Quick Cryptic 1197 by Joker

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Continuing the high standard of recent Quickies, this was tricky in places. I found enough starting points to gradually fill the grid in no particular order, with LOI 5dn. Had to look up the (vaguely familiar) second definition at 17ac, and the (new to me) definition in the middle of 5dn.

Thanks to Joker, and I look forward to finding out how you all got on…

Definitions underlined.

Across
1 Is most of gift in seedy venue related to handouts? (12)
DISTRIBUTIVE – IS with all but the last letter of (almost) TRIBUTe (gift), all inside DIVE (seedy venue).
8 A top mark (5)
ALPHA – double definition.
9 Former partner has to pretend with lady, heartless indeed (7)
EXACTLY – EX (former partner), ACT (to pretend), and outside letters of (heartless) LadY.
10 Fear losing fine musical ability (3)
EAR – fEAR without the f (fine).
11 Trying to prevent train sets being laid out wrongly (9)
RESISTANT – anagram of (being laid out wrongly) TRAIN SETS.
13 Part of Burbank city (5)
URBAN – hidden in (part of) bURBANk.
14 Cruel person beheaded river creature (5)
OTTER – rOTTER (cruel person) missing its first letter (beheaded).
16 Wild eglantine is far from lovely (9)
INELEGANT – anagram of (wildly) EGLANTINE.
17 Only just defeat star seed (3)
PIP – triple definition. The star is one on an officers shoulder, signifying rank.
19 Strange being away from work with strike (7)
OFFBEAT – OFF (away from work) and BEAT (strike).
21 At first, bearings are seized tightly enough. Pour oil on (5)
BASTE – first letters of (at first) Bearings Are Seized Tightly Enough.
22 Unruly old boy upset superstore (12)
OBSTREPEROUS – OB (old boy) with an anagram of (upset) SUPERSTORE.

Down
1 Admiral’s daughter pursued by libertine (5)
DRAKE – D (daughter) then RAKE (libertine).
2 Southern European story with a moral that might be unconnected (9)
SEPARABLE – S (southern), E (european), and PARABLE (story with a moral).
3 Raise stove intended, we hear, for a new layout (13)
REARRANGEMENT – REAR (raise), RANGE (stove), and a homophone of (we hear) “meant”.
4 Brute grabbing queen’s bosom (6)
BREAST – BEAST (brute) surrounding (grabbing) R (queen).
5 Managed to amuse oneself cutting board that’s not fixed (13)
TRANSPORTABLE – RAN (managed) and SPORT (to amuse oneself), inside (cutting) TABLE (board).
6 Son got out of enormous bath (3)
VAT – s (son) removed from (got out of) VAsT (enormous).
7 Strange story about the end of expensive seafood (6)
OYSTER – anagram of (strange) STORY surrounding (about) the last letter (end) of expensivE.
12 Against former old Italian food (9)
ANTIPASTO – ANTI (against), PAST (former) and O (old).
13 United Nations is working in simultaneous action (6)
UNISON – UN (united nations), IS, and ON (working).
15 Playing piece has all the actors leave gutted (6)
CASTLE – CAST (all the actors) with the outermost letters of (gutted) LeavE.
18 Crowd in Fleet Street? (5)
PRESS – double-ish definition.
20 Untruth I found in key book (3)
FIB – I inside (found in) F (key) and B (book).

28 comments on “Quick Cryptic 1197 by Joker”

  1. I was slow this morning, and not up to the long ones (although OBSTREPEROUS went in quickly), with RESISTANT I believe my LOI. TRIBUTE for ‘gift’ was also a long time coming; not the best definition, perhaps. 8:44.
  2. 22 minutes, held up by the long clues, obstreperous etc.

    dnk sport = amuse oneself.

    COD Transportable.

    ps where is Horryd?

  3. 11 minutes held back by the long answers until I had sufficient checkers to jog the memory, and by writing ALPHA initially at 1dn instead of 8ac.

    I guessed ‘star’ must be a separate definiton of ‘pip’ but didn’t make the military connection despite knowing it well enough. Incidentally, Will, the pips or stars are on an officer’s shoulders rather than his arm. I see ‘pips’ can also refer to the marks on playing cards, dice and dominoes, which may be worth bearing in mind.

    I also looked twice at Admiral Drake as I don’t recall ever hearing him referred to as such although logic dictates that commanding the English fleet against the Spanish Armada he would have been one. Wiki advises he was actually a Vice Admiral if it makes any difference, but I wouldn’t know about that.

    Edited at 2018-10-10 05:01 am (UTC)

    3. I don’t know anything about this subject, but Wikipedia also suggests that any of several ranks can be referred to as an ‘Admiral’: Rear Admiral, Vice Admiral, Admiral of the fleet, etc. so I think it works on that level.

      Thanks for the note on the position of pips – now changed in the blog.

  4. Not quite sure how long this took, as I got to the end, hit “Submit” and was presented with a 404 Forbidden message. Bah.

    I came here, though, not to post my time, but to say that today’s 15×15 might be a good one to try if you’ve been eying up the possibility—I’d say it’s fairly accessible.

