QC 1165 by Flamande

Author   astartedonPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Fairly straightforward this one. I certainly came in at under 10 minutes but was interrupted by having to perform baggage checks for my wife who has been called away to Dubai at short notice on business. “Have I got my passport? Have you printed out my boarding pass? Have I got my UAE dirhams? Can you zip up my overstuffed bag?” Anyway, the taxi is now a disappearing dot on the horizon, several days of uninterrupted beer and curries lie before me, and I am able to turn my attention to finishing off the details of this enjoyable quickie which displayed some intelligent and economical cluing as well as a high percentage of particularly well constructed surfaces.

FOI was 8A where the anagram practically jumped out of the clue and lay down submissively in its position in the grid without much help from me. LOI was I think 3A which displays the admirable qualities mentioned above very well. A very natural surface backed up by a pair of good internal definitions leading to a noun crossdressing as a verb before submitting to insertion. I think that performance also merits my COD award. Thanks to Flamande for an enjoyable early morning Bank Holiday diversion.

Definitions are underlined in italics, and everything else is just explained as simply as I can.

Across
3 Second group of scouts to go travelling (8)
BACKPACK – BACK (second) + PACK (group of scouts).
7 A climber spotted near river valley (6)
RAVINE – A VINE (a climber) ‘spotted near’ R (river).
8 Floor covering Lionel unrolled with some hesitation (8)
LINOLEUM – anagram of LIONEL (‘unrolled’) + UM (some hesitation).
9 Port imbibed by grandad enthusiastically (4)
ADEN – hidden word: grandAD ENthusiastically.
10 Feature of wintry weather in Central Europe principally (3)
ICE – first letters (‘principally’) of In Central Europe.
11 Newspaper editor reflected (8)
MIRRORED – MIRROR (newspaper) + ED (editor).
13 Scam about to take us in (4)
RUSE – RE (about) taking US in = RUSE.
15 Make-up friends rejected also a hit (4)
SLAP – double definition with a cryptic: PALS (friends) ‘rejected’ = SLAP.
17 Yuletide singer given a big wave by leader of choir (8)
CAROLLER – C (leader of Choir) + A ROLLER (a big wave).
19 Learner loves card game (3)
LOO – L (learner) + OO (loves).
22 Manage to bring old piano into church (4)
COPE – CE (Church (of England)) ‘bringing in’ OP (old piano).
23 Inadequate English teacher put under pressure (6,2)
LEANED ON – LEAN (inadequate) + E (English) + DON (teacher).
24 Size of old canvas shelter (6)
EXTENT – EX (old) + TENT (canvas shelter).
25 Where mob gathered for some beer (4-4)
HOME-BREW – anagram of WHERE MOB (‘gathered’).
Down
1 Fellow has to train monkey (8)
MANDRILL – MAN (fellow) + DRILL (to train).
2 The German eats local meal (6)
DINNER – DER (one form of the definite article in German) ‘eating’ INN (local, as in pub).
3 Energy-filled sandwich to make you move fast (4)
BELT – BLT (bacon, lettuce & tomato sandwich) ‘filled’ with E (energy).
4 Think left winger is upset after Tory takes first place (8)
CONSIDER – RED (left winger) + IS, all reversed (‘upset’), after CON (Tory).
5 Nick beginning to pen flier for circulation (6)
PILFER – P (beginning to Pen) + anagram of flier (‘for circulation’).
6 Disco beat? (4)
CLUB – double definition.
12 First half of recent arrangement for wind instrument (8)
RECORDER – first half of RECent + ORDER (arrangement).
14 Comprehensive school’s head appearing very upset (8)
SWEEPING – S (School’s head) + WEEPING (appearing very upset).
16 Enter the pool, taking breather during PE (6)
PLUNGE – something that breathes, i.e. a ‘breather’, is a LUNG. Place it ‘during’ PE and there you have it.
18 Site ace lot refurbished (6)
LOCATE – anagram of ACE LOT (‘refurbished’).
20 Repeat one note after another (4)
REDO – two notes, RE and DO (as in the DO, RE, MI note system).
21 Recognised novel when read aloud (4)
KNEW – homophone for NEW (novel).

33 comments on “QC 1165 by Flamande”

  2. 21 minutes with at least 10 spent on leaned on and LOI sweeping.

    Liked belt and aden but COD sweeping.

  3. Nice gentle start to the week, but I was held up, briefly, by 3ac as I searched for a word including ‘Troop’ or ‘Patrol’. I soon saw that ‘Pack’ was required. I know that this a bit pedantic (but we are crossword solvers after all), but in my day, at least, a Pack was a group of Cubs, and a Troop was a group of Scouts.
    Thanks to Flamande and Astartedon.

