Quick Cryptic 225 by Flamande

Author   mohn2Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic
This is the third Flamande that I’ve blogged and it’s similar to the previous two – credible surface readings and nothing requiring a rummage in the obscurity bins, though non-Brits not living in the UK may have a case for pleading ignorance of 5D and 6D, and on reflection I’m not sure if the first definition in 1A is as well-known as perhaps I’d originally thought.

Definitions are underlined.

Finally, an aside for other bloggers – I’ve written a piece of Java code that creates the basic HTML for a Quicky blog, including the clues, clue numbers, and answers. It isn’t the best piece of automation the world has ever seen, but it’s an improvement over having to cut/paste (or write out manually) everything. It doesn’t require a ton of technical knowledge but it might be beyond anyone who doesn’t know how to compile Java code – I’ve written a separate blog post in which I explain how to use it: http://mohn2.livejournal.com/1630.html

Across
1 Australian mate who works the soil? (6)
DIGGER – double definition, the first “an informal Australian term of address”, as per Chambers. This seems to be linked with the slang term for an ANZAC soldier.
4 Name of dog that is following girl (6)
LASSIE – IE (that is, short for id est) following LASS (girl). Lassie was a collie who appeared in various books, films, and TV series.
8 What’s inside will make you happy (7)
CONTENT – double definition, the first a noun and the second an adjective.
10 Card displayed by strumpet (5)
TRUMP – hidden in (displayed by) sTRUMPet
11 Woman mother has to show round (5)
MARIA – MA (mother) + AIR (to show) reversed (round)
12 Managed guerrilla’s farms across the Atlantic (7)
RANCHES – RAN (Managed) + CHES (guerrilla’s, i.e. belonging to Che Guevara). If you encounter a guerrilla or revolutionary in Crosswordland, then it’s likely to be Che.
13 Boy changing name is a heart-throb (6,3)
LADIES MAN – LAD (Boy) + anagram (changing) of NAME IS
17 Son in a stew, finding place with Internet connection (7)
HOTSPOT – S (Son) in HOTPOT (a stew)
19 Mongrel likely to snap? (5)
CROSS – double definition
20 Dance that will inspire some trendies for a start (5)
TWIST – first letters (for a start) of That Will Inspire Some Trendies, for the dance that was popularised by Chubby Checker.
21 New version of book about children (7)
REISSUE – RE (about) + ISSUE (children)
22 Attempt by American writer to produce verse (6)
POETRY – TRY (Attempt) by POE (American writer). Poe was born on this day in 1809.
23 Particular way to deal with three blind mice? (6)
DETAIL – double definition, the second slightly cryptic and a reference to the nursery rhyme in which the farmer’s wife cuts off their tails (i.e. DE–TAILs them) with a carving knife.
Down
1 Leave city in protection of attorney and politician (6)
DECAMP – EC (city, i.e. the postcode for the City of London) inside (in protection of) DA (attorney, i.e. District Attorney) + MP (politician)
2 Everyone was out in this officer’s three-wheeler (7,6)
GENERAL STRIKE – GENERALS (officer’s) + TRIKE (three-wheeler). This relies on the fact that the word “out” can mean “on strike”. There have been any number of general strikes throughout history, though the best known one in the UK is the General Strike of 1926. I liked the wordplay for this one. It was clued similarly in a Guardian puzzle in 2009 via: “Officer’s mode of transport during 1926 crisis”.
3 Stone carved by mere lad (7)
EMERALD – anagram (carved by) of MERE LAD
5 Continue to play a part in area of London (5)
ACTON – if you continue to play a part, then you ACT ON. Acton will be familiar to regular users of London transport as there are 7 railway/Tube stations bearing its name.
6 One thousand gathering round SE resort (8-2-3)
SOUTHEND-ON-SEA – anagram (gathering) of ONE THOUSAND around (round) SE. This had the potential to be more misleading but, coincidentally, Southend actually IS in the south-east of England. It possesses the longest leisure pier in the world – the pier will be 125 years old this coming August.
7 Former model in show (6)
EXPOSE – EX (Former) + POSE (model). We had a similar clue in Quicky 20: “Unmask former partner with model”. Any mention of “model” in a clue should see you considering sit, pose, and T (the latter from the Ford Model T).
9 One persecuting people in the hills of Devon (9)
TORMENTOR – MEN (people) in TOR + TOR (the hills of Devon). This was clued quite similarly, in a qualifier for last year’s Championship, as “Soldiers going between Dartmoor landmarks, a cause of suffering”.
14 Appliance repaired in Cheam (7)
MACHINE – anagram (repaired) of IN CHEAM
15 Say nothing in prison (4,2)
SHUT UP – double definition
16 A rise, too (2,4)
AS WELL – A + SWELL (rise)
18 Great Russian ruler, favourite with our sovereign (5)
PETER – PET (favourite) + ER (our sovereign, i.e. Elizabeth Regina), the definition referring to Peter the Great. Peter’s sweeping reforms included dissuading the growing of beards, via an annual beard tax. A bearded man had to carry a special token to show that he had paid the tax – one side of the token bore the words “The beard is a superfluous burden”. Henry VIII and Elizabeth I (of England) also imposed beard taxes during parts of their reigns.

