Quick Cryptic 1224 by Joker

Author   CuraristPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
On reflection I see I’ve been a bit harsh on this one, nitpicking a couple of the definitions. What I realise now is that, as a whole, it is a masterclass in the art of the surface reading. A clunky surface is one that you would never imagine seeing in a piece of prose, one whose ‘meaning’ could easily be expressed better if it wasn’t a crossword clue. With the possible exception of 11ac and 5dn the surfaces here are immaculate. This can actually make it harder particularly for beginners. I think as you get more experienced you tend to notice the surface less, homing in on familiar ‘code’ words rather than reading the clue as a whole.

Difficulty wise, I finished in around 8 minutes, so a medium challenge for me with quite a few write-ins. I’d be interested to see how everybody got on

Across

3 Second journey for band (5)
STRIP – S + TRIP
7 Be cheerful — a result of hibernation ending? (4,2)
BEAR UP – double/cryptic/whimisical definiton
8 See king on throne (4)
LOOK – Throne is LOO + K for king.
9 Regretted having left the last word initially to editor (8)
LAMENTED – L (left) + AMEN (last word) + T (to initially) + ED (editor)
10 Matured sage Derby shows it (4)
AGED – hidden word sAGE Derby
11 The best opportunity of risk beside the open ocean (3,4,6)
THE MAIN CHANCE – risk is CHANCE, the open ocean is THE MAIN. Bit of an odd one, this. Not a phrase that’s especially recognisable, and the fact that THE is in both clue and answer is a bit inelegant. Altogether makes you doubt whether the obvious answer is right.
15 Mean onion tart cooked up for garnish? (13)
ORNAMENTATION – anagram (‘cooked up’) of MEAN ONION TART
16 Notice run overlooked in cricket, say (4)
SPOT – SPORT with R for run removed
18 Kept area free for bird (8)
PARAKEET – anagram (‘free’) of KEPT AREA
20 Fitness is beneficial to millions (4)
FORM – FOR (is beneficial to, for the benefit of) + M. Wasn’t sure about this either, because the definitions are less obvious than they could be, but valid nonetheless. And makes a very nice surface.
21 Tender after swallowing ecstasy and speed (6)
CAREER – A tender is a CARER, add E for ecstasy.
22 Clean back and front of tube that’s burst (5)
ERUPT – Clean is PURE, reverse it, add T (front of ‘tube’)

Down
1 Bumped into Harpo transformed as a figure of speech (8)
METAPHOR – Bumped into is MET, + anagram (‘transformed’) of HARPO
2 Valid ceasefire, the fourth to be abandoned (4)
TRUE – TRUCE minus its fourth letter
3 Eject with blaze in WW II fighter (8)
SPITFIRE – SPIT + FIRE
4 Swift, heartless attack (4)
RAID – Swift is RAPID, take out its middle letter (‘heart’)
5 Rustic getting round pound fine (8)
PLEASANT – PEASANT round L for pound
6 Single large unit (4)
LONE – L + ONE
12 Myself against myself? For the moment (8)
MEANTIME – ME + ANTI + ME
13 Waterfall is a problem for sightseers (8)
CATARACT – double definition
14 Secret codes let out (8)
CLOSETED – anagram (‘out’) of CODES LET
17 In favour of western front (4)
PROW – PRO + W
18 Examine carefully abandoning south-eastern land (4)
PERU – Examine carefully is PERUSE, take off SE
19 Break up dislodging a piece of pavement (4)
KERB – BREAK backwards (‘up’ because it’s a down clue), minus A

27 comments on “Quick Cryptic 1224 by Joker”

  1. Flowed quite nicely, apart from the use of “The” twice in 11ac, thought this was a good clue. I suppose the phrase is recognisable, when you know it.
  2. I managed to finish in 14:11. A quick start, but was slowed down by several clues. My last three were KERB (should have seen that much more quickly), CAREER (quite tricky as Tender has so many meanings) and finally BEAR UP. On first pass I put Wake Up for 7a despite doubts about the parsing. I did erase it and when I finally came back to it I could not see anything that worked. A double alphabet trawl led me to Bear Up which must have been two minutes at least just for that. It’s the only clue I felt slightly unhappy about.
    For the rest, another Joker masterclass of smooth surfaces. David
  3. Tricky solve with lots of interruptions. I see Chambers has two definitions of peruse, one as in the puzzle, the other is the only one I knew before to browse casually, so tough for me but no complaints. Also struggled with some other definitions – notably cataract – and didn’t like 14a, not least because I once again fell foul of the website skipped checkers, so a deep groan after pressing submit to see THH at the start of the main chance. Good week of puzzles, another great week of blogs – thanks all, see you Monday, via the Telegraph’s Saturday puzzle, which is where all this started for me).
  4. Still in amber territory today with 14 minutes on the clock, and I wasn’t actually sure of BEAR UP until I had revealed the answer after completing the puzzle. I googled “Do bears hibernate?” as I wasn’t sure, and found this: It is a common misconception that bears hibernate during the winter. While bears tend to slow down during the winter, they are not true hibernators. Black bears, Grizzly bears and Brown bears do go into a deep sleep during the winter months, known as torpor. Hibernation is when animals “sleep” through the winter.

    I wonder if any of our American friends had problems with KERB as I believe their usual spelling for the piece of pavement is “curb”.

  5. ….for those of you who haven’t yet ventured into the territory to try the 15 x 15.

    I enjoyed this, as is usual with one of Joker’s offerings, and finished in 5:34 – which is only around three minutes quicker than I solved the larger puzzle.

    Go on, you know you want to….

