Quick Cryptic 153 by Teazel

Author   nick_the_novicePosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Cricket, nudity and a bit of twitching – a Somerset lad’s big day out! Really enjoyed this offering: loads of wit and sparkle, and many thanks to our setter Teazel.

Plenty of jokey double and cryptic definitions – might not suit everyone, but right up my 10 across, so to speak. In terms of degree of difficulty, I’m finding this one quite hard to pick. Given the number of double & cryptic definitions, I suspect this will be somewhat dependent on whether you happen to be on the same wavelength as the setter: such clues seem to be more dependent on a “light bulb moment” than those which are based more around a definition and wordplay which, with patience, you can usually grind down eventually. Will be interested to hear what everyone else thinks…

Across
1 BIRTHDAY SUIT – Jokey cryptic clue – obvious when you get it, but might hold you up if you are not on the setter’s wavelength
8 NOT A BIT – The opposite is the definition. Answer also from A TON backwards (“A heavyweight returning”) with BIT (“was effective” – as in ‘the sanctions bit…’)
9 APPLE – Another jokey double meaning kind of cryptic clue, this time based on William Tell’s apple shooting exploit – a stunt unlikely to pass muster with the Health & Safety lobby today
10 ALLEY – Double definition, with ALLEY being a type of large marble (as in the game) apparently. Did not know this meaning, so this one just went in based on cross checkers and the street part of the clue
11 CLEMENT – Mild is the definition (its opposite inclement is more widely used). Answer also from CEMENT (“setter”) with an L (abbreviation of “Liberal”) included (“welcomed”)
12 WIDES – First of several cricket based clues. This one is a kind of double definition, with WIDES (note the plural) providing extra runs to the batting team’s score, and a Wide (at least in theory – if we leave aside the development of the 50 over game) being a ball that a batsman cannot reach. Maybe a little bit clunky as a clue
14 SLIPS UP – bungles is the definition. Answer also from SLIP (“fielder” – a continuation of the cricket theme) with SUP (“given drink”). Having WIDES and SLIP in consecutive clues inevitably brings to mind the tragi-comic incident of the “Barmy Harmy” wide that went straight to second slip at the beginning of the 2006/7 Ashes series…
15 IMPORTUNE – Solicit is the definition. The answer is also an anagram (signalled by “that falls”) of TO RUIN MEP
17 ORB – Globe is the definition. Answer also from OR (“golden”) with B (standard abbreviation of “book”). OR crops up quite a lot in Crosswordland – worth remembering
19 HIGH EXPLOSIVE – liable to go off is the definition. Answer also from HIGH (“smelly”) with explosive being the content of a “shell” See comment from chris below re. proper parsing of this one…
21 UNCLAD – In birthday suit (i.e. 1 across) is the definition. Answer also from UNCLE (“relative shortly”) with AD (“notice” – i.e. advertisement)
22 DUTCH – A very economical clue operating on a couple of levels (at least, that’s how I read it). DUTCH is (as I subsequently learned) east end slang for “wife”, and DUTCH is also “foreign” (unless of course you happen to be a Dutchman, I guess). However, I arrived at the answer by a different route (not knowing the slang usage): I had a vague recollection of the expression Dutch wife (without being too sure what one might be) and that was good enough for me. As it turns out, a Dutch wife is a long bolster stuffed with canvas that was used by sailors to stop themselves rolling around in bed during rough weather. As the online Urban dictionary mischievously puts it when explaining the derivation, “In the time this term was coined Dutch women presumably had a reputation for being unresponsive and apathetic in bed. (Things on this front have improved markedly however.)” Yes, well, moving right along…

Down
1 BANTAMWEIGHT – Fighter is our definition. “chicken” also gives us BANTAM, with WEIGHT being a homophone (signalled by “announced”) of wait (“delay”)
2 RATTLED – unnerved is the definition. Answer also derived from the wordplay ATTLEE (“prime minister briefly”) in RD (abbreviation of road – “a way”)
3 HOBBY – Double definition. A hobby is a small type of falcon (sadly pretty rare these days) as well as the hobby horse being the kids’ toy (and the metaphorical mode of transport for the strongly opinionated)
4 ATTIC – Another double definition, co-starring a representative of the good people of Attica in Greece
5 STATESIDE – in America is the definition. The answer is also an anagram (signalled by “out”) of TEST IDEAS
6 IMPRESSIONIST – Another droll cryptic clue, incorporating the double definitions of a mimic (“take off”) with the style of painting
7 REDTOP – newspaper is the definition (red top being a collective noun used to describe the UK tabloids with the highest nipple counts). Answer also comes from RED (“socialist”) with “TO” and P (abbreviation of “pressure”).
13 SURREAL – bizarre is the definition. The answer is also an anagram (signalled by “extraordinarily”) of AS RULER
14 STUMPED – Another cricketing clue, and another double definition – mode of dismissal in the noble game, and I hope you weren’t…
16 PAGAN – The clue needs to be read as a whole (there might be a fancy term for these kinds of clues that kind of go round themselves, but I don’t know what it is). Answer constructed from PAN (“God”) who “receives” AG (“a good”), with one who worships Pan being a pagan
18 BEECH – wood is the definition. Answer also from BEE (“insect”) with C (more cricket – abbreviation of “caught”) and H (“husband”)
20 ODD – Another witty cryptic definition to end with

19 comments on “Quick Cryptic 153 by Teazel”

  1. The abundance of cricket clues slowed me down a bit; well, a bunch: 10′, slower than today’s (admittedly easy) 15×15 cryptic. I had a vague memory of ALLEY (though I thought it was ‘allie’–I don’t know from marbles), but it didn’t surface until I first put in ‘agate’, thinking of the -gate endings (Harrowgate, etc.). LOI was WIDES, solely based on the checkers. I’ve pretty much given up on the Urban Dictionary; under ‘Dutch wife’, my SOED gives (1) a frame of cane, etc. used for resting the limbs in bed, (2) an artificial sexual partner.