    1. Not to me, it wasn’t! Actually, it was fairly easy, but there was one clue that I just couldn’t make anything of, and I threw in the towel at 22′. As the poet says, stuff happens.

      Edited at 2018-10-10 07:49 am (UTC)

    2. Thanks for the tip. Completed in 44 minutes with only one aid, an alphabet trawl to solve LOI ‘tweeting’ clue.
  5. I found this a little easier than recent offerings, managing to come in at 19 minutes which is just below my target. The top left hand corner held me up most as Alpha just didn’t want to come to me.
  6. I got through this without any hold ups, apart from my LOI, REARRANGEMENT, which needed all the checkers. DRAKE went in first. 8:30. Thanks Joker and William.
  7. Found this tough today, especially the top half. I think this was mainly due to having so many long words, but I was also unfamiliar with sport for amusing oneself, with rake for Libertine and like some others hadn’t heard Drake referred to as an Admiral before. Didn’t see alpha for a long time. Never heard marks referred to as such until I went to college, and then I guess I didn’t get enough of the top ones for the term to have stuck. Misspelling obstreperous didn’t do me any favours either, meaning that 5d was my LOI. I missed Joker’s usual humour. 52:52.
  8. Another testing puzzle for a QC. My early self-satisfaction was soon deflated by some of the more challenging longer clues and I only got some of the 3-letter clues with the help of checkers. Biffed a couple (and had to return to one to parse it properly and change it). 2 and a bit kevins so relatively (but not absolutely) better today. LOI Alpha. Thanks to Joker and william.

    Edited at 2018-10-10 09:17 am (UTC)

  9. Came in just under 15 mins with numerous interruptions from Siri! My LOI was 3D REARRANGEMENT which I skipped over on first pass. The clue I struggled longest with was 8a ALPHA as I was not looking for a double definition. TRANSPORTABLE went in unparsed once I had all the checkers in play so I didn’t have to think about the alternative definition of SPORT. Thank you William and Joker. Once again I was thrown by the mix of clue difficulty and my sub 10 min solves seem a dim and distant past. However, I still reckon that I am improving as I can ‘nearly’ finish the 15×15 now.
  10. 27:10 for me online getting stuck on Alpha (LOI) and Rearrangement.
    I was feeling a whiter shade of pale after a day out and Procol Harum in the evening yesterday.
    But another high quality puzzle from Joker. My problem was I did not get the long answers until near the end especially 1a.
    David
  11. Found this of average difficulty. “cutting board” was a clever indicator, so COD to TRANSPORTABLE. FOI DRAKE. a gimme I thought. LOI EXACTLY as I was originally looking for a word meaning ‘heartless’.
    Enjoyable.
    PlayUpPompey
  12. Inside my target, but only just, due to misspelling OBSTREPEROUS and struggling, like others, with ALPHA. I wondered about the triple-definition without really parsing it, and obviously didn’t recognise ROTTER as a cruel person – how very dare he?
  13. But maybe getting closer! I had trans—-table and uni—- until I cheated and peeked at blog, never did get alpha! 50 mins. Frankyanne
  14. So I tried it after heads up here – and got about half or so, then cheated and looked at its blog for a few, then got some more, guessed some (the parsing of several beyond me!) Pleased with my effort! Frankyanne
  15. .. Or maybe I just wasn’t on the same wavelength today! All was going well until my last few in : 1 and 8 across. I had “distributive ” loitering in the attic of my brain but it took me forever to coax it out! And even then I couldn’t parse it. It wasn’t until I read the blog that I saw “tribute”. I only got “alpha” from the checkers. It wouldn’t have occurred to me in a million years! Liked “pip” and “press”. Thanks so much, blogger and setter
  18. Unlike others I fairly flew through this, but then I was on a plane to Spain. I was helped by seeing the long ones straightaway, which of course, gave lots of useful checkers. I liked the triple definition for PIP, but INELEGANT is my COD. 4:22.
  19. Yet another slow solve, running out to north of 45 mins. Drake and Ear were lonely outposts in the NW for ages, and that meant I was thinking Drill for seedy venue, so that didn’t help with 1ac. Neither did thinking A + a four letter top for some type of mark (8ac), but I see I was in good company there. And to think I once considered Joker the easiest of the setters. Invariant
  20. Another toughie with the top being particularly chewy. Last 2 in were REARRANGEMENT and ALPHA, which I stared blankly at for quite some time. I only saw 2 of the definitions of PIP so thanks for pointing out the third (the military one). Completed in 18.50
  21. c. 30 mins.
    a good puzzle with a couple of trickier clues.
    LOI: transportable, I just couldn’t parse despite thinking it can’t be anything else n.b. I try not to finish until all fully parsed, so this held me up.
    COD: offbeat, not something I’ve seen before.
    thanks to setter, blogger and all that contribute.
    Carl
  22. Not in the right mood – nowhere near completion after 45 minutes. Couldn’t try until evening.
    Did not like Alpha or Drake or Vat or several others.
    Thanks all
    John George

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