Quick Cryptic No 117 by Joker

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
The first couple seemed easy but then I took what seemed an age to get into the rest. Finished in 12 minutes so must have sped up as I went.

An enjoyable crossword which starts off cute, has pulling power, sex appeal and attraction but, after dealing with the death of a former partner and a bad spirit, rather sadly ends with an ache. I wonder what Joker’s life has been like recently?

Definitions are underlined.

Across
1 Endearingly pretty hair style, the last thing in coiffure (4)
CUTE – Hair style (CUT) with the last letter of coiffur(E).
3 Killer of two fools at home (8)
ASSASSIN – Two fools (ASS ASS) at home (IN).
9 Song about chaps in Caucasian republic (7)
ARMENIA – Song (ARIA) about chaps (MEN).
10 What’s seen in peony’s head and others? (5)
PETAL – I think this is one of those &lit clues. What’s seen in a peony are petals made up from the first letter of Peony and others (ET AL).
11 Something sacred to the vacant millions (5)
TOTEM – To (TO), ThE vacant (without the middle ‘e’ – oops middle ‘h’ – thanks bryanlawson!) and millions (M).
12 Experiment with fish stuffed with thyme in the middle (3,3)
TRY OUT – Fish (TROUT) containing (stuffed with) the middle letter of thYme.
14 Take responsibility for knife in part of the body (8,5)
SHOULDER BLADE – Take responsibility (SHOULDER as in shoulder a burden) and knife (BLADE).
17 Boss takes one round film production company (6)
STUDIO – Boss (STUD), one (I) and round (O).
19 Piece of evidence needs a liberal interpretation at first (5)
ALIBI – A (A) liberal (LIB) plus the first letter of Interpretation. I didn’t immediately see alibi=evidence but Collins has a definition of alibi as the evidence to prove an alibi.
22 Clubs have an adverse effect on pulling power (5)
CHARM – Clubs (C), adverse effect (HARM).
23 Remainder live outside centre of Truro (7)
RESIDUE – Live (RESIDE) outside middle letter if trUro.
24 Offered a redrafting of deed next (8)
EXTENDED – Anagram (redrafting of) DEED NEXT.
25 Death of former partner with sex appeal (4)
EXIT – Former partner (EX) with sex appeal (IT). In crossword land ‘it’ can also mean vermouth as in the term ‘gin and it’ (3 parts gin, 1 part Italian vermouth). I presume this is a term from the past as I haven’t heard it in general conversation – but maybe someone will tell me that I’m making a bish 😉

Down
1 Church painter is a parliamentary reformer (8)
CHARTIST – Church (CH) painter (ARTIST). A supporter of the People’s Charter of 1838.
2 Seek to attract short-term worker with little time (5)
TEMPT – Short term worker (TEMP) with little time (T).
4 Running Ascot they sure keep on to the very end (4,3,6)
STAY THE COURSE – Anagram (running) of ASCOT THEY SURE
5 Moving play about trollop’s end has to be relevant (5)
APPLY – Anagram (moving) of PLAY about the last letter of trolloP.
6 Take up something most essential, as for citrus fruit (7)
SATSUMA – Reverse (take up) A MUST and as (AS).
7 North-east contains one large river (4)
NILE – North-east (NE) around one (I) large (L). It’s certainly a long river – 4,199 miles or thereabouts.
8 Thin plate served up for lamb, perhaps (6)
ANIMAL – Had loads of fun with this one – the answer is from thin plate (LAMINA) backwards (served up) but with the checkers _N_M_L I managed to convince myself that the answer just HAD to be enamel but couldn’t work out the lamb bit. Then light dawned.
13 Hotel guest is torn about team (8)
RESIDENT – Torn (RENT) around team (SIDE).
15 Rejected openly gay group of actors (7)
OUTCAST – Openly gay (OUT), group of actors (CAST).
16 Cook is required in Scottish bank (6)
BRAISE – Is (IS) inside Scottish bank/river (BRAE) – thank you Stronon – definition of brae is the steep or sloping bank of a river or lake or seashore, a steep slope rising from water; a bank or stretch of ground rising with a fairly steep slope, the face of a hill; a road which has a steep gradient; an upland, mountainous district.
18 Bad spirit of public protest over conclusion of coalition (5)
DEMON – Public protest (DEMO) before (over) last letter of coalitioN.
20 Book list is mind-expanding to some extent (5)
INDEX – The answer is in the clue (to some extent) mIND-EXpanding.
21 Pain is hard in top performer (4)
ACHE – Hard (H) inside top performer (ACE).

