Quick Cryptic Number 155 by Dazzler

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A teasing crossword to round off an excellent week of quickies. For me, the recent level of difficulty has been just right – some new vocabulary fairly clued and some chewy wordplay for more obvious definitions – and this offering is no different. Despite not getting 8ac straight away, along with the unhelpful arrangement of the NW corner, I managed to rattle off about 3 quarters of the answers before slowing down, and eventually crawling over the finish line. My clue of the day is 15ac; perhaps not the most difficult example of its type, but I liked the surface reading.

Definitions underlined.

Across
8 EXCLUDE – rule out from EX (former) + CLUE (evidence) with D inside (including diamonds). I realise I’ve never questioned why diamonds are D or DD in crosswords; can anyone explain?
9 ELLEN – this is NELLIE backwards (rejected girl) with I removed (ditched) for another one (another girl’s name).
10 EQUIP – the definition is provide, made from the last letter of (finally) punchlinE with QUIP (joke).
11 LADETTE – anagram of ATTLEE (indicated by upset) around D (daughter) for girl behaving badly.
12 TIEPOLO – this 18th century Venetian artist is TIE (draw) + POLO (game). My last one in; I’d not heard of him, but with all the checkers, the wordplay gave the game away.
14 LISZT – unknowns are usually X, Y or Z (mathematics). In this case, put Z in LIST (table) for the composer. List and table are not entirely synonymous in my mind, however.
15 RIVET – great surface reading, which deftly obscures a hidden word. One can take a metal pin from caR I’VE Towed.
17 WHINGER – WINGER (footballer) going round H (hospital) for one always complaining.
19 ARCHIVE – not the sort of record collection that sprung to mind first. An anagram of VICAR HE (indicated by put in order).
20 REFER – a palindromic (both ways) synonym of send.
22 IRISH – this national is IRIS (flower) + the first letter of Honduran (initially).
23 LETTERS – a triple definition. Post, characters and people such as landlords.

Down
1 PEKE – sounds like “peak” (top) and a breed of dog from China. This was another I left until the end and was a bit of an educated guess!
2 SCOUSE – outermost letters of (extremely) SceniC + OUSE (river) for Liverpudlian.
3 JUMP – J (judge) joining U (upper class, posh) + MP (politician) for spring. I admit I had to google “U=posh in crossword” after solving to confirm!
4 MEALS ON WHEELS – a cryptic definition. Food for the elderly, or those in a train’s dining car.
5 NEW DELHI – this capital is an anagram of WHEN IDLE (indicated by set about). Confusing the order of L and H made the composer at 14ac a little trickier – lesson learnt.
6 SLATES – pans, as in criticises. LATE (arriving at the last minute) inside SS (steamship). “On board” indicating “within SS” crops up every now and then. How do we feel about “arriving at the last minute” being equated with late, rather than just on time?
7 ANCESTOR – old member of family is an anagram of SORT and CANE (indicated by struggling). Not a niece or an O in sight, to my surprise.
12 TERRAPIN – first letter of (heading for) Pond in TERRAIN (country), and a small turtle.
13 OUTRIGHT – thoroughly is OUT (old-fashioned) with RiGHT (Tories). We often see “in” for fashionable, but I’ve not seen the obverse clued like this before.
16 VICTIM – the small boys are VICtor and TIMothy, making an unfortunate target.
18 GAFFER – boss from GAFFE (embarrassing mistake) + last letter of (ending in) uproaR.
20 RATS – expression of irritation can be seen when STAR (famous actor) is written upwards (shown up).
21 RUSE – R (right) + USE (to resort to) gives cunning plan.

11 comments on “Quick Cryptic Number 155 by Dazzler”

  1. Re 8ac: C,H,S and D are accepted shorthand for their respective suits, often seen in (for example) newspaper bridge columns, etc. I have never seen DD used in this way… that would normally be a doctor of divinity or perhaps a direct debit..
    re 6dn, I would see arriving at the last minute as being late, but not too late.. but might concede there is room for debate here
    It’s been a good week for the quick cryptics, (and blogs!) so I will continue doing them, I think
  2. 6:50, although I managed a typo at 4d, giving me ‘Means on wheels/Nadette’. But wotthehell. I might add to what Jerry said that ‘diamonds’ also often clues ‘ice’. ‘whinge’ might be unfamiliar to Murcan solvers. I realized when I finally got 18d that I don’t know what a gaffer is; or for that matter, a best boy.
  3. Meant to mention that it s/be dazzler not dazler in the blog heading.. not that it matters, unless perhaps someone is searching for dazzler blogs
  4. My third consecutive day finishing on 10 minutes (I don’t register seconds) which suggests we may have reached a certain level of consistency for the moment – or of course I have. Very enjoyable.
  5. I got led astray by putting in Elsie for 9 across but I should have noticed that Elsie wasn’t rejected. Some good challenging clues elsewhere.
  6. Enjoyed this one which I found easier than most. Did not see the Nellie reversal but knew Tiepolo. Initially missed the ARCHIVE anagram which was my LOI. Liked 4d
  7. A little under 5 mins. Another QC pitched at the right level, IMHO. When I only had ??? D???I for 5dn I almost wrote in a careless ABU DHABI, but thankfully I decided to read the clue properly. SLATES was my LOI after ELLEN and LISZT.
  8. Found this one quite tricky in parts. Missed out on ELLEN and TERRAPIN.

    Thanks for a very nice blog William.

  9. An enjoyable Quickie with the answers going in smoothly until I became totally becalmed with the crossing 12ac and 13dn. Had never heard of Tiepolo and lost myself in 13dn, making the solution too difficult for my own good. Used cheats in the end for both and quite cross with myself for not getting OUTRIGHT, too simple for my initial musings 🙁
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