QC 612 by Joker

Author   nick_the_novicePosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Apologies – not much commentary on this one – blogging with dodgy WIFI link at Bogota airport so keeping it brief! Unlikely I will be able to field comments, so hopefully some of the usual crew can help out if I have made errors etc. (adverse circumstances and short time for blogging!)

Good puzzle, nothing obscure but some lovely clueing as one would expect from Joker, so thanks to him.

Definitions underlined; DD = double definition: anagrams indicated by *(–): omitted letters indicated by {-}

Across
1 Young girl returned with neat recast jewellery (8)
DIAMANTE – MAID (young girl) reversed (returned) + *(NEAT) with “recast” as the anagrind
5 Wading bird, one initially breeding in swamps (4)
IBIS – I (one) plus first letters (initially) of Breeding In Swamps
9 Son isn’t a very good person (5)
SAINT – S (abbrev. Son) + AINT (is not)
10 Sent back topless container for Greek wine (7)
RETSINA – {C}ANISTER (topless container) reversed (sent back)
11 Flexible chaps, with Edward being given extra (12)
SUPPLEMENTED – SUPPLE (flexible) + MEN (chaps) + TED (Edward)
13 Commercial has to avoid including director’s head (6)
ADVERT – AVERT (avoid) with D (director’s head – i.e. first letter) ‘included’
15 Concerning east European travelling west — runaway bride (6)
ELOPER – RE (concerning) + POLE (east European) all reversed (travelling west – in the context of an Across clue)
17 I looked space all around with optical device (12)
KALEIDOSCOPE – *(I LOOKED SPACE) with “all around” as the anagrind
20 Something for transporting creeping plant (7)
TRAILER – Straightforward DD
21 More than enough to taste without needing seconds (5)
AMPLE – {S}AMPLE – to taste loses its S (seconds)
22 Some tarpon deep in artificial lake (4)
POND – Hidden (indicated by ‘some’) in tarPON Deep
23 Mentioned again grass contains burnable plant matter (8)
REPEATED – REED (grass) ‘containing’ PEAT (burnable plant matter)
Down
1 Unhappy, put back start of horse race (4)
DASH – SAD reversed (unhappy put back) + H (start of Horse)
2 Cash in one’s chips in gold — farewell! (5)
ADIEU – DIE (cash in one’s chips – as in kick the bucket) ‘in’ AU (symbol for gold)
3 Eccentric lent Patricia something tiny (12)
ANTIPARTICLE – *(LENT PATRICIA) with “eccentric” as the anagrind. And it doesn’t come much tinier than that!
4 Christmas fare in the country (6)
TURKEY – DD
6 Like a city pub, lit badly outside university (5,2)
BUILT UP – *(PUB LIT) – with “badly” as the anagrind – and U (university) also in the mix
7 Normal place taxis stop on a road (8)
STANDARD – STAND (place taxis stop) ‘on’ A RD (a road)
8 Mounted contest in very expensive rental contract involving church (12)
STEEPLECHASE – STEEP (very expensive) + LEASE (rental contract) with CH inside (involving church)
12 Supports crown as a last resort? (8)
BACKSTOP – BACKS (supports) + TOP (crown)
14 Criminal is bad in vain (7)
VILLAIN – ILL (bad) in VAIN
16 Equine swallowing second piece of hay is croaking (6)
HOARSE – HORSE (equine) with A inside (swallowing a)
18 Songbird — it goes after seed (5)
PIPIT – IT ‘goes after’ PIP (seed)
19 Group of animals caught, it’s said (4)
HERD – DD – with the second being a homophone (indicated by “it’s said”) of ‘heard’ (caught)

18 comments on “QC 612 by Joker”

  1. If you’re in Bogota be sure to visit Santa Ana Christo in El Candelaria district – lovely church el Commercio – outside for great food (calentado, cipi-cipi), music, everything – right up your street.

    6.32

    horryd Shanghai

  2. Biffed 1ac, thinking DI was the young girl (but why ‘young’?) + (NEAT), never came back to it. 11ac was my LOI; all I had figured out was that ‘Edward’ meant the ending was TED, but it wasn’t until I got 3d that I twigged. I had to write down the letters of 3d before I could sort them out and get it. Fortunately 17ac had a K, which made it possible to sort mentally. 5:18.
  3. Jack, can you delete the superfluous copy of Nick’s blog? Don’t want comments to get split up.
  4. 17:35, and thanks Joker for getting me off the DNF hattrick. COD was ELOPED, but some really great clues all over the grid. Parsed and got 1a straightaway, which set up a good start. STEEPLECHASE and HOARSE have been recent clues in the QC, and old RETSINA is back.
  6. I was somewhat surprised to find I had completed the grid in 9 minutes as it had seemed tricker than that whilst solving.I’m another who had to write down the (remaining) letters of the anagrist a 3dn before making sense of it.

    I biffed 10ac on seeing “Greek wine” (I only know the one) but needed to return after completion to parse it. I had been distracted by spotting the possibilities of the “topless container” being {t}IN or {c}AN reversed [back] and then wondering how to account for the remaining letters in the wordplay.

    Writing the blog and posting it on a mobile device at Bogata airport is above and beyond the call of duty, Nick. Well done!

    1. No Jack you were not alone, luckily it was my last one in, as at university the mention of antimatter, Planks constant, entropy or quantum theory would leave my brain sobbing quietly in a corner somewhere, I was doing dyeing and finishing for goodness sake.
        2. That thought takes me back – 1979, lunchtimes in the Packhorse, evenings in the Skyrack, no civil engineering studies, rustication soon followed.
          Straightforward today with just the customary misspelling of 17a delaying things. 6mins
          GeoffH
          1. I misspelled kaleidoscope too, forgot I after E except after C. Hence 18 mins
  7. Nice middling one this, biffed RETSINA need the blog to parse it. Some subtle misdirections, e.g 11a an anagram of “chaps with ted”. Thanks to the blogger and Joker.
  8. Another slow solve for me – I would guess around the hour mark over 3 sittings. For some reason my LOI was 23a, where I was drawing a complete blank despite having the reed part of it sorted quite quickly. I also thought 3d might defeat me at one point and I had trouble figuring out the order of the vowels in 17a, but got there in the end. COD 11a. Unparsed 10a.
  9. This was a bit more normal than of late, though I still managed a slow time because of the 12d/20ac combination. Thanks Nick for explaining 10ac, the answer was obvious enough but I couldn’t parse it. Invariant
  10. Great puzzle as expected with Joker. Last in was STEEPLECHASE which was a clue worthy of the wait
  11. This is the first QC have ever completed! Feeling very happy and smug too, as it didnt take me a ridiculous amount of time…
    thank you Joker!
    1. Hi, anon, and welcome to TftT if this is your first visit. It gets easier with practice!
      1. I have been attempting the QCs for ages (but probably only about once a week) and yes, they do get easier, but it also depends on the setter. Think Joker and i must be on a similar wave length!

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