Quick Cryptic 1047 by Teazel

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
First of all, apologies for the supremely sparse blog – it’s the result of work troubles, technical failure, and last-minuteness. I found the puzzle hard, possibly due to the aforementioned stresses, or just having an off day. I’m still not sure I’ve fully understood 4ac or 8ac. Hopefully I can explain my parsings on this dreadful iPad. I realise this is not at all helpful, especially for beginners, but it’s the best I can do; please ask if stuck.

ACROSS
1 BUNK – double definition.
4 HESITATE – double definition, pause/what you might do if lost.
8 I DECLARE – double definition, a phrase introducing a statement/cricketing term.
9 RIFT – FIR (pine tree) backwards (falls back) and last letter (rear) of foresT.
10 BEHOLD – EH (what?) inside (captured by) BOLD (daring).
11 TROWEL – first letter of (initially) Received, inside (wrapped in) TOWEL (cloth).
12 TAKE A BACK SEAT – double cryptic definitions.
16 ASTHMA – cryptic definition.
17 FASTEN – F (female), A and STEN (gun).
19 TYPE – outside letters of (extremely) TrickY and PE (exercise).
20 GRATEFUL – cryptic definition, a ‘grate full’ could be a small delivery of coal.
21 CRUSADER – anagram of (horribly) SCARED, around RU (rugby union, sport).
22 LIPS – all but the last letter of (almost) SPILl, reversed (over).

DOWN
2 UNDUE – UN (peacekeeping force) and DUE (expected).
3 KICK ONES HEELS – anagram of (dreadful) LIKE SONS CHEEK.
4 HOARD – O (love) in HARD (difficult).
5 SCEPTIC – SEPTIC (infected) surrounding (filled with) C (cold).
6 TORTOISESHELL – double definition.
7 TAFFETA – F (force) and FE (iron) in TA-TA (so long).
10 BIT – double definition.
13 ASSAYER – AS (like) and SAYER (speaker).
14 BLAGGED – BAGGED (claimed) surrounding (to hold) L (pounds).
15 TON – reversal of (over) NOT.
17 FLAIR – homophone of (we hear) “flare” (to blaze up).
18 EQUIP – QUIP (joke) and last letter (end) of programmE.

24 comments on “Quick Cryptic 1047 by Teazel”

  1. I took I DECLARE to be an exclamation, like “Well, now!” I associate it with Southern ladies in bad movies: “Whah, ah declayah!” No idea about the cricket meaning, but I saw ‘run’ and assumed the worst. BEHOLD struck me as rather tricky for a Quicky. I didn’t know ‘blag’, and the ‘claim’ meaning of ‘bag’ is UK (bags I the window seat); but given ‘pounds’, L was inevitable, so I have no excuse for putting in R. 8:41 besides.
    William, you have a typo at 17d.
    1. Captain of cricket side declares innings over when (S)he believes side has enough runs to win despite still having wickets in hand.
    2. Captain of cricket side declares innings over when (S)he believes side has enough runs to win despite still having wickets in hand.
  2. All done and correct in about 6 minutes — and then I entered MUCK for my LOI 1ac

    Why

  3. DNF. Not on the wavelength today. BAG, BAGSY and BLAG are all excellent Britticisms which may not be well known to other English speakers.

  4. I had a similar problem to yesterday getting started and must have read half-a-dozen clues at least before an answer leapt out at me. I should have looked at the Downs sooner than I did, because 2dn was the first answer found.

    Anyway the outcome was that I needed 13 minutes to finish the puzzle, missing my 10-minute target for the second consecutive day.

    I doubt there’s any significance to it, but we have a LLAMA lurking in the 5th column of the grid!

    Edited at 2018-03-14 05:39 am (UTC)

  6. 29 minutes, wasn’t sure about assayer, It has only appeared a few times before:

    Lead analyst, perhaps, in Speaker’s role?(times 25933)

    A sailing vessel reaches port carrying European analyst (times 25667)

    My attempt: Wasted years as metal tester.

    Also paused for the parsing of grateful and hesitate = likely to be lost.

    LOI I declare.
    Liked ton and lips but COD take a back seat.

  7. I enjoyed it today (so thanks Teazel) and was back to a respectable time (lees than 15 for me). Minor quibble -as a brit myself I don’t really associate blagging with scrounging as such – more scamming or winging it but heh
    1. SOED has both options covered: Coax or persuade (someone) by pretence, deceitful talk, etc.; scrounge (something).
      1. Ok thanks – I didn’t mean to question its legitimacy as a clue. I was simply talking about common usage – I think I stand by that.
        1. I often use it in the scrounging sense, ie when I go visiting I ask if I can blag a cup of tea/glass of beer 🙂
  8. On the harder side. LOI TORTOISESHELL. Took me all the checkers to spot that. Lovely clue though. My COD. Enjoyed 8ac – “Well I do declare”. Although a gimme for cricket lovers. Always thought an ASSAYER was specifically associated with precious metals, hence Assay Office, etc.
    PlayUpPompey
  9. Just inside my new, improved, 10 minute target today, despite a slow start. 12a was FOI, with a slight hesitation to look at 10d to confirm the first letter.

    I was looking for something more for HESITATE, but it was clearly the answer to the first part of the clue. I’m less convinced by ‘likely to be lost’, and found it a little unsatisfactory – rather like a glass of asti when you really want a glass or more of a decent red. I can’t see anything else in it, but would welcome any other ideas.

    COD to GRATEFUL, WOD to BUNK.

    Thanks Teazel and William

    1. As someone previously wrote, he who hesitates is lost… I guess the question mark just about covers this rather obscure link – but I enjoyed it. Regards
      1. Thanks, I see the comment now, and paid no attention to it when first reading the blog and comments. that makes sense to me now.
  10. Another chewy offering this week, not helped by my inability to spell ‘taffeta’ despite the generous parsing. A number of clues today that would happily grace a 15×15, particularly 8a, 22a, 6d and my COD The deceptive 10d.
    Thanks as always to setter and blogger.
    5’45”
  11. FOI was 9a and then I worked out 12a so I had plenty to work with. LOI was 6d and, even with all the checkers, I had no clear idea where I was going. Eventually Tortoiseshell came to mind;my COD.
    19 minutes in total so harder than the last two days for me. David
  12. Some tricky clues today, but nothing held me up particularly. I’m an inveterate blagger of cups of tea, so that was a write in. Took a minute for TAKE A BACK SEAT to come to the fore. Liked TORTOISESHELL. 7:47. Thanks Teazel and William. I hope your technology woes are quickly sorted.
  13. I didn’t get a single across clue on my first run through, which was a worry. Fortunately the downs seemed more on my wavelength. I ended up very stuck in the SW, with the unknown 13d and writing in Flare for 17d (despite knowing the correct answer), which made LOI 21a a challenge.
    Completed in 23 minutes with COD going to 20a.
  15. Really difficult one for me, no more than four answers in and had to resort to the blog – helpful as always. 10d – what has bit got to do with effective?

    1. To bite = to take effect (e.g. the new policy is beginning to bite). One of many not-at-all obvious clues today!

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