Quick Cryptic 1264 by Felix

Author   CuraristPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Pretty straightforward today from Felix. I don’t know how often he sets but I wonder if there’s a story behind the self-referential 2dn. Quite a lot of anagrams (7), some clunkier than others. LOI 12dn, which I stared at for a while. Probably just being a bit thick. 7 minutes

Across
1 Embarrassed, being compared to one easily led? (8)
SHEEPISH – i.e. like a sheep
5 Some forgot totally German’s name? (4)
OTTO – hidden word: forgOT TOtally
9 Returned nearly half of fiction in one’s genre (3-2)
SCI-FI – FIC (half of fiction) inside IS (one’s) all backwards
10 Declared Authorised Version was inaccurate (7)
AVERRED – AV (Authorised Version, i.e King James Bible) + ERRED
11 I re-select cop for training for shadowy force (6,6)
SECRET POLICE – anagram (‘training’) of I RE-SELECT COP
13 Most senior of the French embraced by English lieutenant (6)
ELDEST – ‘of the’ in french is DES, surroounded by E + LT
15 Fool first to help (6)
ASSIST – ASS + IST (1st)
17 Employs magic arranging sporting events (7,5)
OLYMPIC GAMES – anagram (‘arranging’) of EMPLOYS MAGIC
20 Dance that we often show to each partner, first of all (3-4)
TWO-STEP – first letters of That We Often Show To Each Partner
21 Catch girl with Oscar (5)
LASSO – LASS + O (phonetic alphabet)
22 Appreciates what landlady provides? (4)
DIGS – double definition
23 Rag Moses transformed into fine material (8)
GOSSAMER – anagram (‘transformed’) of RAG MOSES

Down
1 Band of elite British soldiers descending on hotel (4)
SASH – SAS + H
2 Outcast Felix eventually shows up (5)
EXILE – another hidden word – fELIX Eventually
3 A version of Yellow Brick Road? (8,4)
PRIMROSE PATH – not sure what to say about this. Crypric definition that’s not very cryptic?
4 Inadequate study: half of type’s missed (6)
SCANTY – study is SCAN , half of type is TY
6 Name in India originally for railway stations? (7)
TERMINI – anagram (‘originally’) of NAME IN I. (I being India in the phonetic alphabet) EDIT: idiot. Not an anagram at all, but as pointed out below TERM (name) + IN + I. Sorry….
7 Leftover items MD doesn’t put right (8)
ODDMENTS – anagram (‘put right’) of  MD DOESNT
8 Asp, foals, bees involved in these old animal tales (6,6)
AESOPS FABLES – anagram (‘involved’) of ASP FOALS BEES
12 Beaten again, or directed down a different path (8)
REROUTED – double definition. Took me a while to spot this one.
14 Light itch lasting twenty-four hours (7)
DAYLONG – light is DAY, itch is LONG
16 One small picture’s recalled old Roman general (6)
SCIPIO – I + S + PIC all backwards, + O
18 Poem’s written about racecourse (5)
EPSOM – anagram (‘written about’) of POEMS
19 Tart, small, for us (4)
SOUR – S + OUR

45 comments on “Quick Cryptic 1264 by Felix”

  1. 14 minutes, so a little on the tougher side for me today. The PRIMROSE bit of PRIMROSE PATH held out until the very last minute and I also struggled with REROUTED.

    Felix has set 36 puzzles to date, fairly evenly spaced at a rate of 7 or 8 per year.

    Edited at 2019-01-11 07:51 am (UTC)

