QC 1835 by Joker

Author   astartedonPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

I think this is the third puzzle in a row that I have blogged that has had a very low anagram hit rate. I think I got as far as 5D before the first one appeared, and then there was only one other major anagram at 11D before 20D which was so straightforward that it almost came out of the pages of Winnie-the-Pooh. Still, that brought back happy memories and many thanks to Joker for a puzzle that relied mostly on other devices for its considerable level of wit and humour.

FOI was 1A and the LOI I think was 14D, because I didn’t quite see the ‘joke’ quick enough. COD was for me a toss-up between the smooth surfaces at 1A and 6A, with the latter, appropriately enough in the context, winning the toss and electing to bat.

Last time I was on duty I was a bit sloppy with parsing on a couple of clues and many thanks to those who put me right. I was in a bit of a rush that day so apologies. Actually I’m in a bit of a rush again today but I hope I’ve done better this time.

Definitions are underlined as usual and everything else is explained just as I see it as simply as I can.

Across
1 One in a well, keen to pull themselves up? (8)
ASPIRING -A SPRING (a well) with I (one) inside.
6 Cricketers take them out to lunch (4)
BATS – I guess this is really a double definition as I can’t work out which is the ‘lead’ definition. Cricketers obviously take BATS when they go in (or out) to bat, and BATS is a slang term for mad, as is OUT TO LUNCH.
8 Body of rook found in small wood (6)
CORPSE – COPSE (small wood) with R (abbreviation for the chess piece) inserted.
9 I’d reversed some magic said to make disappear (6)
DISPEL – DI (I’D ‘reversed’) + SPEL (some magic said). The last part could work two ways. You could have ‘some’ magic said, where a SPELL is spoken magic (so magic ‘said’) but we only have ‘some’ of it because the last letter is missing. Or you can have some magic ‘said’, because a SPELL is some magic but if SPEL is said then it sounds the same as SPELL.
10 City house is sound again (4)
ECHO – EC (City of London postcode) + HO (house).
11 Perfect female breaking all the rules (8)
FLAWLESS – F (female) + LAWLESS (breaking all the rules).
12 Waterbird heads for good river estuary to live (5)
GREBE – first letters (‘heads’) of Good River Esturary + BE (to live).
13 Smell article relating to a person (5)
HUMAN – HUM (smell) + AN (indefinite article).
15 Grass covered by mould? (8)
INFORMER – IN (covered by) + FORMER (cryptically ‘mould’, i.e. something that FORMS).
17 Moral project involving saint (4)
JUST – JUT (project) ‘involving’ S (saint).
19 State offering some Alaskans a subsidy (6)
KANSAS – hidden word: ‘some’ alasKANS A Subsidy.
20 Part of school programme’s more taken off? (6)
LESSON – LESS ON (more taken off).
21 Thaw encountered around heart of Himalayas (4)
MELT – MET (encountered) ‘around’ L (the middle letter, and therefore the ‘heart’ of himaLayas).
22 Modern left party’s ending — we had a new union member (5-3)
NEWLY-WED – NEW (modern) + L (left) + Y (partY’s ending) + WE’D (we had), and then the definition is slightly cryptic.
Down
2 Old beset by criticism, mostly long-suffering (5)
STOIC – O ‘old’ beset by STICk (criticism ‘mostly’).
3 Urgently request ancient stories of devils? (7)
IMPLORE – IMP LORE might cryptically be said to be ‘stories of devils’.
4 Freeze ingredient for milk pudding that’s not started (3)
ICE – rICE (an ingredient for milk pudding ‘not started’).
5 Good and moving death for mafia chief (9)
GODFATHER – G (good) + anagram (‘moving’) of DEATH FOR.
6 Herb, one about to be cut from church building (5)
BASIL – BASILica. A BASILICA is a church building (e.g St Peter’s in Rome) and then you ‘cut’ I (one) + CA (circa, about) from it.
7 One needs time and motivation for such a crime (7)
TREASON – T (time) + REASON (motivation).
11 Secret society member criminal men so fear (9)
FREEMASON – straight anagram (‘criminal’) of MEN SO FEAR.
12 English law set up after weapon used in part of boat (7)
GUNWALE – E LAW reversed (i.e. ‘set up’ in this down clue) ‘after’ GUN (weapon).
14 Joke grasped by May Queen? (7)
MAJESTY – JEST (joke) ‘grasped’ by MAY. The ? indicates that  Majesty could be either ‘His’ or ‘Her’.
16 Beginning working group (5)
ONSET – ON (working) + SET (group).
18 Small company about to be successful (5)
SCORE – S (small) + CO (company) + RE (about).
20 Owl flying close to the ground (3)
LOW – straight anagram (albeit a very short one) of OWL (‘flying’). (And one of the characters in Winnie-the-Pooh was WOL – see comment in preamble).

