Quick Cryptic 265 by Joker

Author   mohn2Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic
The Quicky has been going for just over a year now and, though it’s hard to know how many people have been attracted to the crossword world because of it, we’ve definitely seen a dozen or more people become regular commenters on here in this period, which I’m guessing indicates a wider uptake by some multiple in the general population. It’s also been heartening to read not just of solvers’ improvements in coping with the Quicky over the last year, but also of tentative forays into the main cryptic by people who perhaps could not easily have made that leap without the bridge provided by the Quick Cryptic.

I didn’t find this a difficult puzzle, though it took me so long to find the thing in advance in order to write the blog that I may have run out of energy to do the blog justice (Friday’s puzzle had a URL containing the number 896 whereas today’s contained 1222 – that required a lot of URL guessing, I can tell you, not helped by me outsmarting myself in thinking part way through my search that the Times IT department might have wrapped the number round to 000 …) Fans of the genus Juglans may possess a slight advantage over the rest of us.

Definitions are underlined.

Across
1 Grew old and silver before empty end (4)
AGED – AG (silver, i.e. the chemical symbol for silver) + EnD (empty end, i.e. “end” without its middle letter)
4 Pushing down to remove trousers when embracing lust, perhaps (8)
DEBASING – DEBAG (to remove trousers, usually somebody else’s) around (when embracing) SIN (lust, perhaps)
8 School chief needs others for support (8)
HEADREST – HEAD (School chief) + REST (others)
9 One Conservative figure that’s revered (4)
ICON – I (One) + CON (Conservative)
10 A DJ playing English rock (4)
JADE – anagram (playing) of A DJ, + E (English). “Rock” is a slang term for a precious stone (though usually a diamond). A nice clue that took me a while to get.
11 Greatly involved, want to be in store for the future (4-4)
KNEE-DEEP – NEED (want) inside KEEP (store for the future). This answer has appeared on at least seven occasions in various daily cryptic puzzles, each time with the same general wordplay.
12 Allowed Shakespeare’s prince to be very destructive (6)
LETHAL – LET (Allowed) + HAL (Shakespeare’s prince). The future Henry V is referred to as Prince Hal in Henry IV, parts 1 and 2. He is a crossword staple.
14 Weapon returned to obtain some gold, perhaps (6)
NUGGET – reversal (returned) of GUN (Weapon), + GET (to obtain)
16 Plate came mostly to be served up here (5,3)
PLACE MAT – semi-&lit, with the wordplay being an anagram (to be served up) of PLATE CAMe (came mostly, i.e. “came” without its last letter)
18 Stink when classical language gets its first cut (4)
REEK – gREEK (classical language gets its first cut, i.e. “Greek” without its first letter)
19 Drop round for pudding (4)
SAGO – SAG (Drop) + O (round). Short and sweet.
20 Time showering, say, is something the coach provides (8)
TRAINING – T (Time) + RAINING (showering, say)
22 Truly we will, I agree (4,4)
VERY WELL – VERY (Truly) + WE’LL (we will)
23 Carnivore has to run back (4)
WOLF – reversal (back) of FLOW (to run)
Down
2 Terrible danger holding end of wartime bomb (7)
GRENADE – anagram (Terrible) of DANGER, around (holding) E (end of wartime, i.e. the last letter of “wartime”)
3 Avoid Italian magistrate imprisoning daughter (5)
DODGE – DOGE (Italian magistrate) around (imprisoning) D (daughter). If your mental list of Italian magistrates has a length of more than one, then you are probably equipped for some much harder puzzles than this.
4 Proper contest of honour avoided by learner (3)
DUE – DUEl (contest of honour avoided by learner, i.e. “duel” without the L (learner))
5 Tree bought initially by complete enthusiast (9)
BUTTERNUT – B (bought initially, i.e. the first letter of “bought”) + UTTER (complete) + NUT (enthusiast). I can’t say I’d ever heard of this North American walnut tree, though the word itself was familiar from butternut squash.
6 Quiet at home – greatly appreciate a lively party (7)
SHINDIG – SH (Quiet) + IN (at home) + DIG (greatly appreciate). A good surface.
7 Hangman’s rope shortly put over head of executed (5)
NOOSE – reversal (put over) of SOON (shortly), + E (head of executed, i.e. the first letter of “executed”). A smooth surface, but the definition is something of a giveaway.
11 Like metro, travelling some distance (9)
KILOMETRE – anagram (travelling) of LIKE METRO
13 Nut tree starting off a nursery rhyme? (7)
HICKORY – a reference to “Hickory dickory dock, the mouse ran up the clock”, etc. Another North American walnut tree. It’s thought that “Hickory dickory dock” might be an old shepherd’s counting rhyme.
15 Being always superficial, blowing kiss (7)
ETERNAL – ExTERNAL (superficial, blowing kiss, i.e. “external” (superficial) without (blowing) the x (kiss))
17 Rent left, gaining freedom from worries (5)
LEASE – L (left) + EASE (freedom from worries)
18 Replace Descartes, perhaps, with Watt (5)
RENEW – RENE (Descartes, perhaps, i.e. the first name of the philosopher/mathematician of “I think therefore I am”/Cartesian coordinates fame) + W (Watt, i.e. the SI unit of power named after James Watt of steam engine fame)
21 Everyone‘s name, not the initial (3)
ALL – cALL (name, not the initial, i.e. “call” without its first letter)

21 comments on “Quick Cryptic 265 by Joker”

  1. An award for dedication above and beyond the call of duty would be well-deserved, mohn2. Did you find any Times 2 or main puzzles along the way? I think on this basis I shall wait next week until the puzzle appears on Monday morning, rather than try to find it in advance, unless of course like last Monday the URL number happens to follow on in sequence.