  2. Don’t think that anagram works. I read it as TERM (name) IN (in) I (India originally, first letter)?
  3. Wasn’t very keen on Primrose Path (LOI). Didn’t know the expression. Scan and study don’t seem to be the same, as to study is more in depth and scan is a quick once over. COD 21ac
    1. SCAN: “scrutinise minutely” – first meaning in Collins!
      “examine critically or closely” – first meaning in Chambers!
    2. I agree. Scan in the real world , as opposed to the dictionary world, is the other end of the examination spectrum to study . I’m always miffed by setters who use this approach – we’re talking about the quick cryptic , here, after all. It’s a slippery slope…🙂
  5. I had all of this done in under 12 minutes apart from 3d.
    The gaps in my education are often revealed by crosswords and Elton John is far more familiar than Shakespeare. Hence it took me another 4 minutes to construct the unknown Primrose Path to finish in 16:11.
    A nice easyish puzzle with the path likely to be the problem. David
  6. 15:15 today so on the easier side from my perspective.
    Didn’t we have Termini with a similar clue yesterday?
    I really don’t get how the clue to Primrose Path leads to the answer. How does Yellow Brick relate to Primrose? If it doesn’t and the clue is just a straight cryptic clue, doesn’t that open up to a clue such as ‘An alternative to butter’?
    1. Primroses are yellow. Re the comment that “it’s not cryptic” above, the cryptic bit is “Yellow Brick Road” purporting to be the song. But this is the QUICK cryptic after all 🙂

      F.

  7. 18 minutes for me, so like jackkt, a bit harder for me than our esteemed blogger found it. I put in primrose hill initially, having never seen the path reference. Also slowed by failing to see the olympics anagram together with the daylong crosser. The phonetic alphabet did get another workout with both India and Romeo. Thanks all.
    1. I was thinking about your comment on the phonetic alphabet from yesterday. In fact, Hotel was also figured in the puzzle.
  8. Finally, an all green grid. Never heard of Scipio nor primrose path but built up Scipio from the clue and primrose path seemed to fit the checkers and the definition. Took a while to get to scanty too but REROUTED was LOI and a mighty big groan when when the penny finally dropped on that one. See you Monday!
  9. Had to come. Worst of week with 20.23 and one wrong. Couldn’t come up with REROUTED so bunged in REPOSTED, knowing it must be wrong. In fact a few synonyms wouldn’t come forward today. DNK PRIMROSE PATH. Thought 22dn might be EGGS (!) before penny dropped. Held up by DES, missing the OF in 13ac. Didn’t think of SHEEPISH for EMBARRASSED till the end. Not sure I know DAYLONG as a word. ODDMENTS hid itself till late. All sounds a bit whiny!
  11. Well, a consistent and rather unsatisfying SCC end to the week for me at 23.56. Not much to complain about in this puzzle but it really didn’t flow smoothly for me. I quite liked AVERRED and SCANTY (when the pennies dropped). I ended up in the NW corner with SASH (doh!) and SHEEPISH apart from my LOI ODDMENTS. COD probably ELDEST which needed a bit of parsing – thanks to Curarist and to Felix for a more testing outing than early posters found. John M.

    Edited at 2019-01-11 09:59 am (UTC)

  12. I was on for a 20 minute finish but spent another 10 on the top left corner. Even then it was a DNF as I had REBOOTED for 12D ( it just about fits!).
    I put in Primrose first time round, but erased it twice as I couldn’t see how the’I’ could be a valid last letter in 9A.
    Brian
      1. And me! And had brain freeze re T-W-O in 20a…knew it was the first letters but I honestly couldn’t see that TWO was a word that existed! Idiot. Didn’t know PRIMROSE PATH, either. Not a good end to the week. Thanks Curarist for enlightening me.
  13. I was another who reposted (also expecting it to be wrong). I started really well getting lots of answers first pass today but then got stuck at the end and gave up after five minutes staring at the last two clues (Averred and Aesops fables remained unfilled in my grid). So that was a disappointing DNF to finish an up and down week for me. A distinct lack of perseverance today on my part!

    Thanks to Felix & Curarist

  14. Forgot to time this, but about 9 minutes I think. Didn’t know the Roman general and 3d is a bit weak. Thanks to Felix and Curarist.