67 comments on “QC 1835 by Joker”

  1. That was a very clever puzzle that really made us think. After a very slow start, took us a very enjoyable 15 minutes to solve.

    FOI: corpse
    LOI: bats
    COD: newlyweds

    Thanks to Joker and Astartedon.

  2. Well this one will certainly encourage new people to try the puzzles— not

    After last week you would have thought they might set an easier puzzle or two

  3. Oh this was a struggle for me, I nearly missed my namesake too! I found the cricket clue rather tricky, I don’t think I would have thought of “out to lunch” as meaning bats. And I’m not entirely sure I understand the clueing of 15 AC with mould=forms. Also I did get 3D but shouldn’t “stories of devilS” be impSlore.

  4. Didn’t get ASPIRING for a while, and NEWLY WED even with the crossers only came slowly, but enjoyed this generally. Trying to get the answer to 11A to fit the 11D space didn’t help either! Woke up eventually for a slow but fun start to the week.
  5. Rather slow today, worked from the bottom and came to a halt for a while with 1a, 2d. Also forgot th ec for city which did not help. Quite a tough start to the week.
  6. Joker’s puzzles are always a challenge for me and this one lived up to that expectation.

    15A I guessed the ‘grass’ was some sort of whistleblower but couldn’t see a way in with this clue. A mould forming something was beyond me today.
    Similarly with 3D IMPLORE I guessed the answer but imp lore didn’t come to mind.

    11A FLAWLESS got hung up assuming ‘breaking’ meant taking F for ‘female’ and putting it inside ‘rules’.

    Thank goodness for explanations, so, thank you Asartedon for that!

    Onwards to Tuesday…..

  7. ….these confounded NINA’s. They’re wasted on most of us anyway.

    FOI DISPEL
    LOI INFORMER
    COD FREEMASON
    TIME 5:08

  8. I found this quite hard to start, and after the first pass the ones I did get were not much help. I eventually came to a halt with just 1ac/2d extant, but couldn’t see how Stoic was long suffering — I’ve always thought of it as unemotional. Went away for a bit, and grudgingly entered Stoic on my return, but still took some time to see Aspiring. Gave up trying to parse Informer around the 30 min mark. CoD to 3d, Imp-lore. Invariant
  9. Found this one very chewy and ended up taking 51:32, but I guess it makes it all the more satisfying when that last one goes in. Didn’t manage to parse JUST, even though I had thought the saint might just represent “S”, and INFORMER also confused me, even after I had taken ages to come up with the alternative meanings of “grass” and “mould” and got the answer . SPRING, STOIC and LOI SCORE also took ages, so I obviously had some sort of aversion to S’s today. Never noticed the Nina, so thanks to Cedric for pointing that out. Perhaps it was Joker’s way of making a difficult puzzle a bit easier for the observant. Unlike some other Ninas, there weren’t any obscure words, so it didn’t make things more difficult. Anyway, FOI CORPSE, LOI SCORE, CsOD to 11a, 6d and 7d. Thanks Joker and Astartedon.
  10. A tough puzzle with lots of pencil that turned out to be ok when I went to the website and checked later. I don’t equate well = spring. Knew it would be tricky when I had my FOI at 12 Grebe and saw how it was clued. Also 13a Aroma had to be changed and I remembered Hum. Liked 15a Informer – a lot of building eg The South Bank – was built using timber moulds into which was poured concrete – hence ‘formers’ = shaping and containing, also in casting metal in a foundry. Confused by 17a Just as I had the ST and couldn’t parse the JU but it was the only word that fitted that sort-of made any sense. Lots of other nice solutions eg 2d Stoic, 3d Imp-lore, 7d T-reason, 14d Majesty. So, FOI 12a Grebe; LOI 14d majesty – I had everything but just failed to see the whole answer (me being daft really); COD 10a Echo – simple and succinct. Good workout that nearly defeated me form Joker, and thanks to Astartedon for a very useful blog.
  11. Did this while eating lunch in about 10 minutes and before going out for a walk . Lots of birds inc teal, a goosander and two mergansers — I’m sure Sawbill would have liked them 😊 But no grebes today at the nature reserve, only here! Of course I never noticed the nina, so thanks to HeathrowExpress and Cedric for pointing it out. I wonder how frustrating it must be for the setters when their clever tricks are completely missed?
    Like Templar, I was sure 1a was pussycat but it wouldn’t parse, so I moved swiftly on! Have just realised that I got 11a wrong — biffed fearless and forgot to go back and double check. I was in a hurry …

    FOI Ice
    LOI Corpse
    COD Human, closely followed by Freemason — great surfaces
    DNF — more haste, less speed!

    Thanks to Joker and Don

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