Quick Crossword by 569 by Joker

Author   emu66Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I found this one quite tricky, with a few clues which would not be out of place on the 15×15. Good fun though; COD 21 across.
Thank you Joker

Across
1 Source demonstrated with broken cane: PROVENANCE
Demonstrated = PROVEN, anagram (broken) of CANE
7 American needs to get old in employment: USAGE
American = US, old = AGE
8 Flock of birds around new ferry: CONVEY
Flock of birds = COVEY, around new = N
10 Antique precious metal’s not good: OLD
Precious metal = GOLD, not good = (g)OLD
12 Tons in genera strangely producing citrus fruit: TANGERINE
Anagram (strangely) of tons = T IN GENERA
13 Sharp reply you’ll get in laboratory: RETORT
Double definition
14 Globe has Shakespeare’s first page present: SPHERE
Shakespeare’s first = S, page = P, present = HERE
17 One often out on pitch, chirping insect gets note right: CRICKETER
Chirping insect = CRICKET, note = E, right = R
19 Excessively shortened screwdriver, perhaps: TOO
Screwdriver, perhaps = TOOL, shortened = TOO(l)
20 Emigre’s corrupt government: REGIME
Anagram (corrupt) of EMIGRE
21 Small egg on big roll: SURGE
Small = S, egg on = URGE
23 Instant understanding, which helps with a dark subject: FLASHLIGHT
Instant = FLASH, understanding = LIGHT

Down
1 Rule by the wealthy, quick to encircle large and corrupt court: PLUTOCRACY
Quick = PACY, including large = L, and anagram (corrupt) of COURT
2 Skinned boar stuffed with five eggs: OVA
Skinned boar = (b)OA(r), including five = V
3 Voter, English reader: ELECTOR
English = E, reader = LECTOR
4 A trail providing route up: ASCENT
A = A, trail = SCENT
5 Simple craft fashioned out of a cone: CANOE
Anagram (fashioned) of A CONE
6 Team entered into lease for occupier: RESIDENT
Team = SIDE, inside lease = RENT
9 Event noble arranged, serving a charitable purpose: BENEVOLENT
Anagram (arranged) of EVENT NOBLE
11 Giving full particulars, docked?: DETAILED
Docked? = DE-TAILED
15 Study South American country girl: PERUSAL
South American girl = PERU SAL
16 Capital for Greeks, area consequently small: ATHENS
Area = A, consequently = THEN, small = S
18 Small crustaceans having king and queen unwell: KRILL
King = K, queen = R, unwell = ILL
22 Arrangement of sails and ropes carried by brigantine: RIG
Hidden word

18 comments on “Quick Crossword by 569 by Joker”

  1. Compared to yesterdays I found this quite easy, but usually I do seem to be on Joker’s wavelength. LOI 8a took a while to drag COVEY screaming and kicking into the light. COD 1d or 2d which has a nice surface. This is a bit of a mixture of old chestnuts USAGE, RESIDENT,OLD with some, as the blogger points out, worthy of the 15×15. Thanks blogger and Joker.
  2. Agreed that some of this was tricky, indeed COVEY is bordering on the obscure and I needed every checker to solve that one. I was taken over my target 10 minutes by 1 minute having stupidly written PROVENENCE at 1ac so I had difficulty solving 4dn which in turn affected the aforementioned 8ac.

    Edited at 2016-05-13 06:41 am (UTC)

    1. JACK I have written before that you are the blogger I identify with regarding difficulty, but today’s comment posted today while I was writing mine, PROVENENCE, COVEY it’s getting spooky.
  3. I was surprised to find PROVENANCE, and CONVEY especially, but the first was easy enough to decode and the second went in easily enough with checkers. Thought SURGE was clever, a couple, like ATHENS, too easily biffable. 4:14.
  4. Nearly misdirected by musical thoughts in 17ac, overthinking. Fascinated by t = tons, I know it is short for ‘tonne’ but seem to remember, similar to the recent ‘nicker’, that one talked of, for example, ‘three ton four hundredweight’, so in some instances the plural didn’t exist, although Monty Python squashed this idea. 4’05” today.
  5. how words (or parts of words / clues) in the 15×15 crop up in the QC the next day! “Proven” was in the main crossword yesterday as part of a clue for “Provencal”.

    Thanks for the blog emu, good stuff.

  6. I found this puzzle really quite challenging in parts, but was then surprised to see that I actually completed it in under 30 mins – it felt more of a struggle than that.

    CONVEY and ASCENT took a bit of headscratching. Last in was DETAILED which was my COD as it made me chuckle – what with the puppy asleep on my feet.

    I was eager to read the blog to understand how the laboratory part of RETORT was derived – but I just checked the dictionary and my vocab has now inched ahead by one word.

  7. A steady, if rather slow solve, in response to some wonderful misdirection from Joker. 21 and 23ac took ages, and even then couldn’t parse 23 properly. Invariant
  8. I am becoming more confident and I have managed the last two pretty easily. Here I could not parse Plutocracy and I did to look up some synonyms for a flock of birds but covey was the first choice. A pleasure to complete this one in the garden where I can read it with good wifi. However one of my Times Apps has lost its ability to enlarge the print and the other does not allow entries on line.
  9. Like others, covey proved obscure, but I guessed convey at the end and it worked. Therefore five out of five this week with times ranging from 10 minutes to nearly two hours yesterday. Satisfying to get there eventually though. My personal COD was perusal which made me chuckle.
  10. This was not easy but I solved it steadily and correctly in 19 minutes. My LOI was Convey, like others; I was familiar with Covey but had been trying to think of those collective nouns for certain types of animals and birds.
    I thought the clueing was very precise and helpful and I was on the right wavelength. David
  11. Dead on 20 minutes which is fast for me! Had to think hard about some of these but nothing too obscure – Covey fine for me for example but then one man’s obscure is another man’s ……….! I can often see the answer but have trouble understanding how they are parsed which is what slows me down, but I usually get there in the end. When I was growing up my parents did the Daily Telegraph crossword and my mum would often get the answer to a clue first but have to defer to my dad to get the ‘why’ sorted out.
  12. Didn’t get CONVEY or SURGE, so a week of pretty good times ends with a DNF.
    1. Exactly the same, DNF with these two clues left. Gave up at 40 mins. Although did make goodish progress on the 15×15 yesterday, which improved a disappointing week of three DNFs. COD PLUTOCRACY, got the CRACY ending early, then the P by decoding Pacy.
  13. I finished this in 14 minutes and didn’t find it too hard. Covey was new in to me in 8a (LOI) but with all the checkers in place it seemed logical. As someone else mentioned proven appearing in the 15×15 recently helped me with 1a. COD 11a for making me smile.
  14. Sailed through for a PB of well under an hour until 4d ascent and 8a convey….still a short break for a haircut possibly got some more air closer to the grey matter as they duly appeared from thin air (or maybe because of thin ‘air!). Pleased to finish the week on a high with a completed Joker. The blog explains 1a more elegantly than my solution which was based on a clue of some weeks ago involving a broken pole = (l)ance. 13a retort always brings back memories of Flanders & Swann with their intro to the Third Law of Thermodynamics/and C P Snow on talking to scientists… Also had to wean myself away from an early 23a illuminant to flashlight. Thanks to the blog for explaining 21a surged – I was struggling with a short egg for the last two letters, already having R and then S as checkers – all seems so obvious now! A nice way to end the week.
  15. I don’t like the black triangles in the NE and SW corners: first time I’ve complained about the ‘look’ of a puzzle.

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