    Adrian

  15. Struggled with Scipio (was one an I or A?), rerouted and loi primrose path. Over 15 mins but just happy to avoid a dnf.
  16. I found this harder than usual and had to follow the wordplay for the NHO SCIPIO. PRIMROSE PATH took a lot of pondering too. My downfall, however, was to be unable to think of REROUTED. I had REBOOTED. Drat! 11:52 WOE. Thanks Felix and Curarist.
  17. Took longer than usual but got there in the end. I was fine with “primrose path” – another Shakespeare reference, this time from Hamlet. I liked the misdirection (?) of 19 down and thought that 8 down was clever on many levels. LOI was 7 down – took me much longer than it should have needed. Thanks, Curarist, for the super blog, and thanks, too, to Felix, for a fine puzzle.
  18. Unlike one or two QCs recently, I needed my thinking cap for this one. REROUTED and PRIMROSE PATH both held me a up a little at the end. SCIPIO is on the obscure side for normal QC QK but pleased to see contributors trusting the cryptic to get it. They’ll be in Mephisto land before they know it!
    Many thanks to setter and blogger.
    5’30”
  19. ….a trip to the Moon on GOSSAMER wings. Thanks to Felix for giving me a classier earworm than usual.

    Nothing out of the ordinary in an accessible and enjoyable puzzle.

    FOI OTTO (my friend’s guide dog)
    LOI SOUR
    COD SCANTY
    TIME 3:16

  20. Primrose flowers are pale yellow, and a path is a road. That’s how I reconciled that cryptic definition.
  21. Needed two sittings for this, with 1ac, 3d and 4d not yielding at the first attempt. Even then, I was another who confidently had Rebooted for 12d, so a disappointing DNF end to the week. I definitely struggle with the less regular setters . . . especially all the anonymous ones in the 15×15 ! Invariant
  22. Finished again! I always thought that lasso had two o’s as that’s the way I pronounce it , obviously wrongly. 😏Thanks setter and everyone else as usual.

    Diana

  24. Nothing more to add really. Guessed SCIPIO and wrote in PRIMROSE hill and then PATH as I was unsure as to how the clue worked. I’m not sure I am any more enlightened after reading the blog. Thanks curarist and Felix. 13:20

    Edited at 2019-01-11 02:47 pm (UTC)

    1. Well “primrose path” is a life of pleasure. “Yellow brick road” is a path to wealth. So loosely one might be said to be a version of the other and a yellow brick road might be a “primrose path” literally
      1. Thanks. I was just looking up the meaning of the two phrases as you were posting. ‘Primrose path’ is now filed for future reference. Actually the clue is quite clever.
  25. Thought I was on for a record time (and possibly even a second ever sub-Kevin) as all the acrosses went in first time except for ASSIST … but then the downs brought me down and I had to chew hard on PRIMROSE PATH and SCANTY. Then back to ASSIST which ended up as LOI. Ended up with 9:27 which is quite pleasing given some of the times from the ninjas above so I am counting this as a Very Good Day and probably 1.5 Kevins.

    Nice to see SCIPIO getting a shout out and I liked the breakdown so that gets COD from me. Put me down as another who flirted with the Jezebel “rebooted”.
    Thanks to Felix for a very entertaining puzzle and to curarist for the blog.

    Templar

  26. I found this harder work than usual. No delays on 16d Scorpio but confounded by 12d and too despairingly opted for reposted. So a DNF for the end of a good week. Struggled with 9a sci-go and 1a sheepish- both pretty clear clues. If I get a time under 30 mins I’ll post it!
  27. Thanks Felix and curarist.

    Clue 16 Down
    The blog parsing for SCIPIO would give CIP+S+I, +O.
    I think we need I + PIC’S all backwards, +O
    where PIC means small picture.

    mike04

  28. A solve of two halves for me with the bottom being pretty much a write in but the top, especially the NW, proving a bit more chewy. Struggled with 1a because I lazily assumed that Red would be in the answer the definition was ‘easily led’ and had never heard of LOI 3d so hoped my guess would be ok. Completed in 12.41
    Thanks for the blog
  29. Well, goodness. I usually do the quickie, but for some reason I haven’t been in the habit of posting about it here.

    I was another “rebooted”, alas. NHO SCIPIO (wasn’t he a New York cop?) or PRIMROSE PATH, and didn’t realize DAYLONG could survive without a hyphen.

    1. Welcome to the other blog. I had raised eyebrows over DAYLONG too! Welcome back from over the pond as well.
  30. I found this harder work than usual. No delays on 16d Scorpio but confounded by 12d and too despairingly opted for reposted. So a DNF for the end of a good week. Struggled with 9a sci-go and 1a sheepish- both pretty clear clues. If I get a time under 30 mins I’ll post it!

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