24 comments on “Quick Cryptic 225 by Flamande”

  1. All went in smoothly for once, although I put in ‘collie’ for LASSIE (association with ‘colleen’, I suppose; or maybe just because of the IE), fixed when I came to 5d. I didn’t know Acton is a part of London, but there had to be such a place somewhere in England, and the wordplay left little room for doubt. I knew ‘tor’ from crossword puzzles, didn’t associate them with Devon until now. Liked 2d. 4:20.
  2. Nice gentle Monday offering, with particularly elegant and entertaining surfaces I thought (particularly liked 9dn, 10ac, 2dn).

    There was a bit of chatter on the Friday blog for the main puzzle regarding the delights (or otherwise) of surfaces. Must say that, for me, they add a huge amount to the overall enjoyment of the whole process. Years ago BBC Radio 4 used to run an annual competition based on “Mini Sagas” (50 word stories with an epic theme). I often think of some of the really good surfaces as “minimalist mini sagas!”

    Thanks to Flamande and mohn

  3. Very straightforward: nice clues, nothing to argue about – especially from someone who was born in 6d.
    Incidentally, I seem to recall that there were a number of Lassies and in reality they were Laddies.
    5:55 – good start to the week.
  5. Re lassie, there have been six so far, and still counting.. I am pleased to say he/she is still going strong.

    Count me as another who is a sucker for a good surface reading. After all, that is where the heart of the setter’s skill lies. The more misleading it is, and the harder to ignore, the better the clue is, mostly

    Thanks for the html, John. I appreciate the thought but with my lack of techy skill, and not using a mac, not to mention only blogging the main cryptics, I would suspect it may be a step too far. I suppose it is too much to ask for some script that would work on any size grid?

    1. My web programming skills are pretty much non-existent, so I’m afraid this is the best I can do for now. This “brute force” approach only works on the Quicky because of the way that the Quicky page is displayed – the main Times cryptic is displayed differently and would require a different technique.

      When I have some spare time, I will investigate further.

  6. Got caught in a quandry between Detail and Retail for 23a – Retail being a “particular way to deal”? I chose poorly!

    Am I mad and the only one to see this?