    Edited at 2018-08-27 07:30 am (UTC)

      1. They are indeed! It is just that I have never heard anyone refer to a pack of scouts! So, is this just an example of legitimate misdirection? If so, it worked well
  4. I think our setter is suggesting CLUB BeLTs for DINNER with your HOME BREW rather than curry. Well those were my 3 favourites. Neat and not too taxing. RAVINE and CLUB my last two in. About a minute under average. Thanks Flamande and astartedon

    Edited at 2018-08-27 07:17 am (UTC)

  5. An average solve in 12:48. FOI was LINOLEUM but then I abandoned the NE corner for easier pickings. My LOI was 5d PILFER. DNK ADEN or LOO but the wordplay was straight forward. Thanks Flamande and Astartedon.
  6. Straightforward start to the week. Thanks to flamande for an enjoyable puzzle and to astartedon for a concise blog. 3 Kevins, though I thought it was going to be less after a quick start. Like florentine, I also had a problem with 3a, unable to get beyond troop and patrol. The penny only dropped after I got the b and p checkers. ‘Pack’ was used only for groups of cubs and brownies in my day, too. John M
  8. Started at a rapid pace but slowed to a crawl towards the end. It’s strange what holds you up. 23ac – lean=inadequate didn’t arrive for a long time then loi 6dn – couldn’t see club=beat so sat staring at it for ages – 13 minutes.
  9. I particularly enjoy Flammande’s puzzles and todays was no exception with lots to amuse me along the way, but 3a and 1d stood out for me. Nothing too testing, although like Chris I needed some convincing about the lean/inadequate link. LOI 14d, completed in 11.20.
    Thanks for the blog
  10. Straightforward start to the week. Thanks to flamande for an enjoyable puzzle and to astartedon for a concise blog. 3 Kevins, though I thought it was going to be less after a quick start. Like florentine, I also had a problem with 3a, unable to get beyond troop and patrol. The penny only dropped after I got the b and p checkers. ‘Pack’ was used only for groups of cubs and brownies in my day, too. John M
  12. Found this tricky but not impossible. DNK the card game and the monkey had to be dredged up from the depths. FOI was 10ac, I’m well used to those now…. Always think that the note shold be ‘doh’.
  13. Inside my target window of 10 to 15, but only just! I seem to have struggled more than others and my last one in was RUSE for no very good reason other than that I missed the clue on the first pass and was surprised to see I had one left when I thought I had finished.

    Thanks Setter and Blogger – all very nicely done.

  15. A slowish 27 mins that could have been even longer had the unknown Mandrill not been so kindly clued. Loo was also an unknown card game, but again Flamande was very considerate. As with others, my last two were 3ac and 7ac – I was beginning to doubt BLT for a moment or two, but then the penny dropped as I realised second had nothing to do with time. Some nice clues, with 16d Plunge my favourite today. Invariant
  16. I liked BLT; wondered about LEAN and didn’t know the card game. However I solved steadily and ended up needing 23a and 20d (LOI).
    Not sure about the time but 20 minutes or so,slightly above my target. An interesting grid with lots of first letters missing.
    David
  17. We were a bit thrown by 3A because strictly scouts are in troops and it’s cubs who are in packs. But I suppose they are called Cub Scouts…
    1. Collins gives us ‘the basic organizational unit of Cub Scouts and Brownie Guides’, so Flamande is on safe ground.
  18. Very nice puzzle completed in just over 8 mins. Quite easy for the most part but with a few harder clues – leaned on and sweeping adding a minute or so. I thought we might have a nina given the left column but assume Flamande is just a Derby fan. Thanks all
  19. I’m struggling to see lean as inadequate, can’t think of any usage for that. If anything I would have said lean = adequate (I.e. no fat, just sufficient to do the job)
  20. Ditto on calling Scouts a Pack rather than a Troop, I would have thought most people refer to Cubs as Cub Scouts at the very least and never just Scouts..t…although I ended up getting Dinner thinking it was D for German and INNER for local… Ich Glückspilz!
  21. Glad you all found it easy – took me well over an hour and missed about four!
    Got pack but didn’t think to go travelling is backpack
    Missed BLT – but suppose Brexit Raab should have given it
    Didn’t get mandrill or ravine
    Hey ho!
    Nick
  22. New card game on me. And I’ve played loads with ancient now dead relatives. Newmarket whist crib etc.
    Apparently popular in Jane Austen novels. The sort of tv dramas my wife watches while I’m doing the QC so no surprise I missed it. One for his knob? John.
  24. Under ‘lean’ Collins has: deficient in some quality or substance.

    I think ‘deficient’ and ‘inadequate’ are interchangeable.

  25. In no known universe are lean and inadequate synonymous. That’s a cheat, I’m afraid.
    1. Exactly. Except the ‘third’ definition isn’t one, it’s a cryptic as it is PALS backwards. That leaves the double definition I referred to as make-up + hit. I think anyway. It was some time ago now…
      1. Hi Astartedon, sorry for the subterfuge in responding to an old post, but you asked for another clue, so here it is: you need to focus on particle physics, and start with the discovery of something called Parity violation (Wu et al) back in the ’50s. That will give you one of the 3 initials you are looking for, but keep in mind I’m only Invariant when you have all three…. 😉

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