Quick Cryptic No 279 by Mara

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I thought this was a bit harder than the usual quickie, with one or two clues fit for the main puzzle, although now I come to write the explanations it all seems easy enough except for 23a; it took me about 15 minutes and wasn’t just a write-in, not least because I caught a RED BREAM and had to put it back. (I see now there actually is a fish called a red bream, so I feel less stupid).

Across
1 DECORATE – (CREATED O)*; def. embellish.
5 SCAM – MACS = coats, reversed; def. trick.
8 SWORD – S = south, point; WORD = promise; def. blade.
9 COFFERS – C = Conservative, OFFERS = bids; def. Treasury.
11 PROFITEROLE – PROFIT = gain, E = beginning on eclair, ROLE = part; def. chocolate and cream cake. A chestnut.
13 ENRAPT – (PARENT)*; def. in ecstasy.
14 SANDAL – Something afoot, hidden word in wart(S AND AL)l.
17 BLOCKBUSTER – Double definition, one whimsical.
20 EXCERPT – EXCEPT = but, about R; def. not the whole text. Another chestnut.
21 ICILY – SICILY = island, take away the S; def. a frosty look.
22 MARK – Double definition.
23 MERENGUE – ME then anagram of U = beginning to unravel, and GENRE; ME (U GENRE)*; def. dance. A sort of Latin dance and music originating in the Dominican Republic; I’d never heard of it but the word play is clear; definitely a main puzzle level clue.

Down
1 DISH – Double definition.
2 CHOPPER – COPPER = metal, around H = hard; def. axe.
3 RED-HOT POKER – Another double definition, one witty.
4 TUCK IN – TUC = CUT (a piece of meat) up = reversed; KIN = family; def. eat.
6 CREDO – CO = company, around RED = communist; def. doctrine.
7 MASTERLY – (MALES TRY)*; def. highly skilled.
10 FRED ASTAIRE – (FAR STEADIER)*; def. dancer.
12 SEA BREAM – SEAM = stitches, around (BEAR)*; def. fish.
15 DARLING – DARING = bold, insert L = love’s initial; def. dearest.
16 HUSTLE – (SLEUTH)*; def. jostle.
18 OSCAR – OS = SO (thus) turning up, CAR = vehicle; def. statuesque chap.
19 LYRE – Old instrument, sounds like LIAR.

10 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 279 by Mara”

  1. I thought I was going to achieve my 10 minute target again after three days on 12, but 23ac put paid to that. With 11 on the clock I decided to go with the wordplay as I was pretty sure I didn’t know the dance (or had forgotten it), and so it proved. I’m rather good on Old Time, ballroom and especially ancient courtly dances, but less so on the exotic stuff. Incidentally, according to the sound-file on my SOED, it’s pronounced maRENgay, which rather surprised me as I’d have said maRENga. Also apparently it can be spelt MERINGUE in which case it’s pronounced exactly like the sugary confection.
    1. Very very straight forward until LOI 23A where I too had to resort to wordplay. I have heard of merengue – there was some kind of craze associated with a novelty record in the mid 90s I think – I would never have guessed it was spelled like that but the crossers made it clear that genre was messed about and if me was the first two letters then there was only one place for the U. I thought it was pronounced ma-RAN-gay so I’d never have guessed the spelling. Profiterole might have been a problem (now THATS archaic language) but the crossers and the word play made it clear. I didn’t know there was a flower called a red hot poker (is there?) but again the clueing was good.
    2. The Dominican lasses who tried to get my three left feet into an impossible rhythm way back in the eighties used the standard Spanish pronunciation, roughly may REN gay with the middle syllable very strong. Enjoyed the puzzle, the two dance clues made me think of Fred and Ginger tackling the merengue, which I am sure they would done brilliantly. Parsed all except ‘tuck in’ so thanks again for the saving blog.
  2. Good puzzle with a few challenges. Echo observations above re. MERENGUE.

    Took me a while to see Fred.

    Thanks to Mara and Pip.

  3. 8 minutes, so found this pretty straightforward. As faceofboe intimates, the otherwise tricky dance is made much simpler for those who quickly spot that ME is being lifted from clue directly to solution. Not a luxury one is typically afforded in the main puzzle.
  5. Just for a change, my last in was 23a. 10d went straight in, I think Ginger’s dance partner has appeared before in the QC. Favourite SANDAL.
  6. Glad to see that I wasn’t the only one to struggle with 23ac. Otherwise I thought this was about par for Mara, ie the harder side of average. Invariant
  7. Couple of the clues were too tough for me, 23a being one of them. Went down completely the wrong track with 18d. Thought statuesque chap might be ogre especially as it’s the reverse of ergo for thus and eventually gave up on it. My blind spot for hidden words raised it’s head again in 14a, which is the only one I’m really annoyed about missing.

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