QC1609 by Juno – VEry CleVEr!

Author   JohninterredPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

What fun! A great piece of grid filling by Juno to mark today’s anniversary… and some pretty good clues too. I was about 1/2 way through solving before I realised exactly what was going on.  My LOI was 20D, which was a write-in given the theme – you surely can’t have missed that every answer incudes “VE”? I was a bit slow to start but finished just a few seconds over 5 minutes, so, with the aid of the theme, I don’t think it can be too hard. But I’m sure you will let me know if I got that wrong! COD to 14A for the lovely incorporation of the theme in the surface, but 15A is pretty good too. Beautifully done, Juno. Thanks! How did you all like it?

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

Across
7 Annoying very old partner, one no good (6)
VEXING – V (very) EX (old partner) I (one) NG (no good).
8 Gutted, venerable European socialist changed direction (6)
VEERED – VenerablE without its middle letters [gutted] E (European) RED (socialist).
9 More intelligent installing bar in church? Right! (8)
CLEVERER – Insert [installing… in] LEVER (bar) in CE (Church of England; church) R (right). Bar in a church? Yes it can be done… like in the marvellous Michaelhouse Centre in Cambridge.
10 Turning back periodically unnerves Swede, perhaps (4)
SVEN – Alternate letters [periodically] of uNnErVeS reversed [turning back].
11 Suddenly turn to render assistance, grabbing wife (6)
SWERVE – SERVE (render assistance) outside [grabbing] W (wife).
13 Worked out only daughter’s about five (6)
SOLVED – SOLE (only) D (daughter) [about] V (five).
14 US ex-serviceman, seventy-five today? Much less than that (3)
VET – Neatly hidden [much less than that] in seventy-fiVE Today. Lovely surface. VE day was, of course, 75 years ago today.
15 Struggle to eat what’s laid for breakfast? One would if it’s bacon (6)
VEGGIE – VIE (struggle) outside [to eat] EGG (what’s laid for breakfast) and an all-in-one semi-&lit cryptic definition. Laid for breakfast. Ho ho! VEGGIE is short for vegetarian – if you were one you wouldn’t be wanting the bacon.
17 Prevents vast reforms overwhelming monarch (6)
AVERTS – (vast)* [reforms] outside [overwhelming] ER (The Queen; monarch).
19 14 having zero power to stop (4)
VETO – VET (answer to 14A) O (zero).
20 Better than average sort of pea — bravo! (5,3)
ABOVE PAR – [sort of] (pea – bravo)*. Mind you, at golf “above par” is worse not better.
22 Hard to translate verse? Easy at first (6)
SEVERE – [translate] (verse)* Easy [at first].
23 Flatter male TV personage in the bar, last of all (6)
EVENER – last letters of [last of all] malE TV personagE iN thE baR.
Down
1 ’E tucked into girl’s meat (4)
VEAL – ‘E inside [tucked into] VAL (girl).
2 Second prize for pirate (6)
SILVER – Double definition. The second referring to Long John Silver.
3 Give gear mistakenly, causing distress (8)
AGGRIEVE – (Give gear)* [mistakenly].
4 High temperature not starting at any time (4)
EVER – fEVER (High temperature)* [not starting].
5 Elves wandering around close to this craft (6)
VESSEL – (Elves)* [wandering] [around] [close to] thiS.
6 Furious, means to escape across English border (8)
VEHEMENT – VENT (means to escape) [across] E (English) HEM (border).
12 At unspecified place in meadow, he reverses (8)
WHEREVER – Hidden [in] meadoW HE REVERses.
13 Voter, say, unexpectedly to be a Remainer? (4,4)
STAY OVER – (Voter, say)* [unexpectedly]. A bit of a cheeky definition.
16 Crawl, lazily, at first, beneath small plantation (6)
GROVEL – Lazily [at first] [beneath] GROVE (small plantation).
18 Football or cricket team’s prime? (6)
ELEVEN – Cryptic definition. There are ELEVEN players on a football or cricket team and 11 is a prime number.
20 Welcome small bird’s class (4)
AVES – AVE (welcome in Latin) S (small). “Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves.”
21 Declare a vicar has turned up (4)
AVER – A REV (vicar) [turned up] -> VER.

55 comments on “QC1609 by Juno – VEry CleVEr!”

  1. Knowing the date and the setter I expected a VE theme. I still remember Juno’s puzzle and Nina for the 70th anniversary of D-Day which is still my favourite QC.

    Picked up the theme after two answers but spent some time on my LOI Aves which I did not know. COD to Veggie.

  2. 21 days ago, when the govt announced the second lockdown, we challenged ourselves to walk 21k steps a day, eat healthily, be teetotal and that Steed would not shave plus we would donate £21/day to charity if we successfully completed the challenge. Well, I’m happy to confirm that we successfully completed the Challenge and donated to the BBC’s Big Night In, Eden Valley Hospice and Refuge (domestic abuse charity). So, today, a clean shaven Steed and I are celebrating the successful completion of our Challenge. That said, Champers inhibited our usual speedy completion of the grid, but we enjoyed Juno’s challenge (especially as we didn’t have to move a muscle to achieve it).

    FOI vexing
    LOI: aves

    Thanks to Juno and John.

    2. You’ve earned that champers ! Great effort from the pair of you !
  3. Spotted the VE theme after about 3 or 4 clues and it did help although I thought most of the clues were on the easier side of things anyway. I thought I was going to do another good time, possibly under 20 minutes, and I did have all but two done in about 19:30. Sadly, although ABOVE PAR went in reasonably quickly, VEHEMENT stumped me for about 15 minutes, even though I could see it must involve something inside VENT. Although completely fair, vehement wouldn’t be the first synonym for furious I’d think of. Anyway, 36:01 in the end.
  4. … as I was at my mother-in-law’s funeral – a 250 mile drive each way in the day because nowhere to spend the night up north!

    And what a lovely puzzle to come back to. Solved in 12 minutes, sat back, noticed all the Vs in the 11th row and the NINA slowly dawned from there. So a double ration of pleasure.

    I rather agree with the comment above that the COD was “all ov’em”.

    Many thanks to Juno and to John for the blog (which like most I only turn to after solving not before).

    A good weekend to all
    Cedric

  5. … but couldn’t miss out on thanking Juno. Just to set the grid was unbelievable. Really enjoyed.
  6. Well this was an inverted pile of piffle. To have ‘Aves’ in a quick cryptic is ridiculous.

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