Quick Cryptic No 364 by Flamande

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A straightforward puzzle with clues all on a similar level, no obscure words and no new tricks. One definition 20a I found a little strange, but the wordplay is clear.

Across
1 SET ASIDE – T = time inserted in SEASIDE = holiday area, def. reserve.
5 TOMB – TO, MB = doctor; def. here one ultimately lies.
9 PANEL – Anagram of PENAL, def. group of experts. Hard to believe it was that easy.
10 SQUALID – SQUAD – group of soldiers, insert LI = one pound, def. mean.
11 ART – A, RT = front and back letters of restaurant; def. painting.
12 PRONOUNCE – You or me are examples of a pronoun; add CE = Anglican Church; def. declare.
13 OUTCRY – The mandatory cricketing clue; OUT CRY = OWZAT, def. complaint.
15 STOOLS – S = small, TOOLS = implements; def. furniture.
17 STAIRCASE – STAR = celebrity grabs I, then CASE = piece of luggage; def. flight, as in flight of stairs.
19 HOT – Alternate letters of tHrOaTy’ def. feverish.
20 GRAZING – GRA = half (portion)of grapes, ZING = energy; def. regularly eating. I’d have thought, continuously eating, but no doubt dictionary corner allows it.
21 IDLER – Initial letters of I’d Do Little Except Relax; def. &lit.
22 TILL – (UN)TIL would be even now, unopened; there is an archaic spelling of UNTILL so perhaps that’s allowed here; def. cash register. Or perhaps I’ve missed the point. Yes I have, it’s STILL without the S, thanks kg below.
23 WELL DONE – Double definition, how you like a steak, and congratulatory.

Down
1 SOPRANO – (POOR SAN)*, endlessly means remove the G from SANG, anagrind ‘out of tune’, def. singer.
2 TENET – Palindrome, def. something to believe in.
3 SELF PORTRAIT – (FRAIL POTTER’S)*, def. work of art.
4 DISCO – Hidden word in GuildforD SI COStly, def. nightclub.
6 ORLANDO – (RONALD)*, anagrind ‘dances’, O = round, def. city in Florida.
7 BUDGE – BUDGE(T) = estimate of expenditure, falling short; def. slightly change.
8 RUN-OF-THE-MILL – Def. average; cryptic second idea. Phrase originally of American origin, apparently.
14 TRAVAIL – TRAIL = route, round VA – heart of Nevada, def. hard work.
16 SET FREE – SET = group, FREE = without charge, def. release.
17 SIGHT – TH = most of ‘the’, GI’S = soldiers, reverse all; def. sense.
18 ANGLE – Double definition, The Angles were invaders from what is now northern Germany.
19 HELLO – HELL = torture, O = love, def. good day.

10 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 364 by Flamande”

  2. Straightforward enough, indeed; at least if you know what the hell ‘Owzat’ means. I didn’t–don’t– and the checkers weren’t co-operating, so a DNF. I wonder if Flamande made a point of writing ‘Furniture items’ rather than just ‘Furniture’; ‘items’ struck me as a bit otiose.
  3. Sorry; I meant minus the S, of course; and I’m told I can’t edit because the comment’s been replied to, although I see no reply. On edit while I can; now I see it.

    Edited at 2015-07-31 05:18 am (UTC)

  4. I think this is the meaning the setter may have had in mind: graze – Of a person: eat small quantities of food at frequent intervals in the course of other activities. Chiefly US.

    Only 10 minutes for this one but it seemed to take longer than that. I needed all the checkers to work out the answer at 13 as I couldn’t think what was going on despite being all too familiar with the cricketing terminology.

    Edited at 2015-07-31 05:21 am (UTC)

  5. I found 10ac interesting – £1 when spoken is one pound so I tried to fit in IL to start with. Agree with jackkt re snacking during the day.
    COD to the very timely 13ac – quite a day yesterday for Crosswordland’s mandatory sport.
  6. All was going quickly until my last 3 13a, 20a and 17d. Doh moment when I got 13a which is my COD. Thought 20a was GRA?ING and went through the alphabet and beginning to doubt it before I got the Z! Took a long time after finally entering 17d to see the parsing.
  7. Easier than average today, I thought. Managed to put APPEAL in for 13a but realised the mistake when I got to 1d. Clues of the day 1a and the neat 11a.
  8. Well I finally finished one, but made it much harder for myself by misspelling 14d. For some reason I put an ‘e’ in for the first ‘a’, which made the SW corner a lot more difficult. Once I’d spotted the error the rest went in ok.

    Question for the old timers – is there such a thing as crossword form, because at the moment I’m really struggling with clues I wouldn’t have been in the past few weeks/

  9. Agree with plett11 – thought I was ‘getting it’ a few weeks ago. Now not at all sure…

Comments are closed.