Quick Cryptic 215 by Pedro

Author   mohn2Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic
This is my first crossword blog of 2015 and the Quick Cryptic gods have seen fit to give me Pedro’s fourth offering to get my teeth into. There’s nothing particularly obscure here, though the first definition in 2D might not be in everyone’s vocab and the construction at 20A is a little more complicated than most of the other clues. Otherwise a straightforward puzzle. Best wishes to all for the New Year!

Definitions are underlined.

Across
1 Fish-eating bird? Left one tucking into nut (7)
PELICAN – L (Left) + I (one), all inside (tucking into) PECAN (nut). We last saw a pelican in these parts on Boxing Day – by “in these parts”, I’m referring to Quickyville in Crosswordland, not Northallerton, I hasten to add.
5 Quiet piece of legislation to secure treaty (4)
PACT – P (Quiet) + ACT (piece of legislation). The “to secure” here is simply a linking phrase.
7 Majestic new composition of Elgar (5)
REGAL – anagram (new composition) of ELGAR. Nice surface. Anyone tempted by lager or large?
8 Observed most of study collapsing? Remains in workshop (7)
SAWDUST – SAW (Observed) + anagram (collapsing) of STUDy (most of study, i.e. the letters of study except for the last one)
10 Still one escapes Himalayan monster (3)
YET – YETi (Himalayan monster) without the I (one escapes)
11 Recipient of your cross decisions? (6-3)
BALLOT-BOX – cryptic definition, referring to voters putting an X (cross) next to the candidate of their choice in an election. The surface is intended to make you think of decisions made in anger – a situation which could actually also arise in the polling booth.
13 Customary to see no Royal Marine with a student (6)
NORMAL – NO + RM (Royal Marine) + A + L (student, i.e. learner driver)
14 Scandinavian girl, maybe, to help securing half of street (6)
ASTRID – AID (to help) around (securing) STReet (half of street, i.e. only the first 3 letters of street). Not the commonest name you’re likely to encounter in a crossword, and I’m struggling to find any famous Astrids besides Astrid Lindgren, author of the Pippi Longstocking books (though I can’t say I was familiar with her or her work, even if the character’s name rang a bell), and Astrid of Sweden, wife of King Leopold III of Belgium.
17 I’ve e.g. room designed for film fan (9)
MOVIEGOER – anagram (designed) of IVE EG ROOM
19 Knight in commotion missing entrance to tent (3)
SIR – StIR (commotion) without the T (missing entrance to tent, i.e. missing the first letter of tent)
20 Clock face twisted, split by gun thrown without much energy (7)
LANGUID – reversal (twisted) of DIAL (Clock face) around (split by) anagram (thrown) of GUN. Quite a complex construction.
22 A political party member, one making excuse (5)
ALIBI – A + LIB (political party member, i.e. Liberal) + I
23 Simple area of water (4)
MERE – double definition, the second perhaps most commonly encountered in lake names such as Windermere, Buttermere, Grasmere, etc. Wikipedia says that a mere is a lake that is broad in relation to its depth – the root seems to be the same as for the Latin mare (sea), thence mer (French) and mar (Spanish). Wikipedia also tells me that Windermere isn’t actually a proper mere, however let’s not get into that kind of thermocline-related malarkey.
24 Sick person? Clear one should be kept in (7)
PATIENT – I (one) inside (should be kept in) PATENT (Clear)
Down
1 Role – mainly getting drunk – absorbing a person seeking a good time? (5,6)
PARTY ANIMAL – PART (Role) + anagram (getting drunk) of MAINLY around (absorbing) A
2 Ship with less cargo? (7)
LIGHTER – double definition, the first appearing in Chambers as “A large open boat used in unloading and loading ships”. I’ve seen this a few times in crosswords described as a barge (indeed, “a lighter” is the second definition of barge in Chambers), to the point where if I see barge or lighter in a clue then I will automatically think of the other.
3 Commemorate Beetle (car that’s reinvented) (9)
CELEBRATE – anagram (that’s reinvented) of BEETLE CAR
4 Sit comfortably – some honest leisure (6)
NESTLE – hidden (some) in hoNEST LEisure. This is today’s sponsored clue, brought to you by the Swiss food and drink multinational that is somehow not in breach of the Trade Descriptions Act when it proclaims on its UK website that it is “the world’s leading nutrition, health and wellness company”.
5 Man on board getting cut hand (3)
PAW – PAWn (Man on board, i.e. a chess piece) without its last letter (getting cut)
6 Starts in college bar, swallowing liquor, getting small amount of comfort? (5)
CRUMB – CB (Starts in college bar, i.e. initial letters of college bar) around (swallowing) RUM (liquor). I was expecting to find “crumb(s) of comfort” as a phrase in the dictionaries but it doesn’t appear to be in the usual suspects, except as example usage of the “a very small amount of something” definition of crumb.
9 One stuffs cab with 500 working timers (11)
TAXIDERMIST – TAXI (cab) + D (500, i.e. the Roman numeral for 500) + anagram (working) of TIMERS. A well-hidden definition and a good surface to boot (assuming you think of a timer salesman without his own transport).
12 Inclined to notice former public schoolboy and valet? (9)
OBSERVANT – OB (former public schoolboy, i.e. old boy) + SERVANT (valet?)
15 Absence of stress regarding nastiness (7)
RESPITE – RE (regarding) + SPITE (nastiness)
16 Delay robbery (4-2)
HOLD-UP – double definition
18 Planet mostly seen over Earth’s initial location (5)
VENUE – VENUs (Planet mostly seen, i.e. Venus without its last letter) + E (Earth’s initial, i.e. the initial letter of Earth). Interestingly (?), Venus is the hottest planet in the Solar System, its dense atmosphere ensuring a surface temperature higher than Mercury’s, even though Venus is in general about twice as far from the Sun as Mercury is.
21 Employ our team before end of game? (3)
USE – US (our team) + E (end of game, i.e. the last letter of game)