31 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 117 by Joker”

  1. Unthinkingly put in ‘credo’ at 11ac, rendering that section unsolvable for a while. 7′. ASSASSIN seems a bit overused; maybe it could be given a rest?
  2. Mostly straightforward for me too but with time lost like the blogger, trying to make “enamel” work at 8dn. There was loads of spam to delete here this morning!

    Edited at 2014-08-19 05:38 am (UTC)

  3. Clara Bow was the original ‘It’ girl in 1927, but the use of ‘It’ for sex appeal may predate that….
  4. 19 mins for me so a really good day. Also got held up on enamel / animal. Couldn’t parse braise until I came here – was thinking far too narrowly about banks!
  5. My quickest ‘quick’ yet. Still took twice as long as the blogger though! Thanks so much for all the help on this brilliant blog, it’s made a massive difference to my understanding of what’s going on. Sadly not transferring that understanding to the main crossword yet. But I will carry on trying.
    1. Well done – and do feel free to get a free LiveJournal account. If you’ve got a spare 80 minutes then have a go at the 15×15 today – I did it in 40 minutes 🙂
      1. I’ve now joined. 🙂 but I do feel v intimidated by all the experienced (competent!) people on here! Will try the big one later
        1. You are very welcome. Although there is absolutely no need to feel intimidated, I do know how you feel – when I started there was only the 15×15 and the folk there are seriously experienced. Really, it only takes a couple of posts to ‘settle in’.
  6. 4 mins. This didn’t have anything that should have been too controversial for its target audience, and the only bit of cluing that might raise an eyebrow for newer solvers is the use of round=o in the clue for 17ac. I particularly liked the clue for PETAL. RESIDENT was my LOI after 14ac.
  7. Gin and it is the sort of drink one sometimes sees requested in books by eg Evelyn Waugh or possibly Wodehouse. Only place I’ve ever encountered ‘it’ (unless possibly in TV adaptations also)
  8. 19 today with no Z8ery. I loved the feel of this crossword – light- hearted & witty – thanks, Joker!
    Equal thanks to Chris for a smashing blog – loved the introductory preamble 🙂
    ASSASSIN may be corny but it’s a nice way in for the tyros like me.
    SHOULDER BLADE was my COD – love witty double meanings – & STAY THE COURSE LOI maybe it’s my dislike of horseracing that put me off.
    I’ve been reminded of my late Mum twice today – a formidable lady in both English & French- she liked horse racing and gin-and-its!
    1. Welcome back munk1puzl! Your observations of the day have been sorely missed and unaided completion in 19 points to huuuuge progress from 6 months ago. Have a gin and it to celebrate!
  9. Enjoyed this one, particularly for the surfaces which I thought were excellent – thanks to Joker for a good puzzle.

    Chris’ preamble (solutions revealing what about the setter?) reminded me of a period when I was having a wild time with a lady who was a student of sexual psychology. I attempted to introduce her to the delights of the Sydney Morning Herald cryptic (what else would you do with such a lover?). She became fascinated with the puzzles – not for the challenge of solving them, but for the challenge of building a psycho-sexual profile of the setter, which took us down some somewhat unorthodox conversational byways.

