QC 2825 by Jalna

Author   MerlinPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

I enjoyed this one, some really good clues, but still pretty tricky stuff, including the NHO cocktail.

I’m keeping quiet on the ongoing discussion about whether these things are getting harder or not. As Forrest Gump would say, “The QC is like a box of chocolates…”

Definitions underlined in bold , synonyms in (parentheses) (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, other wordplay in [square brackets] and deletions in {curly} brackets.

Across
1 Very, very meh! (2-2)
SO-SO – SO (very) twice

Meh as an adjective is referenced in the OED from 2007, very recent usage.  The Interjection (From Yiddish) is a bit older but still no written references before 1992.
3 Notice attached to rear part of garden gate (7)
POSTERN – POSTER (Notice) + {garde}N

It’s any gate or door which is not the main one. You’d have to be pretty pretentious to use it for the back door of a regular house, though.
8 Win gold nimbly … fantastically … thrillingly (4-9)
MIND-BLOWINGLY – (WIN GOLD NIMBLY)* [fantastically]

Made a mess of this, first with “Mind bendingly”, then “Mind numbingly”. Must check anagrams more carefully.
9 Letter from overseas somewhat inadequately sent back (3)
TAU – hidden inside [somewhat] inadequately, then reversed

TAU being the Greek letter, hence a “Letter from overseas”
10 One enquiring when king and queen meet (5)
ASKER – AS (when) + K{ing} + ER (Queen)

Is this really a word? If someone put this down in scrabble I’d be none too happy. But the OED has it from the 12C.
12 Profitable discovery coming from day trip at sea (3,4)
PAY DIRT – (DAY TRIP)* [at sea]

Nice clean anagram. Originally from the California Gold Rush of 1849. Figurative usage followed on quite quickly.
14 Place for kids to play, or sit around with parents at first (7)
SANDPIT – SIT contains [around] AND (with) + P{arents}
16 Photo-sharing app popular with 50% of stars (5)
INSTA – IN + STA{RS}

It’s what they call Instagram these days, grandad. But surely STA is 60% of STARS, not 50%?
17 At one point, you start to panic for sure (3)
YEP – YE (At one point “you”) + P{anic}

YE is the old version for You, hence “at one point”. Clever, and tricky if you haven’t seen something like “You once” before.
20 Highly complex nature of twirly baton releases (13)
ELABORATENESS – (BATON RELEASES)* [twirly]

Twirly? Anagram indicator number 659.

Sure ELABORATENESS is in the OED, but as with ASKER, another suffix that leads to a pretty obscure word.
21 Fixed TV that’s no longer working? (4-3)
DEAD-SET – Double def

The OED says that in Australian English this is used as an intensifier. As in “It was a DEAD SET certainty that we’d lose the next state election.” Over to you, Aussie contributors.
22 Supporter runs away from march (4)
ALLY – RALLY (march) – R{uns}

Most rallies aren’t marches, and most marches aren’t rallies. But in the Venn diagram of the two, there is at least some intersection.
Down
1 Discussion groups provided by new marine on board ship (8)
SEMINARS – SS (ship) contains (MARINE)* [new]
2 To an extent, gaps in knowledge decline (4)
SINK – Hidden in “gaps in knowledge”
3 Support for young boxer? (4,2)
PROP UP – PRO (for) + PUP (young boxer)

Boxer (and setter) often are used as examples of dogs. Watch out. I tried to make PUG work somehow.
4 Rail-like bird — one barely entering the water (6-6)
SKINNY-DIPPER – SKINNY (Rail like) + DIPPER (bird)

Very nice. Dipper is a name given to various birds which dip or dive in water, but most often means a Kingfisher. It’s a clever clue, because a rail is also a bird. The corncrake is one, which is one of the few species whose Latin name is onomatopoeic : crex crex. This is top trivia.

Skinny dipping is post war American slang, but no consensus on its origin or etymology.
5 Goes berserk after, say, good, strong drinks (3-5)
EGG-FLIPS – EG (say) + G{ood} + FLIPS (goes berserk)

This was a NHO for me.  It’s similar to Egg nog (disgusting concoction). In traditional recipes, EGG FLIP includes spirits, eggs, sugar, and spices, but unlike Eggnog, it does not incorporate cream.
6 Succeeded following redistribution of any dissenting votes (4)
NAYS – (ANY)* [redistribution of] + S{ucceeded}

In my quest to chase down unlikely single-letter abbreviations, you’ll see this in lists of genealogies.
7 Unruly bore postures wildly (12)
OBSTREPEROUS – (BORE POSTURES)* [wildly]

Never really quite knew what this meant, but looked familiar from those letters.
11 Family has settled in South Africa, initially or somewhere in Central Africa (8)
KINSHASA – KIN (family) + HAS inside S{outh} A{frica}

Originally Leopoldville (named after that rapacious Belgian king) It was in the Congo, then in Zaire, now in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Tip: when a country puts Democratic in its country name, it’s not. See North Korea (DPRK) and East Germany (DDR).
13 Endeavour to acquire a sleeveless garment for burlesque (8)
TRAVESTY – TRY (Endeavour) contains A VEST (sleeveless garment)

I was not familiar with burlesque=travesty. The OED has burlesque as a verb: To turn into ridicule by grotesque parody or imitation; to caricature, travesty. I didn’t know that TRAVESTY could be a verb either, but it’s there, meaning “to ridicule”.

