)
BASILICA – I (one) + L (left) ‘in’ BASIC (no-frills) + A (abbrev. area)
8 Birds fight – and quarrels following (8)
SPARROWS – SPAR (fight) ‘followed’ by ROWS (quarrels)
9 Initially burglars always like doors without locks (4)
BALD – First letters (initially) of Burglars Always Like Doors, and a jokey cryptic definition
10 Some stock needed for joint (4)
KNEE – Hidden (indicated by ‘some’) in stocK NEEded
11 “A powerful feller!” Bond observed (8)
CHAINSAW – CHAIN (bond) + SAW (observed). Very droll!
12 Eel was terribly slippery character (6)
WEASEL – *(EEL WAS) with “terribly” as the anagrind
14 Poles with stake in French city (6)
NANTES – ANTE (stake – as in “up the ante”) ‘in’ N + S (poles)
16 After bad scare finish climb again (8)
REASCEND – *(SCARE) – with “bad” as the anagrind – followed by (after) END (finish)
18 Duck leaves lake (4)
TEAL – TEA (leaves) + L (abbrev. lake)
19 Turn back extremely rude monster (4)
OGRE – GO (turn) reversed (back) + RE (first and last letters – ‘extremely’ – of RudE)
20 Tremendous performance opposed by Conservative (8)
GIGANTIC – GIG (performance) + ANTI (opposed) + C (abbrev. Conservative). Nice word sum type clue.
22 The early shifts tough (8)
LEATHERY – *(THE EARLY) with “shifts” as the anagrind
23 Rational as painter ignoring the odds (4)
SANE – Every other letter (ignoring the odds) of aS pAiNtEr
Down
2 Stretch of river occupied by vessels (7)
EXPANSE – EXE (river) ‘occupied’ by PANS (vessels – of the cooking variety)
3 Mix gallons in pool (5)
MERGE – MERE (pool) with G (abbrev. gallons) ‘in’ it
4 Frightening word that’s repeated in error (3)
BOO – …because a BOO BOO is an ‘error’
5 Bore throwing nuts aside (9)
SUSTAINED – *(NUTS ASIDE) with “throwing” as the anagrind
6 The French outlaw taking on a country (7)
LEBANON – LE (‘the French’) + BAN (outlaw) + (‘taking’) ON
7 Girl from outskirts of Liverpool grabbed by US agency (5)
CILLA – LL (edges – ‘outskirts’ – of LiverpooL) inside (‘grabbed by’) CIA (US agency)
11 Fellow worker in company left union (9)
COLLEAGUE – CO (abbrev. company) + L (left) + LEAGUE (union)
13 Dodgy American pastor’s leader in religious group (7)
SUSPECT – US (American) + P (Pastor’s leader – i.e. first letter) ‘in’ SECT (religious group)
15 Great joy when family member doesn’t start (7)
ELATION – {R}ELATION (family member) without its first letter (doesn’t start)
17 High-flier that’s below par (5)
EAGLE – Golf terminology – an eagle being two below par (never got one myself… yet!)
18 Day without commencement of night music (5)
TUNES – TUES (abbrev. Tuesday – ‘day’) goes around the outside of (‘without’) N (first letter – ‘commencement’ – of Night)
21 Make fun of man (3)
GUY – Straightforward DD (provided you are familiar with the slightly old school usage of ‘to guy’ meaning to tease)

32 comments on “Quick Cryptic 572 by Grumpy”

  1. I slowed myself down some by sticking to the ‘tedious’ sense of ‘bore’, by flinging in ‘kid’ at 21d (while thinking, “man=kid?”), and somehow not seeing CILLA (well, it’s not a name I can remember seeing, at least in real life). Some very nice clues indeed, like 11ac, 20ac, 2d, inter alia, and lots of smooth surfaces. 6:12.
  2. Once again I avoided going over the 10 minute line by only a second or two. Like Kevin, it was a delay seeing how “sustained” (so obvious from the anagrist) could mean the same as “bore” in its “tedious” sense, but eventually realised I should have been thinking of it as the past tense of “bear”.
    1. Thank-you!! Couldn’t for the life of me work out how sustained and bore were synonyms!!
  3. A steady solve just about top to bottom, not helped by reading clue for 15d when trying to solve 17d. Liked 7d as I only know of one Cilla and she definitely came from Liverpool. Unlike the blogger I have had I have had eagles almost too many to mention, well 2 actually, one a pitch in from 100 yards and one hole in one, and that’s in 40 years, I’m not very good.
    1. These things are clearly relative – your stats would suggest you are significantly better than me!
    2. Me too. A whole flock of eagles. Well, one actually. 340 yard par-4, third approach shot bounced off a shed into the hole. I don’t normally share the details though.
      1. I don’t want to POYP, but if your 3rd approach went in the hole on a par 4, you had a birdie.

        But well done anyway.

  4. A nicely balanced offering, with enough to interest the seasoned solver, and introduction to techniques for the less experienced. Just what the quickie should be imho.

  5. Yes, accessible with the clever clue, sustained/bore as mentioned. Spotted afterwards the Liverpool reference to Cilla, and could not parse 23ac, as spent time trying to cut SP from the name of a painter. 7’15” today.
  6. Hugely enjoyed 11ac. Lovely clue. Only afterwards did I realise the difference between “feller” and “fellah”‘
    PlayupPompey
  7. I think bore/sustained is very obscure. I get that it’s bore as in past tense of bear but even so can someone enlighten me with a sentence that shows how ‘sustained’ can be swapped for ‘bore’ and carry the same meaning?
    1. Suffer might be a third word to link them both.

