Quick Cryptic 21 by Tracy

Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Hooray! The Play button worked* from the dot of midnight and the setter’s name is back! Shame about ‘by by’ though. *On edit: Spoke too soon! See first comments below.

This took me 14 minutes with my last one in at 15dn losing me couple of minutes. I think it’s mostly quite straightforward with no unusual words other than perhaps ‘fedora’, a style of hat that possibly only survives in the ranks and columns of crossword puzzles.

I have included clues with definitions underlined having designed a new template when the matter of showing clues was first raised a couple of weeks ago. Since then there’s been discussion about hiding clues so that they appear at the hover of a mouse and I’ve been working on that too, perhaps for next time, but I thought I’d give this version an outing today to see how it goes down, so please feel free to comment.

On edit: I just visited this blog on my Samsung phone using the LJ mobile phone app and am disappointed to note that my bold formatting and underlinings are not shown. I don’t see any way round this and in any case I suspect the appearance may vary from device to device, so I can really only attempt to cater for how things are displayed when viewed on the internet. It doesn’t look too good in Opera either.

Across

7 Vicar, one entering cathedral (8)
MINISTER – I (one) inside MINSTER (cathedral)
8 Record knock by opener for Essex (4)
TAPE – TAP (knock), Essex
9 Fine English girl’s hat (6)
FEDORA – F(fine), E(English), DORA (girl)
10 Land forces to be led by bishop is bonkers (5)
BARMY – B (bishop), ARMY (land forces). I wondered about the use of the plural in the clue but concluded an army consists of a number of different elements so it’s ok .
11 Mineral spring in southern Pennsylvania (3)
SPA – S (southern), PA (Pennsylvania)
12 String of invectives from traffic island being absorbed (6)
TIRADE – I (island) inside TRADE (traffic)
14 Guide, one written by editor? (6)
LEADER – Double definition
16 Book containing accounts of both sides astride border (6)
LEDGER – EDGE (border) inside LR (both sides, Left and Right)
18 Live on edge (6)
RESIDE – RE (on) SIDE (edge)
19 Crack in a church (3)
ACE – A, CE (church – of England)
20 Ape tragic heroine beginning to cry (5)
MIMIC – MIMI (tragic heroine – of ‘La Bohème’), Cry
21 Fiery pit shown in painting (6)
ARDENT – DEN (pit) inside ART (painting)
23 Depressed wife entertained by university teacher (4)
DOWN – W (wife) inside DON (university teacher)
24 LSD piece somehow blotted out (8)
ECLIPSED – Anagram (indicated by ‘somehow’) of LSD PIECE

Down
1 In crew, I spilled last of the drink (4,4)
RICE WINE – Anagram (indicated by ‘spilled’) of IN CREW I, thE
2 Cover over open-air swimming pool (4)
LIDO – LID (cover), O (over)
3 A kid free from anxiety (2,4)
AT EASE – A,TEASE (kid)
4 Family start to boo during court case (6)
TRIBAL – Boo inside TRIAL (court case). I think ‘family’ has to be read as an adjective here.
5 Film luminary was going about first of remakes (4,4)
STAR WARS – STAR (luminary), then Remakes inside WAS
6 Nimble, agent crossing river (4)
SPRY – R (river) inside SPY (agent)
13 Rum agent stupidly causing row (8)
ARGUMENT – Anagram (indicated by ‘stupidly) of RUM AGENT
15 Threaten to close, wind up (8)
ENDANGER – END (close), ANGER (wind up)
17 Bat‘s clattering noise (6)
RACKET – Double definition
18 Band together once more? No kidding (6)
REALLY – RE- ALLY (once more – band together)
20 Heavenly body, low by noon (4)
MOON – MOO (low), N (noon)
22 Information given by party training (4)
DOPE – DO (party), PE (training)

22 comments on “Quick Cryptic 21 by Tracy”

  1. Just after 5:00 GMT and the Times site is returning “File not found”. Anyone know where it may be?
    1. For info, I have just posted this in the Club general forum:

      The link to the puzzle on the Play button is currently broken YET AGAIN and I offer this experience in the hope that it may help the Times to find out what’s going wrong.

      Because I was due to blog Monday’s Quickie for TftT I was hoping to access the new puzzle as soon as possible after midnight. Shortly before that time I checked to see what was on the Play button and, as expected, it was still linked to Friday’s puzzle #20. At a few seconds past midnight (my computer clock read 00:00) I clicked the button again and was pleased that it went directly to Monday’s puzzle #21 with the url: thetimes.co.uk/timescrossword/20140407/122/.