  7. No you are not mad. I had the same quandary and then I had to persuade my wife that retail and not detail is ” a particular way to deal”
  8. I had the same dilemma but it was the de tailing of the mice that did it for me. In my favourite spectator sport of ice hockey there are three on ice officials who wear striped jerseys. They usually skate onto the ice before the teams to ensure calm prevails. Variously known as a herd of zebras or the stripies. Our pa has been known however to play the song three blind mice at this time when our least favourite zebras appear.
  9. I was somewhat thrown by the reference to Devon in 9 Down. There are other Tors in different parts of the country, I am thinking particularly about Mam Tor which sits above Castleton in the Derbyshire Peak District. Mam Tor has an old iron age settlement near its peak and it translates into Mother Mountain.
    1. Yes, this is an interesting one. I’ve seen tors mentioned in crosswords in the context of the south-west of England enough times that I automatically make the connection. But, looking in the dictionaries, neither Chambers nor Oxford gives this connection, and even Collins only gives the second definition “a prominent rock or heap of rocks, esp on a hill” as “mainly Southwest England”, with the first definition “a high hill, esp a bare rocky one” having no regional reference. Wikipedia muddies the waters further. So I think you may have a point about Devon.
  10. Really enjoyed this one. Not too difficult that it was hard to get started but one or two that had to be thought about. I am a beginner on cryptic and sometimes feel even this easy one is a bit tough at times and get quite disheartened or maybe I am just thick!

    1. As Invariant and others say below, improvement will come partly with practice and partly with reading the blogs for any parsings you’ve missed. The learning curve is steep for beginners because of the sheer quantity of abbreviations, anagram indicators, container indicators, words of “crosswordese”, etc that need to be learned (or at least recognised). Once you’re over that hump, it gets easier!
  11. Amazingly, after two months or so and a few near misses, I have finally managed to break the one hour barrier. Thank you Flamande. 😊 To my anonymous friend above, I can only say ignore the experts’ finishing times and persevere – it does get easier if you read the blog for tips. Invariant
      1. It came up on my (windows) phone as an option as soon as I typed thank you. Doesn’t seem to work on my android tablet though ! Invariant
  12. On the easier side today I thought, but some nice clues nevertheless.

    Re comments above – it took me at least 20 attempts to finish my first QC. Now, after some 60 attempts I am disappointed if I don’t finish but the harder ones can take me an hour or more. (Today was under the half hour so I’m pleased with that.)

    Improvement definitely comes with practice in my experience.

  13. I managed this one in an hour and a half (for me that is fast!) Many thanks to all those who contribute to this forum – I’m learning a lot from you all and thoroughly enjoying cryptic crosswords.
  14. I agree with Nick_the_novice in thinking this was a gentle Monday offering and enjoyable too. Enjoyed DECAMP and DETAIL, but there were more than a few others that brought a smile to my face. Took me a little while to get DECAMP as I started off convincing myself that LA should be in there somewhere along with DA and MP. Thought of DECAMP quite quickly but initially rejected it, until the penny dropped about which city FLAMANDE was thinking about.

    Thanks to mohn for the blog and to Flamande for the puzzle.

  15. Just right. Didnt understand many of the clues on first pass (or managed to come up with different half-explanations) but filled the grid after a short pause.

    Had not heard of DIGGER and found the London area frustratingly hard to come up with, especially given mohns observation regatding its frequency on the ol’ tube map.

    Thanks for the code, mohn. I’ll check it out later but have no doubt it will be an invaluable timesaver.

  16. Didn’t find this one as easy as some seemed to have done, mainly because I couldn’t get 4ac. I was convinced that it would be the name of a dog following a ‘g’ for girl, which left me a bit bamboozled. Kicked myself when I saw the answer – so thanks for the explanation.
    1. In Times puzzles, you will only ever see abbreviations that can be found in a dictionary – as such, you would never see “g” for “girl” because that’s not a recognised abbreviation. Something like “girl’s first” or “girl’s starter” would work, but not just “girl” on its own. Admittedly there are plenty of obscure abbreviations to be found within the pages of Chambers, Collins, etc, and it would require considerable effort to learn them all, but “g” for “girl” is one that you don’t need to worry about!
      1. There is, or was, allegedly a list of single-letter abbreviations permissible in Times crosswords, though I’ve never seen it.
  17. A nice start to the week. I’m another for whom 90 minutes is really good. I agree that ‘good’ surfaces really enhance the puzzle. I recall the 50 word stories and have the books – they are a joy, and I wish the news-writers on the Beeb would take the message to heart – when did we last hear Briton instead of British Man, when the gender was already clear! Lassie LOI and 22a poetry was my favourite to day.

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