    Edited at 2014-10-08 03:35 am (UTC)

  2. 7’30” for me, so on the easy side of medium I’d say. Thanks for the entertaining blog, Nick, though I think 12a (‘A number of runs no batsman can reach’) is just a cryptic definition, even if, as you say, in the modern one-day game, ‘A number of runs no batsman decides to lay a bat on’ might be more accurate.

    CLEMENT ATTLEE here, maybe more PMs to come.

  3. 10 minutes for this somewhat unusual Quickie. For a start it has a grid that’s (as I see it) symmetrical only along one diagonal. Those who understand these things better than I do will surely have a more precise description. Anyway I don’t recall seeing this in a Quickie before, but perhaps I’m just unobservant.

    I suspect it can’t have been an easy puzzle to blog because of its reliance on jokes and cryptics and whimsy generally, which is always harder to explain that straightforward wordplay, so well done, Nick.

    As a footnote:The userpic problem seems to have resolved itself today.

    Edited at 2014-10-08 05:05 am (UTC)

  4. Quicker than average for me. Enjoyed the cricketing references. HOBBY reminded me that the creator of the table top game subbuteo wanted to call it hobby but was not allowed it as a trade mark so called his game after the Latin name for the bird hobby.

    Favourite ODD and last in DUTCH.

    The main cryptic must be easy since I almost finished it. On edit, looked at main cryptic again and completed it.

    Edited at 2014-10-08 07:43 am (UTC)

  5. All good fun – I actually like cricket clues!
    Excellent blog as well – so we’re doubly blessed!
    Whilst it is of little import I have a query about 19 – What is in shell may be smelly, liable to go off (4,9). I think the definition is what is in shell – high explosive made up from smelly – high and liable to go off – explosive?
    1. Thanks Chris – I think your parsing is spot on. Blog amended accordingly.

      Edited at 2014-10-08 09:27 am (UTC)

  6. I haven’t looked at the quickie yet (nor at any of the answers above – honest!), but I was surprised not to see a blog for the main crossword yet. This must be the first time I have beaten the blogger.
    1. According to the blogging calendar, Pip is on today. He lives in France, where the crossword becomes live at 1am, so, not unreasonably, he typically waits until the morning before solving and writing up.

      We get a bit spoiled here as quite a few of the bloggers (including both Monday bloggers, for example) live abroad where the crossword becomes live at feasible hours of the morning and evening.

      Some UK bloggers are good enough to solve and post in the early hours, but of course that is up to the individual.

      One should only really start worrying about the absence of a blog if nothing is up by, say, 12 noon, UK-time.

      1. Thanks for that – I’m fairly new here so still learning the ropes. I wasn’t worried as such, just pleased that my own solve had been so (relatively) quick for once.
  7. 5 mins. Very enjoyable, and it felt slightly harder than today’s main puzzle because of the whimsical cluing. UNCLAD was my LOI after SURREAL.
  8. And here was I thinking that Clement was a reference to the formerMP for Ely, and Grimble author. 🙁 anyway, I finished, slower than usual but nevertheless, I finished so that’s all good. I might try the main one since people see, to think it was easier…
  9. Yes, cricketing terms can be a problem for us non-players and minimal watchers. I eventually got WIDES and thought that 14ac was SLIPS or SPINS something but I was mislead by 7dn which I was convinced was LEFTIE for socialist including FT for Financial Times, although I couldn’t complete the wordplay for pressure which I thought was LEAN making LEFTAN instead of LEFTIE. I guess the point is if it doesn’t fit completely then its probably wrong, as in this case.
  10. The first quick cryptic crossword I have completed since I retired in March and made my first ever attempts! Can I be getting the hang of it?
  11. I am a relative newbie to these and really struggled today. Doesn’t help that my cricketing knowledge is about zero…
  12. I also enjoyed the returning heavyweight – not a bit(e). Allusion to Mike Tyson?
  13. I also had in Leftie for 7d ( Left + FT ) which put me off for a while until I got the answer for 14a through bungles.
    Not being a cricket fan I didn’t realise the term ‘wide’ could be used in the plural.
  14. A middling time for me, but I can’t say I enjoyed it as much as others. Horses for courses.

    Nevertheless, I thought PAGAN was nicely constructed as well as STUMPED, which did just that to me; my LOI.

    Great blog Nick, thanks!

  15. Clement Attlee died on 8th October 1967.
    After WW2 Attlee helped the Dutch regain the territories they had lost to Japan.
    He was known as a lover of cricket.
    Just a coincidence (?)- Monte Attell was world Bantamweight Champion in 1909.
  16. Well I thought this was very difficult for a quickie (thanks Nick for the helpful explanations) but looking at the comments above many seemed to find this ok. Alley for marble, Dutch for wife, attic for Greek and bit for effective were all quite obscure I thought, never mind the multiple references to what is nowadays a minority sport. All fair enough, just rather tricky and not at all quick (for me at least!).

    I had one minor quibble. My OED says Red Top is two words – perhaps other dictionaries are different?

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