      How about: I bore the hunger by eating ants. I sustained the thirst by drinking from the lake. I suffered a Bear Grylls program last night.

      1. Ok, thanks for that. I don’t want to be a bore but I still don’t think they are completely synonymous. Also I think in your example ‘alleviated’ would fit how you met the demands of hunger and thirst. Surely ‘sustain’ is to keep something at the same level, so by drinking you are not sustaining it but alleviating or ameliorating it. Ok, so I am being a bore, but however I look at it I class it as a very obscure meaning and therefore, in my opinion, not suitable for the QC.
        1. concur bore and sustained are not the same at all, searches of both paper and online thesauruses show zero hits for the pair
  8. That was fun. It took me an hour, but worth it for the number of clues that raised an ‘Ah!’ when the penny dropped.

    CoD 11a for me, but 9a worth an audible chuckle.

  9. I think this was one of the most enjoyable QCs that I can remember. I kept on marking up clues as CoD, ending up with four – 14, 22, 4d and 18d. A very pleasant 40 min full house. Take a bow Grumpy, and do come again. Invariant
  10. I enjoyed today’s QC; many good clues including Cilla and a golf clue I managed to see early for a change. 22 minutes to complete it and LOI was 11a. David
  11. Another toughie and another hour long solve. But it was fun and satisfying to get there in the end. Could not work out how GUY and SUSTAINED fit the clues until reading the blog and comments – thanks all for enlightening me. Some really nice and witty clues. In addition to the CHAINSWAW clue mentioned by some, I also enjoyed BALD with the clue ending “doors without locks”
  12. Agree – very nice little challenge – 12 minutes for me as unreasonably distracted by work interfering. I’m supposed to be recouperating after an operation, but thought I’d better take a look as I’m blogging tomorrow.
  13. and 15×15 is very straightforward, more or less – defo worth a shot for confident Quickers.
  14. how about ‘in the desert tank battle Rommel sustained huge losses’
    1. Perfect, anon! I was just going to attempt to wrap up this point running through the comments but your intervention is significantly better than mine would have been – so thanks for that.
  15. 34:18

    Was held up at the end by the 18a / 18d pair of TEAL and TUNES.

    I really do not think “without” is correctly used in 18d. If it were “Commencement of night without day music”, that would make sense. But the clue as it stands does not.

    1. without can mean outside e.g. The well known hymn ‘ there is a green hill far away without a city wall’ Katie Rose
      1. OK thanks. I looks it up and you are right! (Though it’s an archaic / literary use.)

        Edited at 2016-05-20 01:00 am (UTC)

  16. Had CANNES for 14a for ages with Cane for stake poles, although I was a bit unhappy with the undirected interleaving of them. It really. Messed up the crosser for the much commented on Sustained and I doubted the anagram for a while u til seeing the light though still unable to parse as many here. Cilla was a very neat clue
  17. Really losing my touch with another DNF, and the SE corner again causing trouble. Dislike ‘Guy’ for make fun of, sounds 1940 Public School speak. Some good clues, including CHAINSAW which I missed, even with all checkers in. I need a good run tomorrow to stop this poor streak.
    1. GUY: trans. (Originally Theatrical slang.) To make an object of ridicule or derisive wit, to ridicule by innuendo; to trifle with a theatrical part. Also to guy at.
      1854 A. C. Mowatt Autobiogr. Actress xv. 227 Good gracious! the audience will guy you!.. ‘Guy me? What do you mean by guy?’.. ‘Why, laugh at you, to be sure—and chaff you!’
      1869 ‘M. Twain’ Innocents Abroad xxvi. 278 The Roman street-boy who..guyed the gladiators from the dizzy gallery.
      1885 J. K. Jerome On Stage 151, I particularly remember..being ‘guyed’ on one occasion… The stage manager insisted on my wearing a most outrageous costume. I knew it would be laughed at.
      1890 Lit. World 11 July 20 Mr. Burnand does not set himself to guy the book.
      1890 A. Conan Doyle Sign of Four (ed. 3) vii. 116 I’m guyed at by the children.
      1890 J. Jefferson Autobiogr. 219 With all this at stake, some wanton actor deliberately ‘guys’ his part and overturns the patient care of his comrade.
      1893 Scribner’s Mag. Sept. 384/2 She and Edith Merry had been studying Anglo-Saxon together, and he had guyed them both about it, calling them blue-stockings.
      1895 W. Archer Theatr. ‘World’ 1894 xliii. 287 Larking and guying on the stage are my abhorrence.
      1898 J. Hollingshead Gaiety Chron. x. 414 The actors, I am bound to say, treated this curious fossil of dramatic protection with more than proper respect, and did not ‘guy’ the parts allotted to them.
      1906 Daily Chron. 31 Oct. 5/5 We must make an end of that disgusting blunder of guying them [sc. arrested suffragettes] up in hideous prison uniforms.
      1963 Times 27 May 8/2 Francoise Sagan, British phlegmatism and many other picturesque aspects of contemporary life in the 1960s are gently but tellingly guyed by Mr. Kohout.
      1970 G. Greer Female Eunuch 328 Vociferous women are guyed in the press.

      Edited at 2016-05-18 10:53 pm (UTC)

  18. I just love all the comments each day. Keep them going. As a relative newcomer to taking crosswords at all seriously, I was gratified to finish one within 15 minutes the other day, but today’s would go down as perhaps the most challenging I have solved without peeping at the blog or some other internet device. Two eagles in a lifetime – and I am no spring chicken. DM
  19. Finished eventually – about 40 mins
    Sticker was chainsaw, I get bond+observed = chain+saw, but how on earth to you get a link between a powerful feller and a chainsaw

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