QC 1105 by Mara

Author   astartedonPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Once again I find myself having to keep things brief. The fact is that my mother-in-law had to be hospitalised yesterday for something that initially seemed to be very minor but ultimately turned out to be something she needed to stay in overnight for, so while my wife has been doing her duty by her bedside (and also by her father’s side), I have been kept in a sort of limbo backup role awaiting instructions initially as a potential taxi service but latterly as an overnight bag-packing and delivery service. The uncertainty has continued for most of the day and has only finally resolved itself in the small hours of the morning when I am supposed to be composing this whilst simultaneously trying to populate my diary with meaningful activities for the week.

So, basic it is again. I enjoyed this one, whilst finding it on the easy side with a large number of double definitions (seven I think?) plus another couple that I have classified as sort of one-and-two-halves definitions. So really the definitions have been taking over the part of the asylum that is usually run by the cryptics as the main device of the day, which I suppose takes us sailing pretty close to the territory of the straight definition-type crossword. Nevertheless, the double definitions are clever and witty and made me smile inwardly (I have to admit I’m not great at smiling outwardly), so I am very happy and grateful to Mara for an enjoyable 10 minutes. I don’t think I have blogged Mara before, so may I say I am most pleased to meet you, and here’s to many more meetings in the future. Having finally finished my taxi duties I am now thankfully able at last to raise a glass to you, which I am doing most enthusiastically… and thirstily!

And I also note from a QC blog the other day that I am no longer the baby of the bloggers! Welcome to Jeremy who is now the youngest kid on the block and thank you for your most enjoyable offering which was a great start.

FOI was 4A as 1A didn’t come to me immediately. LOI was, unusually, the anagram at 2D. Of course anagrams are most commonly the lighter fuel that gets the barbecue going, the initial goals that open the floodgates for the 6-0 thrashing, the locks that open the door to the rest of the puzzle, but as noted above in this puzzle I found the preponderance of definitions doing that more effectively than the anagrams. The COD goes to 3D for my money because I particularly enjoyed the twisted nature of the cryptic definition.

Having said that, I also enjoyed 6D, where the ‘joint’ element reminded me of one of my favourite songs from the great and late lamented good-life eccentric Kevin Ayers (Soft Machine founder member and collaborator extraordinaire): Stranger In Blue Suede Shoes. The best version appears on the live June 1st 1974 album which is still one of my favourites after all these years so don’t let me get started on it or I will never stop.

Definitions are underlined in italics, and everything else is explained just as I see it in the simplest English that I have at my command.

