Times Quick Cryptic 144 by Izetti

16 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 144 by Izetti”

1. A little under 8 minutes for this pleasant offering, which has quite a few useful short-word synonyms/abbreviations for newer solvers to note, eg love/O, father/PA, married/M, exam/TEST, appropriate/BAG, troulemaker/IMP.

   The fine hidden at 12a (where I was trying to work Stentor in) and the very unfamiliar LONG SUIT were my last in.

   I think cut meaning ‘yield’ as in ‘cut me some slack’ is close enough to the required meaning. And at 4d, I think we’re looking at bed as in LAYER of rock.

   1. Thanks, I agree about 4dn. I should have thought of that. Here’s the SOED entry:

      Bed: 8 A layer, esp. one of several; a horizontal course. E17. ▸ b A layer of small animals congregated in a particular spot; esp. a layer of oysters etc. E17. ▸ c A geological stratum. L17.

      Still can’t quite see 15ac though.

      1. I was thinking of ‘cut me some slack’ = ‘yield some slack to me’ = ‘give up some slack for me’.
2. A very nice crossword with a helpful blog and comment for us newbies. Did the spellchecker step in though when you were trying to say “stentorian”. However the use of long words is not my long suit!!

   Edited at 2014-09-25 04:21 am (UTC)

   1. I didn’t get to the stage of actually typing it in, and my basic machine/software at work provides no spellchecking function. Wouldn’t want it to, really, for a number of reasons, not least of which they are – sometimes – more trouble than they are worth.
3. I was thinking along the lines of “I’m going to cut carbs from my diet”.
   1. Yes, I was thinking along those lines but wasn’t entirely happy with the substitution. To take your example, would “I’m going to give up carbs from my diet” be grammatical? It certainly sounds a bit odd to me. I can see “I’m going to cut carbs” and “I’m going to give up carbs” both work, but do they necessarily mean the same thing? One is clearly giving them up whereas the other sounds like reducing one’s intake.

      I think I’m over-analysing this and maybe I should get a life, though perhaps it’s a bit late in the day to start thinking about that!

4. Easy to solve but I cannot get anywhere near parsing it. A long suit is helpful in card games which depend on trick collection but I cannot make any connection with this result of pure chance with either ‘talent’ or ‘personal’

   I realise I am missing something obvious but I don’t think I will get there without help.

   1. Derek, I think it has just passed into the language figuratively.

      Collins has: An outstanding example, personal quality or talent.

      Edited at 2014-09-25 09:55 am (UTC)

      1. Many thanks, twenty years retired creates increasing gaps in snappy business jargon.
5. Well, this was a did not finish for me. Could not get SPEEDWELL (never heard of it, nor veronica – only one I could think of was Ann by HG Wells) or PREVIOUS (not on the wavelength of that one at all).

   Rest was all reasonably straightforward. Crackerjack hidden at 12 across.

   Re. cut, I was thinking “cut and run” – first you give up, then you further extricate yourself from the situation by running away (but it’s a two stage process, so the cut bit stands alone – possibly).

   Thanks for the blog Jack.

6. 6 mins. CUT was my LOI after DOMESTICATED and I saw it the same way as mohn2, although ulaca’s idea may be what the Don intended. I agree that the clue for the hidden THUNDERER was excellent.
7. Cut – as in the shout to camera-man or cast to stop, ie give up?

   Philip

8. Cut as in “cut and run” perhaps
9. I am with others on speedwell – very obscure. Cut, as in ‘cutting a lesson’?
10. Agree with Ulaca that it was a pleasant puzzle. With others, I’m not so sure about CUT and thought PAM was quite weak, but otherwise no quibbles. Put THUNDERER in as “it had to be”, thanks to Jackkt for parsing it and instantly became my COD!

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