Quick Cryptic 106 by Tracy

Author   mohn2Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic
The link from the Times site seems to be working – hopefully not famous last words.

As a computer programmer in my previous life, it always felt like a defeat to use the mouse instead of the keyboard. I still try to avoid the mouse, which means that I have to use the Return key to move between clues when attempting the Quick Cryptic. Since that cycles through the clues in clue order, my first pass through the Acrosses always requires cold solving with no helpful checking letters. For this puzzle, I was only able to fill in a handful of the Acrosses on first pass, and though the Downs proved more tractable I would still say that this crossword seemed a little harder than average.

I do like good surface readings – despite them usually not helping with solving the clues – and this puzzle had some enjoyable ones, from the compactness of 23A to the potential anaphylactic shock at 11A. There are no obscure words or strange constructions from what I can see, but please ask for clarification in the comments if needed.

Definitions are underlined.

Across
1 Time everyone of more than average height (4)
TALL – T (Time) + ALL (everyone)
3 Personnel in authority on island (8)
MANPOWER – POWER (authority) next to (on) MAN (island, i.e. the Isle of Man)
8 Examination claimed to be fixed (7)
MEDICAL – anagram (to be fixed) of CLAIMED
10 Rule, then abdicate, after banishing son (5)
REIGN – REsIGN (abdicate) without the s (banishing son – s means son in genealogies)
11 Dish – nuts left in mine (6,5)
BANANA SPLIT – BANANAS (nuts) and L (left) in PIT (mine). Note that this was clued not dissimilarly in the main cryptic last October (25602) as “Dessert – nuts could have place on top of it”
13 Male attending racecourse presents bringer of good luck? (6)
MASCOT – M (Male) + ASCOT (racecourse). I suppose that the question mark is necessary because it is hoped, rather than guaranteed, that a mascot will bring good luck
15 Sharp-witted vixen close to fold (6)
SHREWD – SHREW (vixen, in the sense of a bad-tempered woman) + D (close to fold, i.e. the final letter of fold). A nice surface to make you think of female foxes and sheep enclosures
17 Peculiar name for ship in comic opera (3,8)
HMS PINAFORE – anagram (Peculiar) of NAME FOR SHIP. An appropriate (though not original) anagram for one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s most famous creations. This was clued a little more obliquely in the Sunday Times cryptic last November (4564) as “Whimsical name for ship”
20 Work out volume in one (5)
SOLVE – V (volume) in SOLE (one)
21 Tears spilled about first-class dancer (7)
ASTAIRE – anagram (spilled) of TEARS about AI (first-class). A reference to Fred Astaire (or possibly his sister Adele)
22 Where there’s scope for a cameraman to develop? (8)
DARKROOM – cryptic definition. Looking around on the web, it appears that assorted scopes (e.g. focus scopes) are part of a darkroom’s equipment, so once you make the connection between a cameraman and a photographer then all becomes clear. I’m guessing that the surface reading is supposed to make you think of a TV cameraman becoming better at their job, but I must admit that DARKROOM came to mind immediately from the Where/camera/develop combo
23 Flog Ecstasy in club (4)
BEAT – E (Ecstasy) in BAT (club)
Down
1 Enemy with disastrous failure to locate explosive device (4,4)
TIME BOMB – TIME (Enemy – this is quite a popular equivalence in Crosswordland but information on the web as to its provenance is scanty) + BOMB (disastrous failure)
2 Loaded in large Yemeni port (5)
LADEN – L (large) + ADEN (Yemeni port). Consider yourself extremely unlucky if you ever encounter a crossword where “Yemeni port” doesn’t lead to Aden
4 Finally book foremost of tours (2,4)
AT LAST – ATLAS (book) + T (foremost of tours, i.e. the first letter of tours)
5 Injured GI could be given this drug (6,5)
PURPLE HEART – double definition, the first referring to the US military decoration given to soldiers wounded or killed while serving, the second referring to the nickname for drinamyl/dexamyl, a drug with an amphetamine effect that was popular among Mods in the ’60s
6 Sound surprised US painter’s not finished (7)
WHISTLE – WHISTLEr, i.e. the US painter (James) Whistler without the final letter (not finished). Whistler’s best-known work is Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1, commonly referred to as Whistler’s Mother – I saw this at the Musee D’Orsay a few years ago, though the highlight of the visit was spotting William Petersen from CSI.
7 Phone engineer around noon (4)
RING – RIG (engineer, as a verb) around N (noon). Though n is commonly used in crosswords to indicate noon (and is in Chambers), I can’t think of where in “real life” you would encounter that abbreviation. Any offers?
9 Expert cruises, on and on, at sea (11)
CONNOISSEUR – anagram (at sea) of CRUISES ON ON
12 One supporting that woman during a depression (8)
ADHERENT – HER (that woman) inside (during) A DENT (a depression). This cropped up just over a year ago in the main cryptic (25524), clued via the similar “The woman in a depression finds a lover”
14 Academic initially showed restraint, reportedly (7)
SCHOLAR – S (initially showed, i.e. the first letter of showed) + a homophone (reportedly) of collar (restraint, e.g. on a dog)
16 House accommodating a domineering woman (6)
VIRAGO – VIRGO (House, i.e. one of the signs of the Zodiac) around (accommodating) A. The virago=domineering woman equivalence showed up 4 Quickies ago in puzzle 102
18 Nothing charged for fruit (5)
OLIVE – O (Nothing) + LIVE (charged, as in a current-bearing wire for example)
19 Exercised house-dog, to some extent (4)
USED – hidden in (to some extent) hoUSE–Dog

