Quick Cryptic 105 by Felix (on behalf of william_j_s)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
William was unable to login to LJ this morning, so emailed it to me to post. Sorry, only just saw the email so it’s much later than intended. NB I took the liberty of editing two or three where William either asked for help or missed something.

Finally found WiFi on the West Cumbrian Coast by visiting a McDonald’s. That’s dedication to the cause. I found this very entertaining and a bit of a challenge, with several answers which would have probably been left entirely unparsed if I wasn’t blogging. I still need help with a couple! Definitions underlined.

Across
1 QUARTER-FINAL – cup tie from an anagram (indicated by blowing up) of A TRANQUIL REF.
8 EASTERN – ASTERN with E (English) for Asian, perhaps.
9 PARKA – PARK (deposit) + A for this jacket.
10 TINGE – EG (say) + NIT (fool) all reversed for trace.
11 NETTLED – hmmm – annoyed is the definition, from NETT (after tax) and LED (took prime position).
12 OGLED – leered at is reversed and hidden in moDEL GOt.
14 CHEROOT – this cigar is HERO (leading character) in COT (bed).
15 ABASEMENT – the definition is gets you crawling, A + BASEMENT (floor).
17 LAB – political party LABour, or a workplace for scientists.
19 LOOK FORWARD TO – LOOK FOR WAR (seek conflict) + T (first of Tories) in DO (party) gives anticipate.
21 KENYAN – KEN (the Scottish ‘know’) + NAY reversed for African.
22 KAYAK – a palindromic canoe (although, I thought there was a difference?).

Down
1 QUESTIONABLE – suspect (adjective) is an anagram of A NOBLE’S QUITE (indicated by corrupt).
2 ARSENAL – LANES (ways) + RA (Royal Artillery, gunners) turned up for weaponry.
3 THEME – THE MET(ropolitan Police) without the last letter gives topic.
4 RUN-IN – triple definition here: RUN-IN (fight), RUN IN (approach, like a bowler) or RUN IN (arrest, as a PC might).
5 IMPATIENT – an anagram of IN TIME APT, indicated and defined by to be restless.
6 APRIL FOOLS DAY – APRIL’S (girl’s) surrounding (eating) FOOL (pudding) + DAY (date). Cod is another word for a jest or hoax. Apart from the usual meaning, it can also be male genitals (cf. codpiece), a pillow, or a man. Five separate headwords for it in Chambers.
7 BANDIT – Outlaw from BAIT (enticement) around ND (North Dakota).
13 DEEP-FRY – cook is DEEP (sea, the deep) + FRY (fish).
14 CHEVRON – CHE (revolutionary) + V (very) + RON (shortened Ronald) for ordinary.
16 AWOKE – came to from A WOK (saucepan) + last of (close to) stovE. My COD.
18 BROOK – double definition. A small river (classic, thing that flows) and stand (to bear, tolerate).
20 AUK – this diving bird (diver) is hidden in crimeA UKrainian.

24 comments on “Quick Cryptic 105 by Felix (on behalf of william_j_s)”

  1. 6 mins. I thought this was another QC that wasn’t as straightforward as a lot of the earlier ones. I thought the anagram fodder for 1ac was an excellent spot by the setter. There seemed to be a lot more Ks in the answers than I would normally expect to see in a 13×13 puzzle. ABASEMENT was my LOI after CHEVRON, the latter of which went in from the wordplay because I didn’t know that meaning of “ordinary”.
  2. Thought this one was quite hard, finishing on CHEVRON with a shrug as it couldn’t really be anything else. Not heard of that definition and agree with jackkt that it’s not suitable fodder for the Quicky. Not been in a McD’s for several years, but I recall that a couple of sausage and egg McMuffins really do hit the spot after a night out.
  3. I must add my censure over this too. As a specialist editor of the Encarta world English dictionary I naturally turn there to test things. You not discover this connection from this authoritative source. As I now understand it a chevron is considered one of the ordinary ways of dividing up a shield. Others include fess, bend, chief and quite a good number of others and are divided into categories of simple and complex ordinaries. Ok so Felixstowe is correct but surely must count as too obscure when even a major dictionary cannot verify the answer.
    1. Encarta is a major authoritative dictionary in the same way that Readers Digest is an authoritative magazine or the Sun is an authoritative newspaper.

      Sorry. Next time try the OED or Chambers.