So, nothing to do with the Folies Bergère.
15 Fiery speech supporting extremely tetchy, oppressive boss (6)
TYRANT – T{etch}Y + RANT (Fiery Speech)
18 Obsessive helping to make designer drugs (4)
NERD – Hidden in “designer drugs”

Etymology disputed, plenty of articles hypothesise various origins, but nothing conclusive.
19 Toenail regularly selected for greenish colour (4)
TEAL – T{o}E{n}A{i}L

107 comments on “QC 2825 by Jalna”

  1. I often think the QC has become harder recently, but strangely I solved today’s example in around 24 minutes after a few recent DNFs. Egg flip is a drink I associate with the 1950s, together with Babycham and Cherry B – just throw in a tin of Quality Street for a great family party. I always struggle with anagrams, of which there seemed to be a lot today (and rather difficult). Some complain they have misplaced their anagram hat, I don’t think I own one.

  2. Last week and again today, I am finding the QCs frustratingly difficult. Ideal ‘warm up’ for those who are able to do the main puzzle perhaps, but less enjoyable for mere mortals like myself 😥

  3. Sorry if others have said all this – I haven’t had time to read everything yet but will do later.
    A bit slower than yesterday at 11:24 but on the whole enjoyable. I say that, because as I solved, nothing jumped out at me, but when rereading the clues, I realised there were quite a few that got ticks or smiles. But I didn’t think much of the clue for SO-SO tbh. In fact, yes – it was a bit MEH. I did like the misdirection at 4d SKINNY DIPPER though – I’m not a bird expert but do like dippers, which actually go right to the bottom of streams and shallow rivers to feed. A clever clue for birders!
    Ticks also for SEMINARS and OBSTREPEROUS.
    FOI So-so LOI Obstreperous COD Elaborateness – that really made me smile.
    Thanks Jalna and Merlin

  4. We were all done (and parsed) in 15:23 which puts it in the ‘tricky but do-able’ category for us. Please persevere Jubilado et al! It did help that I had VHO POSTERN and EGG-FLIPS. Noticed the problem with INSTA (of which Mrs T is a user) but concluded it was a typo. I don’t like the shortened form but I think even I am more likely to use it than LOI ELABORATENESS. MER at the also-never-likely-to-use ASKER but the clueing was helpful. COD SKINNY-DIPPER. Thanks Merlin and Jalna.

  5. 15:11

    On the easier side, I thought, helped by the longer anagrams which were clearly signposted. But I struggled for a couple of minutes on LOI EGG FLIPS and wasn’t at all confident with my synonym for goes berserk.

  6. 39:57. Completed this today on my Twitch channel which I’ve just restarted after a pause. Search for woodspiral on Twitch if you want to join me or watch replays.

    LOI 21a
    18d could not parse as a hidden. Still cannot. Can someone please explain how “helping to make” is a hidden indicator?

    Good puzzle thank you

  7. My only function here is to give you all a laugh at how dreadful I am and today should provide plenty of guffaws.

    DNF after 35 mins as I couldn’t make any sense of 18dn or 21ac. So I missed a hidden and another obvious answer.

    To add to this, I got just two on Quintagram and about 10 on the big crossword (in about an hour).

    I am so depressed at my inability to do this. I just don’t have what it takes and it is slowly driving me mad. My brain simply fails to function in the correct way. I could sit here until Christmas and never see DEAD SET.

    I feel humiliated, exhausted and deeply disappointed by my awful performance today. At least you can all have a good laugh. Even by my standards, this was a new level of incompetence.

  8. Now read the blog for the big crossword. I am absolutely nowhere with this and I don’t know how to improve. Perhaps I should just accept that, like most cerebral things I attempt, I simply don’t have the brain to make a go of it. Over four years of effort and I have achieved nothing!

    No advice thanks.

  9. Many interruptions this evening but got there in the end. Very tricky in places but had the GK for 5d Egg Flip remembered from my childhood Christmases (not as an imbiber!). had to take a few leaps of faith along the way eg 3a Postern, 9a Tau. But a DNF with 17a Yip v Yep.
    FOI 1a So-So
    LOI 5d Egg Flip
    COD has to be 4d Skinny Dipper – simply delightful!

  10. 31:33 for me, in case anybody is still out there. Another toughie. Thanks Merlin and Jalna.

  11. We are very keen, but new solvers and puzzles that take commentators here a matter of minutes, can take us a long time. The puzzles have definitely got harder recently, too obscure, too slangy and much less fun.

    1. I wholeheartedly agree. Despite 4+ years of experience, I have crashed and burned over the past 2-3 months – and it’s no fun any more. The setters need to be reined in.

  12. Back to the recent normal. A DNF, due to having NHO EGG FLIPS and several minutes of alphabet trawling failed to find it. Deflated, once again.

  13. A rather unsatisfying, albeit relatively quick, 10:42 because we really didn’t get what was going on with TENOR before coming here. A delay in seeing BORNEO and also flirting with TENET first meant that LOI RAMSHACKLE was a blessed relief. I’m with Merlin in believing that ram (deliberate) is not really the same as ‘run into’ (more accidental). I read at least the earlier HP books to my children many years ago but still didn’t remember that George was a twin until Mrs T reminded me. Thanks also to Doofers and Trelawney!

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