Quick Crossword 584 by Flamande

Author   emu66Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Some entertaining surfaces here, and nothing too tricky, except an unknown word for me at 5d. Thank you Flamande.

Across
1 Marc is surprisingly showing prejudice: RACISM
Anagram (surprisingly) of MARC IS
4 Boss right to pursue mistake: GAFFER
Mistake = GAFFE, followed by right = R. My LOI; mistake is always ERR in crosswordland!
8 Drink that could be served cold or warm: CORDIAL
Double definition; this word recently appeared in the Sunday Times Clue Writing Contest, see competition 1596 for alternative clues
10 Extra amount paid on boarding coach: BONUS
Coach = BUS, ON inserted (boarding)
11 Flustered professor’s beginning to interrupt university class: UPSET
Professor’s beginning = P, inserted into (interrupting) university = U, class = SET
12 American friend goes through borders of Kenya to find African city: KAMPALA
American = AM, friend = PAL, inserted (goes through) borders of Kenya = K A
13 Head cover worn by fellow with cane in part of New York: MANHATTAN
Fellow = MAN, head cover = HAT, cane = TAN, as in corporal punishment
17 Irritable request to trap snake: WASPISH
Request = WISH, trapping snake = ASP
19 Item of furniture secure, with front piece sawn off: TABLE
(s)TABLE
20 Fuss about love: ADORE
Fuss = ADO, about = RE
21 Office employee is French? That’ll create a storm: TEMPEST
Office employee = TEMP, is French = EST
22 Haile Selassie’s first exotic name: SHEILA
Anagram (exotic) of HAILE S
23 Southern company having employment for Liverpudlian: SCOUSE
Southern = S, company = CO, employment = USE

Down
1 Appear unannounced – and shake before the judge: ROCK UP
Shake = ROCK, before the judge = UP
2 Somehow charms sister carrying round winter plant : CHRISTMAS ROSE
Anagram (somehow) of CHARMS SISTER and O (round)
3 Obsessed with small glove: SMITTEN
Small = S, glove = MITTEN
5 Record book hidden in a chimney: ALBUM
Book = B, inserted into a chimney A LUM. This was a total biff for me, later checking in Chambers for meaning of lum.
6 French palace of famous ballerina – disappointment, might some say?: FONTAINEBLEAU
Ballerina = (Margot) FONTAINE, BLEAU = homophone (some might say ) of disappointment = BLOW. Will leave it to others to comment on whether this is the correct pronunciation of the château south of Paris. Homophone clues often lead to debate, and using a foreign word takes it to a whole new level!
7 Rogue entering Honduras calmly: RASCAL
Hidden word
9 Enjoy a glass of alcohol without delay: LIKE A SHOT
Enjoy = LIKE, a glass of alcohol = A SHOT
14 Bear and mice mainly of significance to some tribes: TOTEMIC
Bear = carry = TOTE, MIC(e)
15 Curses listeners from the Cornwall area: SWEARS
Listeners = EARS, Cornwall is in the south west = SW
16 Harmless dope let loose: GENTLE
Dope = GEN (slang words for information), anagram (loose) of LET
18 You shuffle and – perfect: IDEAL
I guess in a game of cards it’s fair (IDEAL) if one player shuffles and the other deals, hence you shuffle and I deal. Don’t play much cards – too busy with cryptic crosswords!

21 comments on “Quick Crossword 584 by Flamande”

  1. Lum – as in the toast ‘Lang may your lumps reek’ long may your chimneys smoke….
  2. Lum – Good Scots word, like diet ( legal term for activity or hearing) recently which occasionally allows newbies like me to complete QC in under an hour…
    1. Not sure its Scots – The governments of Japan and the Holy Roman Empire were both called Diet
  4. Another sub-30, at 27:44. UP for judge is a new one for me, can someone explain? I thought ROLL UP also fitted the clue pretty well, based on the checkers I had at the time. CORDIAL as a drink sounds a bit Famous Five vintage, but still a good clue. LOI was 16d where I had -E-TLE, and a remarkable number of words fit. I thought SMITTEN a simple but elegant clue, COD for me. Not thrilled with 18d, I think ‘Blankety Blank’ clues look messy in the list of clues, and as a bridge player it is the opponent who cuts, the dealer shuffles. So should be ‘You cut and I deal’, which also would have been more cryptic without the signpost to playing cards.

    Edited at 2016-06-03 09:14 am (UTC)

    2. Had all but 1d and 8a in 15mins but I have never heard of rock up and also had roll up – anyone know the derivation of rock up?
    3. Dealer shuffles, opponent cuts, dealer deals, also applies in cribbage. Come to think of it this may be the protocol in most card games to avoid the shuffler fixing things. No time to research now, but it makes more senses than what the clue suggests.
      1. “You cut, I chose” – the best way to share the last piece of cake
  5. 13 minutes, not helped by biffing CHRISTMAS TREE at 2dn. 15dn and 16dn eluded me until the last moment. Not keen on clues with blanks to be filled in as at 18dn
  7. 7’16”, ROCK UP hmmm, some testing clues today. Enjoyed SMITTEN, though always thought a glove has fingers, a mitten not, will check. Incidentally there is one clue today which, if I’d done the QC first, would have significantly cut my 15×15 time earlier this morning, do the crosswords have the same editor? Thanks to both setter and blogger, a worthy QC for Friday.
    1. OED has glove as “usually” with separate fingers, so just under the wire
  8. Fontainebleau, I was told emphatically that “bleau” is pronounced to sound like “blow” by a French tour guide, as in French word for water.
  9. where is it said/who says rock up where you and I might say turn up or roll up? Rock on may be, but rock up? no.
  10. 75 minutes, but got there! LOI was 16d, never heard of gen and dope in that context. Had about half the grid left after about an hour, then had the penny drop with Fontaine as the ballet dancer and everything pieced together pretty quickly afterwards. Also was delayed as I made the same mistake as someone above by biffing Christmas Tree. Only when I got adore, did I then properly check the anagram 🙈 My COD was 4a
  11. Think this is a scots word, there’s an old Billy Conolly song about a crematorium where he sings something about seeing the smoke go “curling up the lum”
  12. I think this was my quickest solve of the week at 24 minutes but there were a number of clues that proved to be obdurate – 1d, 8a, 16d (LOI) and I wasn’t even close to parsing 5d. I was pleased to get 6d reasonably quickly as anything ballet related makes me glaze over and therefore my knowledge of it is almost non-existent. COD was 8a.
  13. 18 minutes today and I was able to work through the interesting clues and answers mentioned by others.
    I thought of Margot Fonteyn immediately as the dancer and so there must be a double homophone. I think the answer is sufficiently mainstream for most. A number of geographical answers and all fairly clued I thought.
    I liked 18d (my LOI) very much but am not an expert on cards -which might have helped; and I liked Gaffer. Finally I thought Rock Up was OK but I agree it’s not common. David
  14. I think Rock Up is fairly common parlance, as in ‘he just rocked up without an invitation’. No problem with any of the answers today – even managed to dredge lum out of the back of my memory.

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