      However I do agree that this was an unsuitable clue for the quickie.

      Edited at 2014-08-01 05:42 pm (UTC)

  4. The hardest one yet for us and we failed to finish but we did discover where the answers where on the Times App. Our knowledge of heraldry was insufficient to recognise the ordinary, close to stove did not point us to the letter e and we were not even sure that much work would be going on in the lab!!
  5. I may post more later, but for now, the definition at 14dn is far too obscure for a Quickie and the wordplay (small boy) far too vague. Red card to the setter and editor!
  6. Some cracking clues, 1a, 6d and 16d amongst others. Difficult puzzle spoilt by the deeply obscure definition of ordinary. I have no problem with the wordplay (which I did not get). Maybe in a minority, but the good parts of this outweighed the dodgy 14d.
    1. The loose wordplay would be fine with a less obscure definition, but the combination of the two is out of order in my view. In a Quickie, that is.
      1. I agree that 14d was not a clue for a Quickie but there were some good clues with 16d being a tough but fair clue which took me a long time to solve.
        1. If I were to be ultra-picky I’d have some misgivings about saucepan = wok. They don’t bear much resemblance or serve quite the same purpose in cookery.
          1. You cook food in a saucepan and you cook food in a wok. The method of cooking may be different but in cryptic crosswordland I have no problem here.
          2. They are both round things that you put on a hob. Close enough, surely? And you can steam and simmer in a wok, more to life than just stir fry

            Edited at 2014-08-01 06:38 pm (UTC)

  7. I am a teacher and decided that, as a project for the summer holidays, I would try to teach myself how to do cryptic crossword puzzles. I worked my way through Val Gilbert’s “How to Crack the Cryptic Crossword” and have now started having a go each day at the Quick Cryptic in the Times. How thrilled I was to stumble upon this blog and to understand how to parse those answers that I just can’t see for myself! Thank you all so much.
    1. Welcome to the site. Tim Moorey’s book ‘How to solve the Times crossword’ is also very good, especially if combined with the comments on this blog!
  8. I cannot see how to set myself up with a name but I am Sue and I learned to do the main cryptic from using this site after I retired. It took about 4 years and I still don’t always manage it all even with aids. Before I found this site I rarely got past half way and got very frustrated as I still could not work out some parsing even when I checked the answers the following day. It now usually takes me about 60 – 90 minutes to do the main one and 10 – 15 minutes for the quickie. So far I have never failed to complete the quickie but today I only put in chevron as nothing else fitted the word play. A bit cruel I think for learners – our confidence can fade quickly!
    This a BIG thank you to everyone who is involved with this site as the crosswords now give me enormous pleasure, satisfaction and a wider word knowledge.
    2. Welcome, Sue. At the very top of this page towards the LH side there is a “Log In” button and immediately underneath that there’s “Create an account”. Click on that to start the sign-up process.

      Glad to have you on board.

    3. Sset yourself up with an account and a name if you want, Sue, but otherwise just put “Sue” at the end of your messages, and that will be just fine.. welcome aboard

  9. Sue says thanks but the reason that I cannot seem to set up an account is that whenever I go to either of these links I keep getting stuck on the ‘prove you are human bit’ How ever often I respond to the request it just gives me another one. Am I being daft or is there a fault? At the last count I had 15 tries. Help appreciated. Thanks
    1. Hmm, I just created myself a new account without any problems. I wonder though…

      The ‘prove you are human’ bit gave me the phrase “be serious now” to type in, and I noticed that to the right of the text entry field there’s a little curved arrow to click. If you click that, it gives you a new phrase to try. DON’T CLICK IT!

      When you’ve typed in your phrase, you just need to click on the big CREATE ACCOUNT button at the bottom. Good luck. 🙂

  10. If you have a Twitter Account you can click on the Twitter Bird and enter your Twitter Identity and your Twitter password. And you can post your comments to Twitter while you do it.

    Edited at 2014-08-01 07:47 pm (UTC)

  11. Still having problems so I shall just be Sue until a child visits and shows me how stupid I am being.
  12. Thanks for all the help. Finally made it after using my tried and trusted method of turning the computer off and starting again. Worked first time then. Sue is now suscar.
  13. Thanks for the info re getting a name. I had the same problem as Sue and so kept being anonymous, then kept being endlessly tested as to being human. So, turning the laptop off and on again also did the trick for me. Who knew?

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