Quick Cryptic 1002 by Teazel

Author   nick_the_novicePosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
An enjoyable puzzle from Teazel with a nice ‘cryptic’ feel to it, which I would rate around a mid-level degree of difficulty. Nothing particularly obscure I thought, although – as ever – one man’s “everyday GK” is another man’s “no idea what you’re talking about”.

I particularly enjoyed 10ac, and 11ac was also a very nicely crafted clue.

Thanks to Teazel – look forward to seeing how everyone got on.

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

Across
1 Barrister that’s soft and smooth (4)
SILK – Silk – which is indeed soft and smooth – being the common term for a QC
3 Sheriff’s officer to leave money for waiters (8)
TIPSTAFF – TIP (to leave money to) STAFF (waiters). By no means entirely ceremonial, you still get Tipstaffs actively working at the Royal Courts of Justice (and other places, I’m sure). They are the guys who get to carry the ornate truncheons.
8 Chap gets older but copes (7)
MANAGES – MAN (chap) + AGES (gets older)
10 Proposer is Shaker’s companion? (5)
MOVER – Very nice ryptic steer with the reference to “movers and shakers” (i.e. Shaker’s companion)
11 Tricky problem, brewing artisan beer (5-6)
BRAIN-TEASER – *(ARTISAN BEER) with “brewing” signalling the anagram
13 Everyone in short dash for US city (6)
DALLAS – ALL (everyone) ‘in’ DAS{H} (short dash)
15 Pictures came in for restoration (6)
CINEMA – *(CAME IN) with “for restoration” indicating the anagram
17 Appear, as moths tend to? (4,2,5)
COME TO LIGHT – Cryptic steer from moths being attracted to lights. I used to know a Polish lass who referred to moths as “the butterflies of the night”, which I thought was quite charming (albeit entomologically unsound)
20 Present of francs given to monarch (5)
OFFER – OF F (abbrev. francs) + ER (monarch)
21 I won’t itemise the rest, even quickly (3,2,2)
AND SO ON – “quickly” is supporting wordplay – “and soon”
22 Smear pan to cook cheese (8)
PARMESAN – *(SMEAR PAN) with “to cook” signposting the anagram
23 Very dark in Kentucky (4)
INKY – IN KY (abbrev. state of Kentucky)
Down
1 A corpse: important one? (8)
SOMEBODY – Cryptic definition, based around an important person being a ‘somebody’ as opposed to a ‘nobody’. On edit: see Jack’s better parsing of this clue below.
2 In Berlin, dainty girl (5)
LINDA – Hidden (In) BerLIN DAinty
4 Going along with others, one’s on foot (2,4)
IN STEP – Gentle cryptic steer from ‘one’s on foot’ (the instep being part of the foot)
5 Like some workers, needing houses destroyed (4-7)
SEMI-SKILLED – SEMIS (houses) KILLED (destroyed)
6 Unfavourable notice on poem (7)
ADVERSE – AD (notice) + VERSE (poem)
7 Reasonable-sounding food (4)
FARE – Sounds like “fair” (reasonable-sounding)
9 Police force, green, admire criminal (11)
GENDARMERIE – *(GREEN ADMIRE) with “criminal” indicating the anagram
12 Need just showing self-indulgence (8)
WANTONLY – WANT (need) + ONLY (just)
14 Match the Devil (7)
LUCIFER – DD. Altogether now, “while you’ve a lucifer to light your fag, smile boys that’s the style…”
16 A pastry’s built up in layers (6)
STRATA – A TARTS reversed (a pastry’s built up)
18 Express dismay as relative has nothing to eat (5)
GROAN – GRAN (relative) ‘eats’ O (love)
19 Deck going up and down (4)
POOP – A palindromic type of deck (going up and down) – the raised bit at the back of the old sailing ships where the captain would typically strut his stuff

16 comments on “Quick Cryptic 1002 by Teazel”

  1. Sped through this by and large, with SILK taking some time to remember, and SEMI-SKILLED biffed from S_M_ and the hyphen, then parsed post hoc. Liked STRATA. I think WANTONLY was my LOI, where again I biffed then parsed. 3:51.
  2. 7 minutes. I parsed 1dn as SOME (a), BODY (corpse) with “important one” as the definition.
    1. Ah yes, that’s a much better parsing: blog amended accordingly. Thanks for that, Jack.
  3. 33 minutes but 20 of those to get: And so on, wantonly and the tricky semi skilled/tipstaff crosser.

    I had home skilled for a while which made the unknown sheriff’s officer harder to get.

    I also had entu for a while at 23a thinking it was a hidden.

    Dnk Lucifer = match.

    COD brain teaser.

    1. Yes, I can see why “home skilled” could well come to mind – tantalisingly close! And if you did not know the TIPSTAFF crosser then that would have been very tricky to sort out. Well done on getting there eventually!
    2. I enjoy Teazel’s puzzles, which always feel a bit teasing. Some lovely clues. I was briefly tempted by entu too, but I felt in my bones that it couldn’t be right. Mostly nicely positioned for QC solving and I finished all but one in under average time, only have to do a lengthy mental dictionary trawl to get WANTONLY. Doh. Thanks Teazel and Nick. Looking forward to next time from you both.
  4. A very similar experience for me as for others. I romped through most of it thinking I was on to a PB, only to stall badly on 12d which took me half as long again.
  5. Like others I was slowed down by SEMI SKILLED, CINEMA and AND SO ON, but still managed a reasonable 7:58. I didn’t know TIPSTAFF but the wordplay was helpful. Thanks Teazel and Nick.
  6. A typically entertaining puzzle from Teazel. I raced through most of it before getting stuck on 3a (one of those words I’d heard of without ever knowing it’s meaning) and 7d. Remarkably I managed to solve all the anagrams without writing down the letters, which has never happened before.
    Completed in 15 minutes with COD going to 5d.
    Thanks Nick
  7. Had some time before meeting someone for lunch so started this in a pub.
    1a and 3a went in quickly; and pleasingly I solved 11a in the pub drinking Greene King ( an artisan might have been involved somewhere).
    I was stuck on 5d when lunch intervened.
    My last two were 21a and finally 16d where I was trying an anagram of Pastry -Strypa had a good ring to it and might have gone in but for And So On (tricky I thought).
    25-30 minutes in total. COD to 21a. David
    1. Lol. Living within a couple of miles of the GK brewery, I think I can say artisan it is not, but they do do a few specials which can be fun. I liked 21a too.
  9. Yeah, put home skilled, so that made tipstaff impossible. I’m inclined to go for somebody meaning an important person. As in, the opposite of a nobody.
  10. Lots of familiar answers with new clues! 8a 15a 21a 22a 7d 6d to start with. Was distracted in 17a with Night rather than Light until the penny dropped and gave me the T for 16d instead of a clumsy B(y). With 16d then I remembered 21a. FOI 1a LOI 5d after all the checkers and COD 1d for the smile. A similar experience to other contributors with a fairly quick run through before getting stuck for the last half-a-dozen or so. So thanks to Teazel for a very fair set of clues and Nick for setting out the parsing so clearly.

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