QC 1485 by Joker

Author   astartedonPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Another easy Monday puzzle. I think the FOI was 1A, and LOI was 5D, but once again, as with the last one I blogged, not because that was the most diffcult clue but just because it happened to be the last one that I came upon in a fairly random hop around the grid. COD was difficult to determine as usual with no particular clue standing out for difficulty so I’ll go for the one I found most entertaining, which was 13A. Many thanks to Joker for another entertaining puzzle.

I am blogging this just after getting back from a highly enjoyable weekend at Stratford-on Avon, so I really don’t have time to write very much, and my head is still buzzing with the brilliance of the production of King John that I saw on Saturday night. This is one of Shakespeare’s least-performed plays and I had never seen it before (although I had read it and enjoyed it and found it difficult to understand why it was not more popular). I am one of those typical bookworms who has always more enjoyed reading Shakespeare than watching it, but last night’s performance was outstanding and quite simply one of the best things I have ever seen on the stage. I can highly recommend it if you haven’t seen it.

Definitions are underlined and everything else is explained just as I see it in the simplest language I can manage.

Across
1 Inflammation I insist is circulating outside United States (9)
SINUSITIS – anagram of I INSIST (‘circulating’) ‘outside’ US (United States).
6 Cost of penny cereal (5)
PRICE – P (penny) + RICE (cereal).
8 Fare collector caught on tube with old queen (9)
CONDUCTOR – C (caught) + ON + DUCT (tube) + O (old) + R (Regina, queen).
9 Indian lute is brought back by sailor (5)
SITAR – SI (IS ‘brought back’) + TAR (sailor).
10 Discharge from English mother country (9)
EMANATION – E (English) + MA (mother) + NATION (country).
12 Supporting a Mountie, perhaps, with free study (6)
RIDDEN – RID (free) + DEN (study).
13 Another drink could be reason for cancelling football match? (6)
REFILL – if the REF was ILL, might you cancel the football match?
16 Chap tried getting drunk really inexpensively (4-5)
DIRT-CHEAP – straight anagram (‘getting drunk’) of CHAP TRIED.
18 Some treasure trove appearing from the past (5)
RETRO – hidden word (‘some’): treasuRE TROve
19 A box with insipid artificial sweetener (9)
ASPARTAME – A + SPAR (box) + TAME (insipid).
21 Scrap put right in outhouse (5)
SHRED – R (right) ‘in’ SHED (outhouse).
22 European MP is sent out for vacancy (9)
EMPTINESS – E (European) + MP + anagram (‘out’) of IS SENT.
Down
1 Hide away in south-eastern Greek island (7)
SECRETE – SE (south-eastern) + CRETE (Greek island).
2 Good for dieters, regularly needed in undoing feasts? (6)
NONFAT – take regular letters from uNdOiNg FeAsTs.
3 Diving apparatus son got on Caribbean island (5)
SCUBA – S (son) + CUBA (Caribbean island).
4 Mostly carry young child (3)
TOT – ‘mostly’ TOTe (carry).
5 Grip left in odd storage space on ship (12)
STRANGLEHOLD – L (left) ‘in’ STRANGE (odd) + HOLD (space on ship).
6 Working outraged past student (12)
POSTGRADUATE – straight anagram (‘working’) of OUTRAGED PAST.
7 Trespasser at home initially turned more disrespectful (8)
INTRUDER – IN (at home) + T (‘initially’ Turned) + RUDER (more disrespectful).
11 I’m one having volunteers to run copier (8)
IMITATOR – IM (I’m) + I (one) + TA (territorial army – ‘volunteers’) + TO + R (run).
14 European millions getting iron ruler (7)
EMPRESS – E (European) + M (millions) + PRESS (iron).
15 Staid, sitting down when the last one rises (6)
SEDATE – SEATED (sitting down) with D (‘the last one’) ‘rising’ to third place in this down clue.
17 Expression of surprise over soldier’s dog (5)
CORGI – COR (expression of surprise) ‘over’ (in this down clue) GI (soldier).
20 Narrowly defeat Philip (3)
PIP – double definition: to narrowly defeat (‘pip at the post’) and a contraction of the male name Philip (as in, for example, Philip Pirrip, the protagonist of Dickens’s Great Expectations).

35 comments on “QC 1485 by Joker”

  1. Excellent blog! I read and enjoyed every word.

    Do have a bash everyone at today’s 15×15 it is a mild
    QC on just one steroid! Over to you Mr. Templar.

    Edited at 2019-11-18 05:35 am (UTC)

  2. 9 minutes. It’s not often we have the grid with 4 blanks at the of start Row 1, I think.

    I’m glad you enjoyed the production, Don, but having visited the RSC site to read more about it and watch the trailers I can only say that nothing on earth would induce this old fart to sit through it. Why does everything these days have to be ‘updated’ and messed about with? In my view the adaptor might have been better engaged working on a new play.