    All that aside, I found this straightforward and completed it in 9 minutes. Butternut was unknown to me too, as a tree that is.

    1. The main puzzle was at 1158 and the Times2 at 1162, and finding them gave me confidence that I was on the right track. I suppose I shouldn’t complain too much about having trouble locating the thing, as the bloggers for the main cryptic never get the opportunity to access the puzzle in advance, but it’s a tad frustrating to know that the puzzle is out there – somewhere – with the only thing getting in the way of finding it being a seemingly patternless numbering system.
  2. With reference to the comments in the intro, i think the Quickie as a way into cryptics was a brilliant idea. It, together with the invaluable stuff in these blogs, have enabled me to get my head round cryptic crosswords to the extent that i can now do about half the main puzzles.
    I couldn’t have done it without you all. Keep up the brilliant work
    1. Yes, apart from boredom with Sudoku , the Quickie is the only reason I have had the time to be drawn to cryptic crosswords. This blog has made it possible. My solving time has dropped by about 70 percent since starting, so I’m picking up the skills!

      Edited at 2015-03-16 12:44 pm (UTC)

  3. Today’s main cryptic is on the easy side with lots of gentle wordplay, though there are a few items of general knowledge that might not be known by all.
  4. I thought this more difficult than usual. Without the checkers I doubt if Butternut tree would have occurred and similarly Hickory nut tree. A good 15 plus minutes instead of the usual 10 – 12
    Barry J
  5. Not sure the wordplay at 4 ac quite works, though the answer was obvious – logically should have been ’embracing when lust’ (as sin); strictly no inclusion indicator for ‘as’?
    1. It’s DEBAG around SIN, with “when embracing” as the containment indicator, i.e. there’s no when=as equivalence involved. Your suggested wording would give you DEBAG around AS SIN, which would be a couple of letters too long. Or am I misunderstanding your comment?
  6. I was completely new to crosswords when I tried the quick cryptic sometime before Christmas. Was getting nowhere fast till I stumbled across you guys. Now I am learning the language and can usually finish . Was surprised to notice how often having 3 younger brothers has helped. Think cricket and puns for example. Am now aiming to get to the stage where the element of chance is less important. Got more answers in 5 minutes in yesterday ‘s /Sunday Times than I did in this Quick cryptic.. Couldn’t finish it though and no blog to help with that unresolved sense of frustration. I am sure there are lots of people like me who read this blog fairly regularly but never post. So thanks a lot and please keep going..
    1. Great to have you along, Sally and I’m glad you find the blog so useful. I wish the Quickie (and the blog) had been around 40+ years ago when I was learning the tricks of the trade.
  7. I’d also like to add my thanks for the blog. I had tried but generally failed at cryptic crosswords till the quick cryptic came along. I generally always finish now but the blog is so useful for knowing how you should have arrived at an answer you just knew/guessed. I am determined to get better at the main cryptic so it’s always good when bloggers suggest we give it a try. So thanks for that too.
    1. Welcome, Anon. Don’t be afraid to give yourself a name when posting, or open a free account with Live Journal so you can have a user-pic too.
  8. Made very heavy going of this – agonising over shindig/knee deep and very well/all. Odd how sometimes the hard bits are easy and the easy bits hard!
    The QCs and this blog have definitely helped my understanding of crosswords, to the extent that I actually finished Jumbo 1137 – albeit spread over 3 days – so please keep up the good work. Invariant.

  9. Thanks so much for all the help that the Quick Cryptic crossword blog has given. For years I have been puzzled by cryptics (even with checking the answers the next day), but with the parsing shown I feel I am improving and may one day tackle – and complete (?) – the main “Times” cryptic: a lifelong ambition. Also, I cannot seem to pass the “prove you are human” bit of creating a profile: not in the “Matrix” am I?
  10. Just to add my voice to those thanking first the Times for creating this wonderful daily antidote to the quiet slide into senility. Next of course to the fantastic but often unsung heroes who manage to judge these clues at the right level. Finally to our amazingly dedicated bloggers who provide daily encouragement and help….the weekends now feel empty!
  11. Apologies for my second contribution today but I have just done the main cryptic and can vouch that it is one of the very easy ones. I therefore encourage anyone who is tempted to have a go. At least half the clues and answers are no more difficult than the quickie. The others with two or three exceptions only marginally more difficult. An ideal starter.
    Barry J
  12. I enjoyed this, most of it went it fairly quickly but the last few took a bit of figuring out. LOI was 10a which I finally saw with a big ‘doh’. Didn’t parse 15d but as usual it made complete sense when reading the blog.

    I’m feeling brave so might have a peak at the ‘grown up’ version.

  13. I have only been cryptic crossword for about 2 months so this blog is really helping me especially in this format as it gives the definition before showing the answer. thanks mohn2
  14. Many thanks for all the dedication of the bloggers from a new addict. I read the blogs most days though rarely comment and feel I’m beginning to understand cryptic crosswords. Susie
  15. Another grateful reader who is making steady progress with cryptics thanks to this blog. I rarely finish, but am addicted! Just need to find more time in the day…
  16. I must add my thanks to the bloggers over the last year. You really do help us newbies get to grips with what we need to have a go. Last week I completed 3 of the 5 QC and was frustrated not to have the time to properly work on the others. Sometimes I don’t make much progress at all. But the blog keeps me at it. Some evenings I look at the 15×15 and get some answers, but have a way to go! I do agree with the earlier comment about ’empty weekends’. Thanks again to all and sundry for the explanations and encouragement.

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