25 comments on “Quick Cryptic 215 by Pedro”

  2. 4′ to the second, a pb, and one I doubt I’ll surpass; which suggests that this was a fairly easy one. The only Astrid I know of is Astrid Gilberto, of ‘The Girl from Ipanema’ fame, and now, having double-checked, I realize for the first time that her name is Astrud. But what the hell, it helped me solve the clue.
    1. The author Astrid Lindgren (of Pippi Longstocking fame) is the most famous Astrid I know and she is Scandinavian but I was thinking it would be Ingrid for a while until the crossers made it clear it wasn’t.
      1. Now of course if it was Astrud we would surely all think of the girl from ipanema, oh well.
  3. Quite straightforward, but elegant, with BALLOT-BOX the pick for me.

    Anyone looking for a stiffer challenge might like to try Nutmeg’s Quiptic in the Guardian or the main puzzle in today’s Times. Neither too difficult, with the former tougher than the latter.

  4. Yep, perfect one for those truly new to the dark art. Enjoyable puzzle. Agree with Ulaca re. BALLOT-BOX.

    Happy New Year to you too, Mohn

    1. I also agree that Ballot Box was my COD. I tend to do the Graun in the evening – nutmeg isn’t my favourite setter though…I might give the main times another try today, although that rather depends how work goes…
  5. Everything fell into place nicely except 15dn. Just a niggle really as the word play makes ‘respite’ obvious but the definition seems not to imply the short term nature of the delay.
    Niggle aside, an enjoyable start to the week.
  6. Straightforward and a good time – 23 minutes (for me anyway). Not sure that an alibi is always an excuse but otherwise fine. Thanks for the informative blog.
    1. You are quite right, an alibi is never an excuse, but something quite different. I’m not sure whether the setter is deliberately trying to misdirect or not.
    2. You’re right about ‘alibi’ not always being the same as ‘excuse’ but informally the two can be synonymous on occasion which is okay for crossword purposes especially when listed by all the usual sources (Collins, the Oxfords and Chambers).
  7. Anyone who found this straightforward might care to try the main cryptic today, which is also on the easy side
    My neighbour and local GP is called Astrid
    1. Following your advice I completed all the main cryptic bar two answers, much to my surprise. I understand it was an easy one but it shows that practising the quick ones does help (as do the blogs)

  9. Sorry for the earlier post rather than comment – my livejournal app has moved all the buttons around!

    Nice bit of morning fun with nothing to hold me up too long. COD to TAXIDERMIST, quite misleading!

  10. I also struggled with 15d, mainly because I was unsure of 19ac. I don’t know why, but I often find the 3 letter answers harder than their longer cousins – 5d only went in by process of elimination. COD was definitely Ballot Box. Invariant
    1. I thought I would reply to this since I am exactly the opposite.. many experienced setters often use the 4 and (especially) 3 letter clues as a way in to a crossword. For example if you look at today’s main cryptic, both the 3 letter words should be a write-in (provided you remember that a religious scholar is a doctor of divinity) and both the 4 letter clues are quite straightforward too… look at the blog if you don’t get them
      So my advice would be to look at very short words in a different light, they can be your friends!
  11. No monkey business in this straight forward offering . Im trying to think of Del boys line regarding “pedro”..?
  12. This flowed nicely. Just under the half hour – a good time for me. I’ll have a go at the main crossword later, although I don’t hold out great hopes!
  13. Quick cryptics are easier (and smaller) than the main cryptic on average, but a good half of the clues in a typical quick cryptic would not be at all out of place in the main crossword.

    It is all a question of degree. Never set up artificial barriers that say “Ooh, I’m not good enough for this or that crossword, I’m only an easy crossword person…” or whatever. Just have a go, and if you don’t get everything have a look at the blog and understand what you missed; and you will do a bit better next time.

    Life is all about gradually improving and breaking new ground.

    [ends pompous diatribe]

  14. The most straightforward puzzle for quite a while, with most of the answers going in on the first pass and the rest following quite comfortably. As with others, enjoyed the solve and my COD was also BALLOT BOX.

    Couldn’t quite understand why OB should be specified as ex public school. I thought an OB would apply generally to an old pupil (male I presume) irrespective of whether it was a public school or not. That’s without throwing in the complication of what a public school over the pond might be….

    1. Yes, I also had the same thought re. OB, but concluded it was probably within the realms of latitude enjoyed by setters to get a slightly better surface.

      I seem to recall several rugby (possibly also football) clubs – particularly in Scotland – being called XXX FP (former pupils). Have not seen FP cropping up in crosswords, but maybe that is due to there not being many words around that include FP in sequence!

  15. It might have been an easier one, but at least I managed to finish it – after a long run of DNFs. Only two Costa’s today, so encouraging! This blog really helps us newbies, so thx to all.

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