  6. I’m familiar with the expression ‘an eye to the main chance’ so was happy with 11ac. Cod to 7ac – whether or not bears do technically hibernate (interesting point jackkt) it gave me a laugh when I got it. Loi 5dn pleasant – I was looking for a rustic to go around ‘pond’ – I should check my glasses! 9:03.

    Edited at 2018-11-16 09:48 am (UTC)

  7. Completely agree about the clever surfaces, all very neat and smooth. COD to PARAKEET from me for that very reason.

    In the absence of Kevin that was two curarists, which I will count as a Good Day. Only real hold up was chewing my pen over the PERU/ERUPT intersection; I could see how they worked but couldn’t get the right synonyms for ages! I always find it tough when you are told to think of a word which means X and then remove a letter or two from it. Completely legitimate tactic – just makes it harder!

    What the Dickens is the difference between “sleeping through the winter” and “going into a deep sleep in during the winter months”?!

    Templar

  8. 22 minutes for me and an enjoyable experience. Particularly liked 12d – haven’t seen that before – was unsure of closeted = secret in the tense and had cateract as waterfall but had to check to be sure.
    Thanks all
    John George
    PS. Took ages to locate blog strangely which may lead to fewer comments?? Probably took 25 different Google attempts
    2. Out of interest, how were you trying to access the blog? The simplest way, as mentioned by Penfold, is to go to the home page, where the Quicky blog will generally be the first or second entry.
  9. Spent some time in the SW where it took me several attempts to get the answers. A biffed WAKE UP slowed me down in the NW too. I had to resort to pen and paper to unscramble ORNAMENTATION, taking me to 10:53. Nice puzzle. Thanks Joker and Curarist.
  10. I don’t usually do the QC but as I bought the paper to do the 15×15 on the train I gave it a go. 4:30 and as an”experienced solver” I failed to notice the surface readings other than the clever use of “initially to” at 9ac. I agree that the wordplay for MEANTIME was neat despite the slightly dodgy use of the reflexive pronoun as subject.
  11. Yes, a nice point about surfaces. I’d agree that really good surfaces make it hard to identify the indicators in the clues, and that this is definitely part of the art of crossword setting. But was there a movement away from this at some point? When I first began solving, it was as a Telegraph and Guardian solver, and I noticed the ‘oddness’ of surfaces, particularly in some of the Guardian’s puzzles, as pointed out to me initially by my solving mentor. Araucaria and Enigmatist come to mind, but there were others. Fidelio for sure.

    I don’t think it was bad compiling. Rather it felt like ‘art’!

  12. A straightforward end to an unusually straightforward week. FOI STRIP. LOI and COD BEAR UP. Enjoyed that. Very neat little clue.
    PlayUpPompey
  13. Good puzzle. Turned out to be harder than I thought at first. A Little over 2 Curarists for me. Finished with Career, Bear up, and Lamented. Thanks to Joker and Curarist. John M.

    Edited at 2018-11-16 12:22 pm (UTC)

  14. I was left looking at a nearly empty grid after the first pass, so I knew this was going to be a bit of a teaser. Eventually managed to get a foothold in the NE, but I needed to take an early punt on The Main Chance to make progress elsewhere. After 30mins I was left with the 19d/22ac combination and that kept me going for another 3 or 4 minutes. By no means an easy puzzle, but 7ac and CoD 12d made the struggle worthwhile. Invariant
  15. Done in 36 mins, happy day, but needed blog to explain ‘erupt’. Thanks joker and curarist. Now to see if I can do any of 15 x 15! Frankyanne.
  16. Some chuckle-makers here! I particularly liked 7 across plus there were a host of super down clues, too e. g. 3 ( my COD ), 12 and 13. I always enjoy Joker’s puzzles and today was certainly no exception. It took me about 25 minutes or so, I guess, with the ones that held me up being the intersecting 16 and 20 across and 17 down. Not quite sure why but the pennies dropped with a thud rather than a ring on these three. Partly this might have been because I was looking for some extra significance to the word “cricket ” in 16 across… does the clue need this word? Isn’t “run” sufficient? Am I being dim?
    I needed the blog to parse 9 across because I hadn’t clicked that “the last word ” was “amen”.
    Anyway, lots of fun and very clever. Thanks, Joker, for this and huge thanks also to Curarist for the excellent blog.
    1. “Cricket, say” gives you the word SPORT which is what you have to remove R[un] from to get the answer, so the word is most definitely needed.
  17. Very satisfying to complete this one – perhaps just on the right wavelength. Much less biffing than usual probably due to great wordplay but maybe, just maybe a hint of self improvement. Thanks as ever to setter and blogger. L&I
  18. 13:50 so not too shoddy. LOI with fingers crossed was 7a BEAR UP. Only other hold up was 11a THE MAIN CHANCE. Thanks Joker and curarist.
  19. I really struggled – only got 5 in NW corner. I couldn’t get a foothold at all – all those smooth surfaces! Thanks for the blog, Hannah
  20. We didn’t put bear up in as we knew bears don’t actually hibernate (not like tortoises for example) and it didn’t seem to match ‘be cheerful’ either.
  21. I found this hard work today, completing it in 22.04 only to discover a careless typo at 10a (AGES, not AGED). Like others I thought 7a and 12d were particularly good, LOI 21a.
    Thanks for the blog
  22. 22 minutes for me and an enjoyable experience. Particularly liked 12d – haven’t seen that before – was unsure of closeted = secret in the tense and had cateract as waterfall but had to check to be sure.
    Thanks all
    John George
    PS. Took ages to locate blog strangely which may lead to fewer comments?? Probably took 25 different Google attempts
  23. 24:30 for me. That is 24 hrs and 30 mins! Just could not see 20, 22 ac and 18d. Pity because I had got to that point in under 10min and I thought I had got a best time. Better luck next week.
    Thanks to all.

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