    Edited at 2019-11-18 09:51 am (UTC)

    1. Some adaptations of the Bard’s masterpieces certainly work better than others. I saw ‘Measure for Measure’ at the Barbican some 30 years ago. John Sessions and Phil Daniels were the lead actors, and it had been reset in Vienna straight after WW2. It came off really well.
      1. And I was rather taken with the 1994 film of Richard III starring Ian McKellen and set in an alternative 1930’s fascist Britain, but I took that to be an exception. I might have said perhaps I was wrong to prejudge the RSC’s reworking of King John as far as my particular tastes are concerned, but they have put up enough video on their website for me to be sure that it wouldn’t do for me.
  3. Nothing struck me about this one that I can remember, anyway. 4:49.
    I tend to agree with Jack about ‘updating’ Shakespeare, but I suppose one has to grant that Shakespeare updated his plays, with, say, his Romans wearing hats. As Horryd says, do try the 15×15.

    Edited at 2019-11-18 06:21 am (UTC)

  4. Better than Friday in that I only had three red squares. This time the result of missing the N in STRANGLEHOLD I think – I had a double H in there too, so can’t be sure. I wasn’t on the wavelength this morning and had trouble all over the grid, finishing in 22:42, slowest for a while. Always like to hear it was a tough one when I’ve struggled but spirits fell as the blog started with “another easy puzzle”. NHO ASPARTAME, DNK TOTE meant carry – but have heard of a TOT bag and ran out of options with checkers and don’t get how Supporting a Mountie perhaps, means RIDDEN, though free study is very clear.

    Thanks for the tip – will try the 15×15, on paper!, at lunchtime.

    1. A mountie might well be on horseback, so the horse supporting him would be –wait for it–RIDDEN. Rimshot.
      1. Wish I hadn’t mentioned it now but needed that nudge to see it from the horse’s point of view!
      2. That’s rather tortuous. Still not sure I can get my head round it. Definitely one I still couldn’t understand even after the blog.
  5. The 4 blanks Jack alludes to could have made two more 2 letter down clues – are these no allowed or are ‘we’ just being sniffy?

    King John was well known on my home turf, in my youff!
    He lost the Crown Jewels somewhere in The Wash; dined with monks/friars at Swineshead Abbey on a surfeit of apricots and lampreys; spent his penultimate night at Sleaford Castle with the Enos/Andrews Sisters, and perished at Newark Castle the following evening after becoming billious.
    Nothing too dull there. Might indeed make a new film.

    10.35 for this which should have been a tad quicker as the gubbins at 6dn was slow to appear. POSTGRADUATE my COD.

    FOI 6ac PRICE

    LOI 2dn NONFAT I would have preferred it to be hyphenated

    WOD 19ac ASPARTAME – sounds slightly Shakespearean to me
    ‘Aspartame & Apricota’

    Taxi for one!

    Edited at 2019-11-18 06:30 am (UTC)

  6. I botched this one with asparlame, and the 15×15 with typos.
    Tried to fit prostrate in 15d.

    Stranglehold was good, but COD refill.

  7. 11 minutes having been stuck on ridden (couldn’t see how that worked but happy now), aspartame (nho) and sedate (unusual construction for a QC?). COD Ref ill. Thanks for the blog.
  8. 27:20 which for me puts it at harder than but still in the straightforward category. Slow to see 1A was an anagram and biffed TOT not thinking tote for carry till I saw the blog – thanks. Is there another example other than ‘Tote that barge’?
    Saw a gender-blind 12th Night at The Globe over the summer. I get confused as soon as someone appears in disguise, more so as the opposite sex. This multiplied the effect so that I was at much at sea as Viola and Sebastian.
    2. I have an amazing book called “The Ashley Book of Knots” which includes 3854 (yes, really) illustrations of different types of knot. Number 440 is captioned “To Tump or Tote a Bear Without Ruffling the Fur”.
  9. Three Kevins for a Not Very Good Day. I got stuck on STRANGLEHOLD, spending a long time trying to use “odd” first as an anagram indicator and then as signifying every other letter. I also took a long time to see SEDATE – a new trick on me!

    The only thing I remember about King John is that it has a character called Philip the Bastard, which caused immense amusement at school.

    Thanks Joker and Don.

    Templar

  10. I quite enjoyed this puzzle but ended up in the SCC. I think some of the whizz-kids can be a bit dismissive of some puzzles on occasion. Some of us don’t just breeze through without a second thought, you know. Thanks Joker and Don who gave us a good blog and made me see things I had missed en route. John M.
  11. In truth this would have been a DNF had I not resorted to checking the wordplay for my LOI ASPARTAME by looking up the word online. My penultimate solve was the intersecting SEDATE which I wanted to type in but took me a while to parse. A few hesitations elsewhere had already pushed me over my target including RIDDEN, REFILL and NONFAT. COD to 13a REFILL. 2.5 Kevins.