Across
1 Catcher ostracised initially after miss (5)
LASSO – LASS (miss, as in young woman) + O (Ostracised initially).
4 Unpleasant type, whatshisname? (2-3-2)
SO-AND-SO – double definition.
8 English city lacking old English fibre (7)
BRISTLE – BRISTOL (English city), with ‘O’ deleted (‘lacking old’) + E (English).
9 Cut fruit (5)
PRUNE – double definition.
10 Average responsibility of factory owner? (3-2-3-4)
RUN-OF-THE-MILL – double definition, the second slightly cryptic as the ‘RUN OF THE MILL’ could be seen as the responsibility of the factory owner.
12 Mark finished selection for match (4-2)
LINE-UP – LINE (mark) + UP (finished). So a sort of one-and-two-halves definition I guess.
13 Month after end of contract, row not finished for hard worker (6)
TROJAN – JAN (month) placed after T (end of contracT) + RO (ROw not finished).
16 Flower charming king (5,7)
SWEET WILLIAM – SWEET (charming) + WILLIAM (king). Another one-and-two-halves definition.
18 Something happening, though troubling originally (5)
EVENT – EVEN (though) + T (Troubling ‘originally’, i.e. first letter of.)
20 Decorative award came up before title, oddly (7)
ROSETTE – ROSE (came up) before the odd letters of TiTlE.
21 Exercise system — various courses about one (7)
PILATES – PLATES (courses, as in food service) ‘about’ I (one). Pilates is an exercise system in case any of you out there (like me) don’t do any exercise and might not have heard of it. I mean I think it’s pretty standard vocabulary but I could quite easily imagine a universe in which I had simply never heard of it.
22 Kept in reserve, passport possibly for travels (5)
RIDES – ID (passport possibly) ‘in’ RES (reserve).
Down
1 Generous translation of Braille (7)
LIBERAL – anagram of BRAILLE (‘translation’).
2 Page in English in new novel — yarn turned on it (8,5)
SPINNING WHEEL – anagram (‘novel’) of P (page) + ENGLISH IN NEW.
3 Flat, possibly, in need of more air? (3,2,4)
OUT OF TUNE – double definintion, one cryptic. If OUT OF TUNE is the straight definition then you could be either sharp or flat, therefore ‘flat, possibly’ in this case. And then, cryptically, if you are OUT OF TUNE, then, because in Crossword Land TUNES are often AIRS, you could also find yourself in need of more ‘air’!
4 Spot the boil (6)
SEETHE – SEE (spot) + THE.
5 Poisoner in Cleopatra’s presence (3)
ASP – Shakespeare’s most famous suicide weapon is here hidden in the presence of the perpetrator: CleopatrA’S Presence!
6 After large drink and spliff, journalist remarkably flexible! (6-7)
DOUBLE-JOINTED – DOUBLE (large drink) + JOINT (spliff) + ED (editor, journalist). A one-and-three-halves definition? OK sorry. I’ll stop now.
7 More than six balls (4)
OVER – double definition for all you cricket aficionados.
11 Pathetic liar’s more a preacher (9)
MORALISER – anagram (‘pathetic’) of LIAR’S MORE.
14 Book 1, 2 or 3, say? (7)
NUMBERS – double definition. For all those of you who have managed to navigate thus far through life untouched by the Judaeo-Christian scriptures, NUMBERS is the fourth book of the Bible (and therefore also of the Jewish Pentateuch or Torah which makes up the first five books of the Old Testament). And for all those of you who have managed to navigate thus far through life untouched by the Arabic number system, 1, 2 and 3 are examples of NUMBERS in that system.
15 Initially Sheffield Wednesday overcoming rivals, duly surprising “The Blades” (6)
SWORDS – take the initial letters of all the words after ‘initially’ and before “The Blades” and there you have it.
17 Cut — pare off (4)
REAP – anagram (‘off’) of PARE.
19 Short infant (3)
TOT – double definition. We had a large drink earlier (DOUBLE), and now here we are finishing with a SHORT or a TOT.

21 comments on “QC 1105 by Mara”

  1. A typo–my third in the last few days–and at a checker, too (BRJSTLE); but the new system, bless it, only charges for one error even though two words are misspelled. Straightforward, even a bit meh, puzzle; maybe due to the abundance of dds that Don points out. 5:30, but.
  2. I’d have had “spinning wheel” in a lot quicker if my printer hadn’t blurred the clue so it read “– yam turned on it”.
  3. 9 minutes with a little time lost having biffed SPINNING JENNY at 2dn, trying in vain to see the wordplay to justify it and deciding to move on anyway. But that gave me ‘J’ as the second letter of 16ac, a very unlikely prospect, so I revisited 2dn immediately and worked out WHEEL as the correct second word.

    I may be missing something, but isn’t it perfectly standard for answers covered by one straight definition to have their individual components defined by two or more other straight definitions? And even more so perhaps in a Quick cryptic where clue constructions tend to be less complicated than in the main puzzle.

    1. Hi jackkt, no you are not missing anything. You are of course perfectly correct. I was just playing around with the terminology a bit to try and highlight that while there were a lot of double definitions there were also other clues which depended on definitions. I was simply trying to highlight the overall preponderance of definitions in the puzzle, and trying to be playful with it, but maybe I was straining a bit too hard on my leash.

      Assuming I have understood your comment correctly of course?

  4. About 30 minutes, with the major hold up due to bristle (not Brighton) and LOI seethe.

    Wasn’t 100% sure about the parsing for 18a even/though and 12a line up before submitting. I assumed numbers had to be a bible book.

    Haven’t seen RES for reserve before.

    COD over or seethe.