    Not sure if setters truly appreciate the breadth of impact of their work on the newspaper’s readership at large…

    Edited at 2014-08-19 10:27 am (UTC)

    1. Well, you HAVE led a life! Just hoping she’s not still around and analysing the psycho-sexual profiles of the bloggers!
  10. Strangely both Mrs Deezzaa and I both had trouble with 22a – my LOI and she got it wrong. We were both also trying to think of a painter called Romwell. Does this say something about the synchronicity of our thinking?

    Nice puzzle. Good blog. A shade under 8 minutes. Very satisfied. Nothing more to say.

  11. A fun puzzle and a fun blog. Thanks for both. 12 minutes today held up solely by enamel/animal. I think that that is quite a hard clue for this crossword but it stopped me getting complacent
  12. Thanks for a useful blog! I had everything apart from that Scottish river…Just under 15 minutes for me – I always enjoy Joker’s offerings – which is pretty good. I’ve been training on the QC for a few months now and, though 95% of clues on the 15×15 still pass over my head, I feel like progress is being made! Many thanks to all bloggers and commenters on here for your explanations.
    1. Welcome bezevcik! Very happy you find the blog useful. As you’re at 15 minutes for today’s Quick then I feel sure that much more than 5% of today’s 15×15 will be solvable if you have the time. The clues really aren’t too different – there’s just more of ’em which makes it harder finding the wood among the trees.
  13. What a fun puzzle. Really enjoyed petal and shoulderblade, but couldn’t solve 22a. With the progress I’ve made I feel tempted to try the BIG ONE but……
    AnonK
    1. Good spot thank you! You’re absolutely right – I had ThE but then put ‘e’ instead of ‘h’. I do find it difficult to proof read after a few read throughs as I end up seeing what I think I mean – so do please keep up such comments.
      1. I know the feeling, I have proofed all my books and still years later found a new error. It just shows how little we actually read and how much we assume. In the same way students often answer the exam question they have prepared for not seeing a subtle twist. I suppose our setters are in the same business as it were
  15. chrisw91 and bezevcik

    The word ‘brae’ means hillside in Scots, the language of Lowland Scotland.
    It’s often applied to the (steep or sloping) bank of a river, a loch or the shore of the sea.
    Maybe you’ve heard it used in this song about the River Doon by Robert Burns?:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieraKMmvVh8

    Stronon

    1. Hi Stronon and thanks for your comment. I’ve been to Braehead and associate brae with river bank – but you’re absolutely right it refers to any slope/hillside – update made.

      Edited at 2014-08-19 08:50 pm (UTC)

  16. Did it all unaided again, getting better slowly!
    Wonderfully helpful blog and reassuringly I had even parsed it all, thanks

    Technically I think 11ac is without middle h not e, or have I misunderstood?

  17. 11 minutes, so getting better. I can’t help but think I’ve seen a lot of the clues before – most of it just dropped into place tonight. I’m sure it will get harder as the week gives on.
  18. Really enjoyed this one, and managed to finish again!

    A few weren’t fully parsed, in particular BRAISE. Because I had the B-A-S- checkers I convinced myself the bank had to be “RBS”. Didn’t hinder me in the end as it gave me the “R” but I couldn’t work out why the letters were spread out.

    Crossword regulars: are there ever any proper nouns like RBS in there? I remember the blog conversation the other day about the Queen being one of the only actual people who is allowed … but I’m not sure about other entities.

    Lovely blog, as always. I’m full of admiration for all the bloggers – thank you. I try to read it every day even though I don’t often comment.

    1. We had BA (British Airways) at the beginning of the month in the main cryptic and have had KLM in the past. I can also recall ICI (now defunct) cropping up in the last couple of years. However I’m struggling to think of many more so perhaps this is an area yet to be fully explored by setters.
  19. The constraint in the Times puzzles is that, aside from HM the Q, no living person can be referred to; but the grids are littered with dead ones. The Sunday Times puzzle, note, has no such constraint. Aside from people, football teams seem to show up in clues, much to my annoyance. I can’t recall a contemporary corporation, say, in a clue; but then what I can’t recall is legion.

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