      So that was all well and good and I acknoweldged the improvement in my comments at TftT, however on returning later this morning my attention was drawn to the link being broken and when I tested the button myself I found it linked to this url: thetimes.co.uk/timescrossword/20140407/123/ – file not found

      I assume you don’t have people hanging around in the middle of the night and changing such things manually so it would appear that something in the program is set to roll over automatically and link a new url to the button each day. My experience leads me to believe that this must be happening in two stages so that on the dot of midnight the correct url is inserted and a little later something else in the program is adding +1 to the last digit of the url so that it stops working correctly.

      I hope this helps you to find the problem and correct it, and might I suggest that in the process it would help to avoid confusion if you bring the puzzle number and url puzzle code into alignment.

      Edited at 2014-04-07 06:00 am (UTC)

      1. You can access the Quicky several days in advance simply by manipulating the URL to point to the future. Though this is another IT oversight to add to the list, it does mean that the opportunity exists to write the blog at one’s leisure. Oddly, the “by by” repetition in the byline doesn’t appear when accessing the puzzle the “correct” way.
      2. Beautifully done, if I may say – and significantly more polite than the salvos I have fired at the “customer feedback” people in recent weeks on the same topic.
  2. Definitely towards the easier end for me at about 20 minutes. All parsed on entry except TIRADE, thanks Jack for the explanation. COD AT EASE and LOI ARDENT.

    Thankfully I solve from the print newspaper so have not been experiencing the problems others have. I am concentrating on the quick and have not been trying the main puzzle. Maybe in a little while….

  3. I also accessed it just after midnight, well about 00:15 or so, and the link was still ok then. Solved in just over 6 mins. I have to take you to task over FEDORA though. It may not be a commonly worn hat any more, but as a word it’s the name of the Linux distribution I’m typing on at the moment (from Red Hat, whose logo is a red fedora).
  4. This would be my preferred format for all blog posts, with the only tweak being that I’d rather the clues weren’t in bold as it makes scanning for the answers slightly less easy.
    1. I agree and will continue with it tomorrow.

      This all went in very quickly for me. Maybe I’m getting better at them. Hope I haven’t spoken too soon 😉

      Thanks for the blog Jack.

    2. Thanks for this. The bold answers are left over from my existing cryptic format but I see your point when the clue is also in bold. It can be easily removed. We’ll see what others think, though you’re the only person to comment so far. I actually prefer this to the hover option as it saves writing definitions in the clue comments unless there’s a particular reason to mention one.
      1. Jack, I prefer yours to the ‘hover’ not least because I have not worked out how to hover on an iPad. Great blog.
  5. Nothing too tricky, but not a complete pushover either – good one, I thought.

    With some trepidation, might I respectfully take issue with our learned blogger’s assessment of the fedora as being consigned to history (other than in crosswords – which probably makes it the headgear equivalent of a beadle).

    Until recently, I regularly sported a fedora as part of my standard winter business attire. This practice only ceased when said item was stolen from a coat stand in a pub in central Sydney, which presumably is testimony to its desirability (to the point where a chap would risk arrest in order to acquire one).

    1. That made me laugh! Do you have a picture of self in ex-hat that you could immortalize here as an alternate avatar?
    2. I could loan you my Akubra, if you wish, Nick! It’s a posh one. It says it’s a “Cattleman” but it’s definitely not of the “The bigger the hat, the smaller the farm” variety.

      Edited at 2014-04-07 03:48 pm (UTC)

  6. I like your format, Jack. It helps me to focus on the definition. I accessed the Quickie through The Times website, as normal, and without problems, but that was at around 1525GMT. I also like the improvements to the page as i was able to type in without worrying if half of my answer was going into squares the other side of the grid. A good time for me today, 14mins, and no dramas. Another good intro into the Wide World of Cryptic Crosswords.
  7. Thanks to all who have commented on the new blog format. In view of the generally positive response I shall continue to use it for future Quickie blogs subject to mohn2’s suggestion that the answers should not be shown in bold.

    I’m not planning to use it for the main Times cryptic as there seems to be no general call for clues to be included there and I don’t want to be out of step with what other bloggers do. I may still think about the hover option for that one at some point.

    Edited at 2014-04-07 11:10 pm (UTC)

    1. Apologies if this is unnecessary interference, but mohn’s suggestion was actually about the clues rather than the answers!
      1. So it was! Thanks for pointing it out. In that case I’m less inclined to agree immediately to the change and I shall give the matter further thought.

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