Quick Cryptic 235 by Dazzler

18 comments on “Quick Cryptic 235 by Dazzler”

1. I found this one rather tough, although perhaps that was more my dimness than anything else. I flung in ‘samba’ at 1ac because I couldn’t come up with RUMBA, and wasted time trying (in vain, of course) to justify the SAM. And I thought I saw an anagram in 8d once I had BUSINESS, until the M put paid to that idea. American solvers might not be familiar with ‘make good’=repair. Getting OVERT from ‘covert’ struck me as weak. The setter uses three devices worth keeping in mind, as Mohn notes: at 20ac ‘(not) originally’ (also ‘initially’) to indicate an initial letter; at 22ac ‘extremely’ for 1st and last letters; and at 14ac ‘losing heart’ (more commonly, ‘heartless’) indicating the middle letter(s). So ‘extremely heartless’ could mean EY or HS. 9:20.
2. Running true to my current form I solved all the puzzle bar one answer in 10 minutes and then spent another 4 on that clue alone. The one in question was 8dn and I have no idea why I took so long to see it unless there’s a psychological barrier that causes my mind to go blank as the completed grid approaches. Up to then it had all been good.

   I’m mystified by Kevin’s remark (above) about 20ac being weak. It’s a standard device to clue a word by using another and then indicate removal of a letter to give the answer, so I don’t see how that can be weak. If ‘covert’ had appeared in the clue I’d have agreed but it was clued by ‘concealed’.

   1. What bothered me wasn’t the use of a clue to delete the first letter; absolutely unimpeachable practice, as Jack says. It was that, since the pair are in effect antonyms–and I’d wrongly assumed that they were derived from the same source–it struck me as rather like deleting A from AMORAL to get MORAL, as opposed to, say, deleting the P from PLOVER to get LOVER.
      1. Okay I see your point now, but actually I thought that was a rather clever misdirection, maybe a bit tricky for a Quicky but a device worth learning by those who wish to graduate to the 15×15.

         Edited at 2015-02-02 07:38 am (UTC)

   2. I wonder if the psychological issue is the old maxim ‘more haste, less speed’?
      1. Maybe, and it’s certainly a factor that when I realise I’m within a clue or two of achieving a target my brain often seizes up, but I’d associate ‘more haste less speed’ with carelessness i.e. you make mistakes and have to retrace your steps, which is not usually what happens to me as completion of the grid approaches.
3. Sigh. I ran aground with 14D and 19D. The rest were fine those two defeated me. Feel like a bear of very little brain this morning.
4. Struck me as really hard but then found my time was 14 minutes (= medium) which included falling into the same samba trap as kevingregg above. COD to 1dn for helping me out of the problems in NW. Very enjoyable all round – including some interesting snippets from mohn2.
5. The Crossword Club leaderboard solving times suggest that today’s main cryptic is slightly easier than average and hence may be worth a shot for Quicky solvers. There are a couple of answers that are not everyday vocab but the clues are not overly complex.
6. Agree about today’s main cryptic. I found this quickie about as hard, actually.
   On the subject of capitals, indeed I can’t think of another national capital that begins with I. But there are some state capitals that do(eg Indianapolis) and at least in the main cryptic, a capital need not necessarily be a national one. Might be a bit unfair hereabouts though
   1. Yes – that’s a good point about capitals not necessarily being national ones. There are a couple in India too that begin with I.

      The Islamabad factoid came up when I was trawling through here and fifteensquared to see if/how it had been clued before – apparently the only national capitals with that property are Quito, Ulaanbataar, Islamabad and Zagreb, whose initials spell out QUIZ. Nimrod (aka John Henderson) made use of this in Inquisitor 1234.

7. Enjoyable puzzle which I found at the easier end – apart from 18 ac which still mystifies me!

   COD to INDEED, which I thought was quite fun.

8. I thought this one was easy/medium. I took about 25 minutes, which is close to my record.

   Having said that, I wasn’t sure about OUT OF HAND. I’m relieved to see it was right and I can sort of see it now, although when you dismiss something out of hand I’d have thought that means it doesn’t merit consideration. This may lead to an immediate dismissal but I think it’s stretching it to say it means immediate (and as the blog says, why ‘child’?).

   Thanks for the steers re the main cryptic – will give it a try later.

   1. The dictionaries have “At once, immediately, without premeditation” (Chambers), “without reservation or deeper examination” (Collins), and “Without taking time to think” (Oxford). I myself have always used OUT OF HAND with a sense of something not being worthy of consideration, but the immediacy aspect seems to be present in the dictionaries.
9. Well, I can’t argue with that! Thanks for the references.
10. I agree with being mystified by the child in 18ac, but otherwise a good puzzle. 18 mins.
11. I struggled with this one for a while, getting bogged down half way through. Did something else for a while, came back and then rattled though it. Looking back at the answers, there doesn’t seem to be anything tricky going on, so I’ll put the blip down to a “mid-solve crisis”, luckily quite curable 😊.

    Did wonder, like others, about OUT OF HAND and wondered if there was some sort of biblical reference I was missing (out of the mouth of babes came to mind), but settled on the Collins type definition. Having said that, I also tend to think of the expression as meaning “not being worthy of consideration”, but that would also indicate that it was dismissed quickly, wouldn’t it?

    Edited at 2015-02-02 06:11 pm (UTC)

12. Same as Nigel; a brief interlude cleared away the cognitive cobwebs. My trouble was with SPLIT, OUT OF HAND, and CLOVER.

    Good fun, great blog – thanks for all the asides!

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