    The 15×15 is worth a bash today, I got all but one.

    Edited at 2018-06-04 08:00 am (UTC)

    1. I know. I agree about 18A although I thought 12A was fine. With 18A it is almost as if ‘EVEN’ has been allowed to get through just because of the fact that it is often found in close proximity to THOUGH (as ‘EVEN THOUGH’) rather than by being a definition. Some dictionaries have ‘EVEN IF’ as a definition for ‘THOUGH’, but that’s the closest I managed to find.

      I could have applied an MER, but the last time I raised one of those I had it singed by others who felt that I was being too picky. So my default position is now generally to give the benefit of the doubt. I guess as long as the blogger indicates where they think the clue is coming from then others are free to comment as to whether they think the parsing mechanism works or not.

  5. I’m another who was mystified by the yam at 2d. Held up at the end to finish 1/2 minute over average by OUT OF TUNE (misled by surface puncture) and SEETHE. COD to the football clue at 15d – “The Blades” being the nickname of Sheffield United and close rivals of “The Owls”, both playing in the Championship league.
    1. I’m pleased you highlighted 15dn – the most Sheffield centric clue I’ve ever come across – and an excellent surface. No time to report but all very enjoyable.
  6. I started off with LASSO and worked my was back to my LOI, 2d, where I totally missed the anagram and went on the definition and crossers. 10a tripped off the fingers. I liked OUT OF TUNE and Smiled at 6d. Nice puzzle. 9:30. Thanks Mara and Don. I can well appreciate the sense of relief when duties are done and the glass is in hand!
  7. Apart from a tentative OUT OF PUFF, which still looks like ac reasonable alternative, this flowed pretty well.
    I was introduced to Krek Waiter’s Peak Bristle when living in that very fine city, so 8 was particularly generous.
    PRUNE was my last, and rather slow, in. 8.50.
  8. A week off work for me, holidaying at home (re-plotting the final two-thirds of The Great Novel; there may be some drinking going on, too), so plenty of time to enjoy the crossword. I liked this but — unlike the rest of you — was VERY slow to get off the blocks. 1D was my FOI! After that, a pretty smooth run, although I too had PUFF instead of TUNE at 3D, which made me think SWIFT (as in river=flower) for 16A…until I saw my error. I do overthink these things.
    Thanks Mara for a good start to the week, and Astartedon for the typically helpful and entertaining blog. Hope matters improve for you and yours x
  10. Really enjoyed this puzzle, especially 2d and 6d. I, too, began with “out of puff” but “sweet William” sorted me out (as it were).
  11. About average for me. Didn’t like “though” = ‘even”. Even though, even so, even if, but even on its own? Enjoyed SWEET WILLIAM and the rather neat reference to Sheffield Wednesday and their city rivals “The Blades”.
    PlayUpPompey
  12. Nothing too tricky today, although I stuck a careless typo in at 17d, which was annoying. Completed in 13.29 (just under my target time). CoD to the football reference at 15d, closely followed by 8a. LOI 3d
  13. Had it not been for 3dn OUT OF TUNE this would have been my quickest solve in 9 mins. Unfortunately I had to trawl through the alphabet twice before settling on TUNE (with less than satisfactory second definition) to complete in 11:10.
  14. About 35 mins, with quite a few of those on my last two – 4d and 8ac. A good job there aren’t too many English cities beginning with B, or I would still be looking at the wrong end of that clue. A nice puzzle to start the week, and I particularly enjoyed the surfaces in 4, 7 and 14d. Invariant
  15. “Spot the boil” may be my favourite QC clue ever. Perfect in many ways.
  16. Almost 3 Kevins today, it really felt like Monday!

    Enjoyed COD 15dn, and followed the same blind alleys as others – PUFF and SWIFT eg. Got there in the end.

    Thanks for the blog, Don, very noble in the circumstances

    Templar

  17. Blades fans would point out that, in this fixture, resumed this season after a five-season break when the clubs were in different divisions, they got the better of the argument, winning away and drawing at home, so the clue is “flawed”! Good puzzle and blog, thanks Mara and astartedon.

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