25 comments on “Quick Cryptic 106 by Tracy”

  1. A straightforward 10 minute solve for me. I wondered about “scope” at 22 and also if there should have been a ? in 6dn as indicating surprise is only one of many possible purposes of a whistle, and there are other ways of indicating surprise.
    1. Do you know if the link working now means it’s not possible to see forward copies? Just tried the usual for tomorrow’s and it doesn’t work.
      1. Using Timesian logic, it should be obvious that the number for tomorrow is … 234 🙂
      2. It’s traditional at SNAFU Central that on the very rare occasions that Monday goes to plan something screws up on Tuesday, so we have a jump in the sequence code fo tomorrow*. Here’s the link you’re looking for

        http://feeds.thetimes.co.uk/timescrossword/20140805/234/

        *Trying to be fair to them, the jump won’t be a problem to solvers provided the button works on the day.

  2. 8:40, after another slow start. I didn’t help myself by fouling up the anagram at 21ac and putting in ‘artiste’–I shouldn’t trust myself to do these in my head. I suppose one could quibble about the equation of power with authority, but of course I never quibble. Well, hardly ever. DNK PURPLE HEART the drug; but of course I never did drugs.
  4. I liked this clue although a BANANA SPlIT does not spring to mind as a dish! I failed to parse RING and VIRAGO. I am still taking about an hour most days to solve the quickie though.
  5. 9 m 30 s for me, although I had to come back to some from checkers not just go from top to bottom. Didn’t really understand the parsing of TIME BOMB although the answer was obvious.
  6. 6 mins. It took me longer than it should have done to see SCHOLAR and HMS PINAFORE, and it was only after the latter fell that I was able to finish with the OLIVE/ASTAIRE crossers. When I only had the A?T???E checkers for 21ac I was trying to justify “artiste” from the wordplay but obviously couldn’t.
  7. No time as this was done in several bursts but I did think it was harder than usual – probably because I tried to put HO (for house) around 16dn until I remembered the zodiac and also fell into the ‘artiste’ trap. I sympathise with the cycling in clue order – on the ipad I can only use portrait (as half the keyboard doesn’t work in landscape) so have the same issue. Would be good to be able to print it.
  8. Mightn’t SCOPE and ROOM parse as in “scope/room for improvement” – though doesn’t help with Dark.

    Philip

    1. That is indeed a possibility but, as you correctly point out, it doesn’t account for the dark bit. If we’re lucky, the setter might chime in on this.
  9. Sue finally managed to set up an account and here I am.I found this very straightforward and finished in around 10 minutes although I had a brief dabble with ARTISTE before seeing that it wasn’t an anagram. Now for a cup of tea and the main one in the sunshine.
  10. My original account, opened on Friday, in the name of suecar was purged too this afternoon and then it told me the name was already being used by someone else! Hence I am now suecaro. Who knows who I shall be tomorrow …………..and ‘yes’ I am sure that I used the correct password. Setting up the account and retaining it can be more tricky than the crossword it would seem.
    1. suecar – we hardly knew ye. If you have persistent problems with your account(s) being purged, you might want to contact LiveJournal support (or search their existing database) here.
  11. Having been told I’ve been purged three times now I’ve given up. Wanted to tell everyone that I managed to complete 105 but for some reason I couldn’t get on to Times for Times on Friday. They say pride comes before a fall

    For the time being I remain anon K

    1. Are you sure your account has been purged, or is it saying that the username you’re trying to create is unavailable? If you can post the exact message, then someone here might be able to help.
  12. Sorry, the above anon was me finding the system a bit confusing. I’ll get there in the end hopefully
  13. Got several of the words without really understanding the parsing and for 23ac had BELT =flog, E for Ecstasy and BLT (bacon, lettuce & tomato = CLUB sandwich)
    1. This is a great piece of lateral thinking, except that I’d be disappointed in a setter (or a sandwich maker) that equated a club sandwich with a BLT. If it’s any consolation, this is the best kind of wrong answer.
  14. 16 mins, so easier one for me. I didn’t know time=enemy was a convention! and still not sure why! unless it’s to do with solving crosswords?
    1. It’s probably worth remembering it – we had it in the main cryptic in January (25696) and it’s been in the Guardian at least twice this year. There are various possible sources mentioned on the web, e.g. Yeats “The innocent and the beautiful have no enemy but time”, Eva Peron “Time is my greatest enemy”, “How goes the enemy?” meaning “What time is it?” in The Dramatist by Frederick Reynolds, and an unattributed quote from Brewer’s “Time is the enemy of man, especially of those who are behind time”. It’s interesting that in the blogs of crosswords in which this has appeared, no-one has been able to come up with anything definitive.
  15. I know – time may the enemy of those trying to solve more quickly, but again it is a bit vague. Thank you for the ideas….
  16. Nice puzzle, which I would rate as around middling level of difficulty. As mohn indicates with the cross references, quite a few of the clues were of a degree of difficulty on a par with the main cryptic, albeit with some softer ones thrown in as well. Good balance, I thought.

    Thought BANANA SPLIT was particularly good. LOI WHISTLER – artists generally are a bit of a blind spot for me, and US artists even more so (Warhol, Pollock, er…)

    Thanks for highly informative blog.

    Edited at 2014-08-04 09:29 pm (UTC)

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