QC 1995 by Breadman

Author   astartedonPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

A lot of good clues here and for the most part the surfaces were shiny smooth and read very naturally. Medium difficulty from my end, what say you, good people? Pleased to see ‘drunk’ used as a definition rather than an anagrind, particularly in a clue where an anagram was used as a device and it therefore served as a potential misdirection. FOI 1A and LOI 14D (I think). Several potential CODs but I’m going for 24A. Many thanks to Breadman, very enjoyable puzzle.

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

Across
1 Like some cakes I’d put around church (4)
ICED – ID (I’d) ‘put around’ CE (Church (of England))
7 Changeable writer to stop going through dictionary (4-5)
OPEN-ENDED – PEN (writer) + END (to stop) ‘going through’ OED (Oxford English Dictionary).
9 Horse grabbing Mike’s grooming implement (4)
COMB – COB (horse) ‘grabbing’ M (Mike, phonetic alphabet).
10 I must accompany soldiers in specialist trial (10)
EXPERIMENT – I + MEN (I ‘accompanying’ soldiers) ‘in’ EXPERT (specialist).
11 Prison in west Iraq (4)
STIR – hidden word: ‘in’ weST IRaq.
12 Pregnant woman‘s doctor with the gown obtaining temperature (6-2-2)
MOTHER-TO-BE – MO (Medical Officer, doctor) + THE ROBE (the gown) ‘obtaining’ T (temperature).
16 Map — volunteers recalled it on crop-growing estate (10)
PLANTATION – PLAN (map) + TA (Territorial Army, ‘volunteers’) + TI (IT ‘recalled’) + ON.
19 Occasionally require old currency (4)
EURO – EUR (‘occasionally’ rEqUiRe) + O (old).
21 Drunk European in Britain troubled newsman (10)
INEBRIATED – E (European) ‘in’ an anagram (‘troubled’) of BRITAIN + ED (newsman).
23 Potty about American work of music? (4)
OPUS – PO (a chamber pot, or ‘potty’) ‘about’, i.e. reversed = OP, + US (American).
24 Irish city’s naval team that’s driven in and out of port maybe (9)
CORKSCREW – CORK’S (Irish city’s) + CREW (naval team). A CORKSCREW may be driven in and out of a bottle of port in the process of removing the cork.
25 Want massage, reportedly (4)
NEED – sounds like (‘reportedly’) KNEAD (massage).
Down
2 Small farm councillor attends frequently (5)
CROFT – CR (councillor) + OFT (frequently).
3 Dog award accepted by doctor on staff (8)
DOBERMAN – OBE (award) ‘accepted by’ DR (doctor) on (i.e. ‘above’ in this down clue) MAN (staff).
4 Outside in drizzle, identify tyrant (6)
DESPOT – the ‘outside’ of DrizzlE + SPOT (identify).
5 Funereal vehicle picks up elders initially (6)
HEARSE – HEARS (picks up) + E (Elders ‘initially’).
6 Cheese produced to the north (4)
EDAM – MADE (produced) ‘to the north’, i.e. written upwards in this down clue. It’s the old schoolboy joke: “Which cheese is made backwards?”. And just to keep the PC wardens happy I assume this would have been a schoolgirl joke as well but I never knew such beings existed until much later in life having attended a single-sex prep school.
8 Copenhagen citizen maybe eating grub half ignored famous river (6)
DANUBE – DANE (Copenhagen citizen) ‘eating’ UB (grUB ‘half ignored’). ‘Maybe’ is surplus to requirements I believe but does no harm.
13 Headwear that’s uncovered (3)
HAT – tHAT‘s ‘uncovered’, i.e. missing the first and last letters.
14 Moderate single daughter in urban community (4,4)
TONE DOWN – ONE D (single daughter) ‘in’ TOWN (urban community).
15 Colin, giving away nothing, in charge of private hospital (6)
CLINIC – CoLIN ‘giving away nothing’ + IC (in charge).
17 Surrounded by morning papers, sat peripherally (6)
AMIDST – AM (morning) + ID (papers) + SaT ‘peripherally’.
18 Unit reformed our sailors, one after another (2,4)
IN TURN – INTU (anagram (‘reformed’) of UNIT) + RN (Royal Navy, ‘our sailors’).
20 Altered outer course (5)
ROUTE – straight anagram (‘altered’) of OUTER.
22 Block new farm building (4)
BARN – BAR (block) + N (new).

78 comments on “QC 1995 by Breadman”

  1. Just popped back to report that, as expected (by me), Mrs Random did not suffer the ignominy of completing today’s QC in a slower time than me. She finished in 16 minutes, well inside the SCC threshold. And, her LOI was the same as mine – CORKSCREW. Mrs R tends to pace her solves according to the number of things on her ‘To Do’ list, so her quick time today may be a sign that I will soon be called upon to pitch in on something-or-other.
  2. Found 21a difficult to unravel with the choice apparently of two anagrinds, but solved from the crossers. All done in just over 20m so a good day for us and a pleasant start to thr week.
  3. A rare sub 10 today. Held up at the end by AMIDST where I was slow to see where the ST came from.
  4. A new PB -> 18:56 — and the first time out of the SCC!

    In fact, I had everything other than CROFT in after 12 minutes with an agonising 6 minutes looking blankly at C_O_T.

    Very chuffed indeed! Looking back at my stats, I’ve finished 3 out of 4 QCs by Breadman, so must be on his wavelength.

    There was a bit of biffing involved today, but everything was parsed by the end.

    Edited at 2021-11-01 04:19 pm (UTC)

    1. Congratulations and very well done, Mr Taxis! I hope you enjoy the rarefied atmosphere out there, and that you get to experience it many more times. Perhaps it will become the norm.
      1. Thank you 😁

        I fear it’ll be business as usual tomorrow with DNF after 45 minutes…

  5. One more thing — from Saturday’s Times Diary (if you didn’t see it)

    Earlier in the week, we mentioned the unfortunately truncated film title “Who Framed Roger Rabbi”. It reminded Wadham Sutton, a reader, of one of his favourite jokes. “A Catholic priest, an Anglican vicar and a rabbit go to a clinic to give blood. The nurse asks the rabbit if he happens to know what blood group he is. The rabbit thinks for a moment and then says, ‘I think I must be a Type O’. “

    Brilliant 😂 Definitely a joke for all crossword lovers, which is not surprising, as Wadham Sutton is better known to us as Orpheus!

  6. Poor old Cork, dissected today, a very old port of course. Time calibration 1.3 score minutes, faster than ever.
  7. As easy as they come. Just over half my target time. No real hold ups. But it does put me in awe of all those 5 minute solvers.
  8. As most have said a gentle one today
    About half a course with lots of biffing
    Not sure about the walnuts and port though
  9. Mostly sailed through this one, though I have to confess there was a fair bit of biffing going on. Ended up on 15:05, which I think is my 16th fastest ever. Not much else to say really. COD to CORKSCREW. Thanks Astartedon and Breadman.
  10. … plus (e.g. 4 plus 8 = 12)
    … minus (e.g. 13 minus 7 = 6)
    … times (e.g. 5 times 3 =1 5)
    … divided by (e.g. 6 divided by 2 = 3)
    … gerzinter (e.g. 7 gerzinter 28 four times)
  11. An enjoyable challenge but not too taxing for the first of the week. As a newbie, loved corkscrew.

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