Quick Cryptic no 57 by Joker

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I’m a bit busy at the moment so I’ve kept this brief and may not be able to answer any questions today. Happily busy I should say – messing about with boats. Also the current internet connection is not too good so I hope it gets posted OK. No time as I’ve done it in bits. It seemed reasonably hard at first sight but I can’t see anything much wrong with it now so maybe it was just me or maybe it’s just easy when you’ve already got the answers!
Definitions are underlined.

Across
3 Countryside stroll won’t begin as a leisurely walk (5)
Amble – Ramble without the first letter (won’t begin).
7 Pacific island backed it to secure a great success (6)
Tahiti – It backwards – so TI – around (to secure) a (A) great success (HIT).
8 Servant that’s some help after start of marriage (4)
Maid – Some help (AID) after Start of marriage (M).
9 Withdrew, blushing about some poetry (8)
Reversed – Blushing (RED) around some poetry (VERSE)
10 Hitch small and inferior horse (4)
Snag – Samll (S) inferior horse (NAG).
11 Drunk, brimful with a Chile wine (13)
Liebfraumilch – Anagram (drunk) of BRIMFUL and A CHILE
15 Bore given job with everything that may be desired (4-9)
Well-Appointed – Bore (WELL) given job (APPOINTED).
16 Too wrapped up in choral societies (4)
Also – Answer is in the clue – chorAL SOcieties.
18 Walking on rocky gradient (8)
Treading – Anagram (rocky) of gradient.
20 Final defeat on board for partner (4)
Mate – Double definition.
21 Size of former accommodation on camp (6)
Extent – Former (EX) accommodation on camp (TENT).
22 Great fear of adder wriggling around (5)
Dread – Anagram (wriggling around) of ADDER.

Down
1 Court’s ending morally unprincipled row (8)
Baseline – Morally unprincipled (BASE) row (LINE) – think Wimbledon and ‘you cannot be serious’.
2 Small creature – see me capture it (4)
Mite – ME around (capturing) IT.
3 Exposes druggy episode where pilots pick up speed (8)
Airstrip – Exposes (AIRS) druggy episode (TRIP) – thankfully they also slow down there.
4 Plain wicked imprisoning fifty (4)
Bald – Wicked (BAD) around (imprisoning) fifty (L) – a plain/bald statement.
5 Discharge head of Egyptian embassy (8)
Emission – head of Egyptian (E) embassy (MISSION).
6 Prima donna keen to do a turn (4)
Diva – Keen AVID backwards – didn’t I have this last week?
12 Voted to share out in foundation (8)
Balloted – Foundation (BED) around (in) share out (ALLOT).
13 End up with one unfortunately still done up (8)
Unopened – Anagram (unfortunately) of END UP ONE.
14 First of chaps having inclination for domestic work? (8)
Cleaning – First of chaps (C) inclination (LEANING).
17 Young man carrying round burden (4)
Load – Young man (LAD) around (carrying) round (O).
18 Container connected to end of large pipe (4)
Tube – Container (TUB) end of large (E).
19 Time in the year for fruit (4)
Date – Double definition.

17 comments on “Quick Cryptic no 57 by Joker”

  1. 11 minutes for this with time lost at the end on 1dn where I saw no obvious definition and the checked letters all being vowels didn’t bring any words immediately to mind. I enjoyed the tennis reference once I’d spotted it, what with the French Open starting this week. 12dn was nicely topical too. For me this was the easiest of Joker’s 6 puzzles to date; the first 3 I found really quite hard.

    Edited at 2014-05-27 05:44 am (UTC)

  2. 7 mins, and I found this one on the tricky side. The two long answers at 11ac and 15ac took a while, as did 13dn and 1dn, which was also my LOI. I haven’t been keeping track of my times by setter so I have no idea how I did with the other Joker puzzles.
  3. Took 27 mins with a bit of Z8ery. LOI 1dn as was thinking end of court was T. D’oh! 11ac brought back memories of going out with Z8 before we were married to a Schooner Inn having Liebfraumilch & Black Forest Gateau – the height of early 70’s student sophistication!!

    COD was EXTENT – giggling @ the clueing 🙂

    Lovely clear blog, Chris, enjoy your Ratty-like pursuits!

    1. I totally agree with you about the 70s! But before the B.F.G. there was the Prawn Cocktail starter and the steak main course to negotiate!
      1. Absolutely! Now at least you appear to be residing somewhere plus gastronomique!
  4. Started at a gallop, then hit quite choppy waters (sorry for appalling mixed metaphor!).

    Got there eventually, but 1dn had me flummoxed for a fair while (was looking for a word starting with T as “end of court”), also found 12d and 20a harder than I should have.

    Liebfraumilch also took a long time to spot (probably because I had tried to eliminate its memory since childhood when it was the only known wine on the Somerset housing estate where I grew up, and served as a “treat” with the meat and potatoes for Sunday lunch).

    Thanks for the blog chris – and delighted to see you are enjoying the Local Hero music! Immaculate taste, particularly in your current location. Happy days.

      1. Yes indeed! But, circa 1967 the concept of wine as a hallmark of sophistication came in and was pounced upon by aspirational upper working class families who wished to move into the lower middle class.

        It was (thankfully) only unleashed on a Sunday (the rest of the time cider was fine and, indeed, de rigueur).

        There is, I’m sure, a PhD to be written about the impact of hock (as we called it) consumption on class mobility in Taunton in the 1960’s, but hopefully I will not be the one to write it 🙂

        Edited at 2014-05-27 01:04 pm (UTC)

  5. 16mins but it should have been at least 6mins less as I struggled with 1d and 15ac; both were clues that would have been acceptable in thew main cryptic, I felt. Can one still buy Liebfraumilch?
  6. Never posted here before but so reassuring that others had difficulty with 1dn. I gave up and had to come here to find the answer. Clever mis-direction with a ‘t’ to start and an ‘a’ (as in amoral) to follow. Aid gave ‘Take Five’ which arguably is a bit of a row.
  7. It was too hard for me today. Like lots of you I struggled with 1d. 11a,15a eluded me also, partly because I had 3d as AIR SPACE – why isn’t that right? I did get the rest though so I shall concentrate on my successes, not my failures, and try again tomorrow.
    1. “Exposes” gives “airs” (rather than “air”): “expose” would lead us to air” – grammatical consistency, I guess. Once you have airs, you then need a druggy experience: trip fits the bill, but have not heard of “pace” with such a meaning.

      Hope that helps.

      Nick

      1. Thanks Nick, I can see now I was being sloppy with AIR/SPACE rather than AIRS/TRIP. I can see more attention to detail is called for (and not my strong point!).
  8. I had TUNE, which just about works. A tun is a container and to pipe some music is to play a tune, no that’s no good, can’t get the right parts of speech. So I was justifiably wrong.

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