    Edited at 2019-11-18 01:04 pm (UTC)

  12. Not that easy for me today; indeed I was pleased and surprised to finish all correct.
    I managed all but three clues in about 12 minutes but at no time was I thinking this is one of Joker’s easier puzzles, ASPARTAME a case in point.
    I ground to a halt with three left: 12a, 13a and 2d. I got RIDDEN first but I’m still not sure about the definition and the answer matching up. But I got it.
    Next to fall was REFILL, very clever and very clear once you get it. I was trying to think of all the reasons for cancelling football matches. Anyway COD to that.
    Finally NONFAT where I failed to understand the instructions in the clue; I was trying to fit NEE into another word. I nearly gave up but finished in 26:16.
    Well done Joker and thanks for an excellent blog.
    David
  13. ….so God bless Wetherspoon’s and Tim Martin !

    I was so close to a clean sweep, although the clue that stopped me was only the third I looked at. I passed it by again halfway through, and it was LOI after half a minute’s further consideration – overall it must have been responsible for about 15% of my total solving time.

    FOI SINUSITIS
    LOI NONFAT
    COD REF ILL (we’ve had a couple this season who were not so much ill as deranged).

  14. I went 11 seconds over my 10 minute target for this one, having to work hard to untangle the wordplay in several clues. Took me a moment to see the definition for RIDDEN. Thanks Joker and Don.
  15. After 25 mins I was left with just 12 and 13ac to complete. Refill took a minute or so before the penny dropped and that just left R*d*e* for 12ac. The cryptic pointed to Ridden, but I thought that was such a poor answer that I spent several more minutes trying to think of alternatives. In the end I went with Ridden, but still don’t like it. Invariant
  16. I found this a bit of a struggle today finishing over target in 16.19 and finding it difficult to get a foothold anywhere. But my particular hold ups were the Sweetener, the inflammation, NONFAT, SEDATE and REFILL. Maybe the 15×15 will prove more amenable.
    Thanks for the blog.
  17. I found it a mix of straightforward and tricky. Most went in ok but i had to resort to aids for 12a (definitely a mer imho) and 15d, which was a totally new type of clue to me. Also 13a which I could not see, for some reason.

    Also couldn’t parse 2d even though I saw what was intended. Just a wood for trees thing, I think.

  18. Thanks for the Shakespeare comments and I should say that I normally agree with those people who say that we shouldn’t change plays gratuitously just to shake things up a bit or pander to modern PC values. Thus when I saw King John was being played by a woman I thought OK I’ll put up with this lunacy because I have never seen the play and I would really like to. But then I was honestly hooked from the first entrance. It was brilliant theatre (for me anyway) from beginning to end. I don’t know why, but his being played by a woman really worked.

    I speak as someone who went to see Much Ado About Nothing a few years ago at the same venue. I had not realised it beforehand but it turned out to be a ‘Bollywood’ version and I really didn’t get it. I was sitting there the whole time thinking ‘why?’. But my son who was with me and an Eng. Lit. student at the time really liked it.

    And don’t get me started about seeing Anthony Sher playing Lear at the Barbican a few months ago. This should have been an absolute dream ticket but for me it was wooden and lifeless and I got the feeling he was just speaking the lines rather than acting them. I have my theories as to what was wrong with the production but I will say no more as it is not worth upsetting the PC brigade.

    And I agree about the 15 x 15. I have a painful shoulder at the moment which sometimes wakes me up in the middle of the night. Last night when this happened I went to today’s puzzle and managed it quickly at about 4.30 in the morning. So I can’t claim to have actually ‘done it in my sleep’, but I certainly did it ‘in between my sleeps’ and didn’t even have the light on long enough to disturb my very light-sleeping wife.

  19. At 7:12.

    LOI Refill, which made me chuckle.

    Biffed Nonfat, came here to see the parsing. D’oh! Nothing more to say really..

    Thanks all.

  20. I thought this was quite hard with some of the clues almost being on par with the main 15×15 in their intricate parsing. 8ac “Conductor” and 11dn “Imitator” come to mind.

    As it happens I DNF, as I just couldn’t get 12ac “Ridden” nor 15dn “Sedate”. Eventually got 5dn, but for some reason put “Scrap” in for 21ac – not the first time I’ve accidentally put in part of the clue rather than the answer I meant.

    Overall, a good challenge. COD, like the blogger, was 13ac “Refill” which made me chuckle when I got it.

    Thanks

  21. The thing (a horse) supporting a Mountie is indeed ‘ridden’, but the phrase ‘supporting a Mountie’ does not parse to ‘ridden’ on its own. So I think there is a mistake in this clue.
    1. Have to admit, I struggled with this as well. I realise there has to be some leeway sometimes, especially with the odd superfluous word, but I just can’t get my head around this definition.
  22. I think 12A is OK. I did have to do a mental backflip to check it out, but I do think in the end it is OK.

    Definition is RIDDEN, meaning “supporting a Mountie, perhaps.” And certainly if you were a horse, and you were supporting a Mountie (or a jockey, or a cowboy or whatever) on your back, then you would be RIDDEN by that Mountie or other entity.

    1. I think my point was that the definition seems to allude to an object or thing eg. horse, saddle etc. rather than an action undertaken by that object.

      As a result, it just didn’t make sense to me in the context of the clue, but maybe I am taking it too literally.

    1. How about the following?

      The horse was supporting a Mountie, perhaps.

      The horse was ridden.

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