Quick Cryptic 25 by Rongo

After finding last week’s crossword (number 20) via the timesonline link, at a little past midnight this morning, I did the old switcheroo with the dates, and finished Rongo’s puzzle in 34 minutes. Good fun, with only one bit of general knowledge unknown to me, but then I only ever get composers of opera from wordplay! I had trouble with the definition at 10dn and 13ac, and was especially stalled by 23ac – my last one in. Clue of the day: 3dn for misdirection.

I plan to follow Ian et al. by including the clues verbatim with the definitions underlined, but have not yet responded to his kind offer of a template. Where I have mentioned definitions they are underlined.

Across
1 CARAPACEprotective casing is A + PACE (speed of running) behind CAR (vehicle). I think I learnt the following trick on this blog, so forgive the plagiarism, but if the clue starts with “A”, it is a good bet that the letter is part of the wordplay (since, if part of the definition, it could be omitted whilst not changing the meaning, making it superfluous/disallowed).
5 HALT – L (line) crossed by HAT (boater, say) gives finish.
8 MANGO – one may find this in a pickle: MAN (fellow) + GO (dynamism).
9 ROSSINI – an anagram of SIR IS NO (indicated by “unfortunately”) for a composer of operas.
11 ASH – AS (equally) + H (hot) = residue from fire.
12 INEBRIATE – some of (hidden in) lET AIR BE NIcotine-filled, after turning is drunk. Both definition and answer should be taken as nouns, as in “drunkard”.
13 SUNBED – cryptic definition, i.e. where you might lie to hide your true colours.
15 BAZAAR – R (resistance) after BAA (sheepish comment) surrounding AZ (Arizona) for foreign market.
18 PARSONAGE – PAGE (errand-boy) with ARSON (crime of burning) inside gives a churchman’s house.
19 BIDoffer = B (British) + ID (identity).
20 REAR END – REA is most of “real” (actual) + REND (tear) gives the bump from behind.
21 ALGAE – even letters from eArLy GrAvEs may be what produce blooms in water.
22 YEAR – YEARn (to long, without the end) is some time.
23 DEFLATED – not entirely sure about the wordplay here. I can see FLAT (airless tyre) in the middle of (interrupting) DEED (action), but don’t understand the definition. Is it another cryptic definition that I’ve missed?

Down
1 COMPASS – COMP (competition) + ASS (fool) is a tool to find one’s bearings.
2 RANCH – RAN (managed) + CH (church) and a large farm.
3 PROFITEROLE – PROFIT (goal for capitalist) + E (European) + ROLE (job). A small sweet, unless served in a gigantic pile, as I prefer.
4 CURFEW – FEW (not many) underneath (supporting) CUR (dog, as in scoundrel) for travel restriction.
6 ALI BABA – A LIB (liberal) + A BA (Bachelor of Arts, an arts graduate) gives you the Arabian hero.
7 TWINEstring from Theory + WIN (success) on E (energy).
10 SURFACE MAIL – SURF (waves) + anagram of CAME (indicated by breaking) + AIL (trouble) for any delivery not sent by air.
14 NIRVANA – the ideal state comes from VAN (covered vehicle) in an anagram of RAIN (indicated by stormy).
16 REDHEAD – RED (revolutionary) + HEAD (leader). I have been to see the embalmed body of Lenin in Red Square, but failed to notice that he had red hair. At the time, his ear had fallen off, so I may have been slightly distracted. Or did the setter mean Red Head?
17 PADDLE – PAD (soft footstep) + anagram of LED (indicated by off), gives to walk in shallow water.
18 PERKY – after PERK (fringe benefit), You’re = cheerful.
19 BEGET – to father is to BEG (request formally) + ET (and in Latin).

20 comments on “Quick Cryptic 25 by Rongo”

  1. 10 minutes – and a lot easier than yesterday’s. Some nice cluing especially 12a.
    The usual expression is “rear end shunt” – I’ve never heard it abbreviated to (presumably) “a rear-end”.
    You may not know Rossini, but you will doubtless have heard his music – his William Tell overture is more better known as the Lone Ranger Theme. Extracts from his other overtures, especially Thieving Magpie and Barber of Seville are often used in adverts, documentaries and films. Oh, and he also invented the Tournedos Rossini.
  2. I’d love to know how one does the “old switcheroo” with the dates. All I’m getting is a completed puzzle no.20.
    1. Today’s is: http://feeds.thetimes.co.uk/timescrossword/20140411/126/

      The date part of the URL needs simple adjusting according to the date. The formula for the puzzle number part is 100 + puzzle number + 1. So next Monday’s (puzzle 26) will be 20140414/127 (after the other stuff).

      Indeed, next Monday’s puzzle is already “up” (plus, presumably, a number afer that). Quite useful for the blogger, is he/she wishes to do a Valerie Singleton…

      Edited at 2014-04-11 07:38 am (UTC)

      1. Thanks Ulaca. Unfortunately the clues come up (with answers) for 25 but no grid. Useful to know anyway.
        1. Got it Ulaca. You have to put a forward slash after the last number. On my computer anyway. Cheers.
      2. Excellent! To do a VS as in here’s one I prepared earlier. Took me a while I’m ashamed to say.
  3. Quick start but got bogged down until I saw CARAPACE, then everything fell into place. Slow time, about 40 minutes. LOI HALT and COD BEGET.
  4. DEFLATED is an all-in-one, or &lit, where the wordplay and literal/definition are one and the same. Lenin was a redhead when he still had some hair!

