Quick Cryptic 2376 by Rongo: Circling Over Shannon

Author   MerlinPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

This QC shouldn’t scare the horses, middle of the road time for me. Well- balanced with good surfaces.

The last Down clue requires a synonym for “drunk”.  The book Intoxerated claims to have 2,985 synonyms for various states of intoxication, and is the Guiness Book of Record holder for most synonyms. Favorite: “Boris Yeltsinned”, and “Circling Over Shannon”

Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, deletions and [] other indicators.

Across
1 Dire straits engulfing one ironic writer (8)
SATIRIST – Anagram (dire) of (STRAITS)* + I
5 Loving but discovered to have no heart (4)
FOND – FO[u]ND (discovered) without the middle letter (heart)

FOND as an adjective for Loving, as in a “fond smile”
8 Imitation brooch with silver coating (5)
APING – PIN (brooch) surrounded by AG (silver)

This is actually a noun for imitation, from the verb “ape”. OED has as usage “a poor aping of conscientiousness”.
9 101 tons carried in true performance (7)
RECITAL -CI (101 in Roman Numerals) + T [ons] inside REAL (true)
11 Be dishonest, don’t be upstanding (3)
LIE – Double Def
12 Increase assuming variable follows in decimal units (9)
INTENSIFY – IN + TENS (decimal units) + IF (assuming) + Y (variable)
13 Importance of announcement of delay (6)
WEIGHT – Homophone (announcement of) for WAIT (delay)
15 Reverse of label the woman’s to pull into folds of fabric (6)
GATHER – TAG (label) reversed + HER (woman’s)

The definition is very precise, taking 6 full words.
18 Little program relating to energy growth that’ll bear fruit (5,4)
APPLE TREE – APPLET (little program) + RE (relating to) + E[nergy]

I though APP was enough for a little program, so was missing a clue for LET. LET can be appended on to many English nouns, and is our diminutive suffix, like “ette” in French. There’s a great Wikipedia page on this.
19 Large container merely overturned (3)
TUB – BUT (merely) reversed
20 Hollow stamens inside a flower or flowers (7)
BLOSSOM – S[tamen]S inside BLOOM (flower)

“Hollow” here is yet another way of indicating the first and last letters of a word. I was looking for flower=river.
21 A regret about golf dispute (5)
ARGUE – A + RUE (regret) containing G[olf]

RUE is a very common short word in cryptics, worth remembering.
22 European getting rid of good or bad smell (4)
REEK – [G]reek (European) with G[ood] removed.

Greek, clued by “European” appeared in the QC yesterday as well.
23 Extremes in formal use, not likely how a native speaks? (8)
FLUENTLY – F[orma]L + U[s]E + N[o]T + L[ikel]Y first and last letters indicated by “extremes”

I got the FL quickly before noticing that “extremes” should be applied to four words not just the first.
Down
1 Bird needing second mudbath? (7)
SWALLOW – S[econd] + WALLOW (mudbath)
2 Journey east is rubbish (5)
TRIPE – TRIP(journey) + E[ast]
3 Wild horses using rascally quality (11)
ROGUISHNESS – Anagram (wild) of (HORSES USING)*

Got stuck in trying to make something starting with ROUGH.
4 A topless pie’s rising layers (6)
STRATA – A + TARTS (pies) reversed in a down clue (rising)
6 Nothing stumped affluent person who ignores problems? (7)
OSTRICH – O + ST[umped] + RICH (affluent)

ST for stumped is the abbreviation on a cricket scorecard.

The OED explains this one neatly:  the practice of thrusting its head into the sand or a bush when being overtaken by pursuers, supposedly through an incapacity to distinguish between seeing and being seen.
7 Hold up Ecstasy to be swallowed by crazy lady (5)
DELAY – Anagram (crazy) of (LADY)* containing E[cstasy]
10 Surprisingly neat once holding puss’s string together (11)
CONCATENATE -Anagram (surprisingly) of (NEAT ONCE)* containing CAT (puss)

I like this word, which comes from CATENA (latin for Chain), hence Catenary, the curve formed by a hanging chain.
14 Earnestly request collection of elf stories? (7)
IMPLORE – Whimsical definition: IMP (elf) + LORE (collection of stories)

Very clever and my COD, we have animal lore, bird lore, fairy lore so why not imp lore? At my primary school the class names were : Fairies, Imps, Nymphs, Elves, Pixies, Gnomes, Sprites and Brownies. So imps were not equal to elves.
16 Mugging of bishop wearing vestment on railway (7)
ROBBERY – ROBE (vestment) containing B[ishop] + RY (railway)
17 Description of furious screams from friend clutching edge (6)
PRIMAL – PAL (friend) containing RIM (edge)

Primal Scream are a Scottish rock band from the 1980s,  the band took their name from a psychology book published in 1970.
18 Fossilised resin found in Cookham Berkshire (5)
AMBER – Hidden inside Cookham Berkshire

Very pretty village on the Thames.
19 Drunk on leaving this evening (5)
TIGHT – T[on]IGHT (this evening)

And of the 2985 possibly synonyms, we get this decidedly PG Wodehouse one.

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