    Edited at 2014-04-11 06:29 am (UTC)

  5. A nice puzzle that took me several minutes to get started but it fell into place in 15 minutes.

    I’m not overkeen on REAR END as ‘bump from behind’ unless there’s a meaning I’ve not thought of. (Just got it: rear end collision!)

    At 16 the reference to Lenin is wordplay (RED HEAD i.e. head of the Reds) but the other two named are examples of a REDHEAD.

    I hesitate to classify clues like 23 in case it’s sem&lit which I’ve never fully understood.

    Edited at 2014-04-11 06:36 am (UTC)

  6. Rear-end is a verb, in case there’s any doubt, meaning to hit from behind. Very common in Hong Kong…
  7. 4:40 here, nice easy one but with a couple of trickier clues, so ideal for my purposes today. I’m off to Wales with a guy who’s interested in crosswords but has never attempted a cryptic, so I’ve printed it out and we’ll see how he does on the way.
  8. Glorious blog, William, crystal clear.
    20 mins today with only 2 minor bits of Z8ery. I like rear end & parsonage but my COD is algae. I do like getting the indications right – in this case ‘every other letter’.
    Z8 explained that deflated is an ‘an lit’ which I think means that deflated also means ‘like an airless tyre’, as well as flat which fits inside deed.
    I’m rather afraid I’m beginning to get addicted…
  9. Enjoyed this one – good balance of straightforward and trickier clues. Based on last few days, I think the setters are starting to gauge the required degree of difficulty for the Quickie pretty well (given you can’t please all the people all the time).

    Several clues to like. 13ac was amusing, 12ac was a pretty spectacular example of its genre (with reverse pike to add to degree of difficulty) and I thought 16dn was neat.

    Special thanks to Ulaca for re-igniting memories of VS!

    25 minutes with mental dexterity possibly reduced by onset of Friday evening drinks here in Sydney.

    Edited at 2014-04-11 09:41 am (UTC)

    1. ‘Inebriate’ is I think the first hidden I’ve ever failed to get because I couldn’t see it. I spotted it at once but I couldn’t see it – literally – because I’d printed out the puzzle using the print screen function. In order to get it all on one page of A4, I had had to shrink my webpage lettering size (still following? interested?). When I sat down in the local park to do it, I couldn’t make out the numbers at all, and the letters (already blurred because they always are when you print-screen them) were swimming round before me. I kept looking away and coming back to the page to see if that helped get a read on things via ‘instant-focus’, but to no avail. In the end, it was my last in from checking letters.

      Edited at 2014-04-11 10:09 am (UTC)

  10. As of time of writing (10.50am BST) the Quickie is not available online – hit “play” and for some reason I am getting Quickie number 20. This link to a previous offering is a novel variation on a general theme of the current Quickie not being available online (usually it is simply a “page not available” message rather than delivery of an outmoded offering).

    The Quickie is now at the end of it’s 5th week. And still the most fundamental element of the service – viz. availability to all subscribers – is compromised.

    OK, people in this forum have learned how to circumvent the extraordinary incompetence of The Times by using “backdoor” routes in. But, that should (obviously) not be necessary.

    I (maybe naively) assume some Times management people read this site as a means of getting feedback on their service to their customers. Certainly all of the contemporary service based businesses with which I am involved would crave a site like this where informed user feedback was available.

    I’d just like to say to any Times bod who happens to be reading:
    – The Times has, throughout my lifetime, been regarded as one of a handful of UK brands that are synonymous with globally acknowledged excellence (similar to Rolls Royce, Harrods and the National Theatre)
    – Excellent organisations do not have weak spots around minority interests – everything is done to the highest standards. Would Harrods (for example) accept a situation whereby the Food Hall cheerfully said “well, we are not very interested in offal, so there may or may not be kidneys or liver available today”? I think not.

    The service we (as subscribers) are getting from this global brand is, frankly, pathetic. I would expect (and do indeed receive) better from the Somerset County Gazette, which has a faultless online presence in terms of what it does.

    I know this forum is one of the most measured and polite places on the internet (which I love about it) but is it time to at least consider some kind of collective complaint to The Times? The level of incompetence that they are consistently demonstrating would result in massive screaming and demands for immediate improvement in the online business world where I work.

    Edited at 2014-04-11 10:54 am (UTC)

    1. Well said, Nick. The only “British” Global brand I can think of that ranks with the Times for incompetence and inability to react effectively to criticism is the BBC.

      I don’t see your views posted in the Club forum and I wonder if you have access there?

  11. 7 mins, probably the last minute of which was spent on SUNBED. Another QC that does what it says on the tin. At least, it does in the paper version. All of you online solvers who are having so many problems because of the incompetency of The Times have my sympathy.
  12. I haven’t had time to solve the Times Quick cryptic today but thought I would just pop in and say that newcomers to the world of cryptic crosswords will find today’s FT puzzle (available free on line) very user-friendly.
  13. Thank you cryptic sue. The FT slightly restored my self esteem as I could at least get somewhere!

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