Quick Cryptic 2948 by Orpheus

Author   CuraristPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

A clear and straightforward puzzle that comes as a bit of relief from recent blogging challenges and which I polished off in a tad under 5 minutes.

Across
8 Uncle Sam, a graduate touring Morecambe, perhaps (7)
AMERICA – A + MA (graduate) outside ERIC (Morecambe)
9 Rascal, the last to back church body (5)
KNAVE – [BAC]K + NAVE, the main section of a church
10 Young female horse sick in outskirts of Fowey (5)
FILLY – ILL inside F[OWE]Y
11 The last word about the Italian teacher’s first complaint (7)
AILMENT – AMEN (last word) outside IL (‘the’ in Italian) with T for teacher on the end.
12 Residence containing old cylindrical rods (9)
DOWELLING – DWELLING with O inserted
14 Your and my period of time on radio (3)
OUR – sounds like HOUR
16 Supporter of Liverpool primarily, say (3)
LEG – L for Liverpool + E.G. (say)
18 Frightening bird crossing entrance to track (9)
STARTLING – STARLING with T for track inserted
21 Bright red mark from very minor injury? (7)
SCARLET – a ‘scarlet’ is a small scar
22 Exemplary learner follows fashion (5)
MODEL – L for learner on MODE
23 Heading off, tiny child initially sees spectacular chasm (5)
ABYSS – [B]ABY + S[EES] + S[PECTACULAR] +
24 Serious alteration to sneer at (7)
EARNEST – anagram (‘alteration to’) of SNEER AT
Down
1 Plant sadly laid off dozens to begin with (8)
DAFFODIL – anagram (‘sadly’) of LAID OFF + D for DOZEN
2 Cowardly, to cry out in pain (6)
YELLOW – YELL ‘OW’
3 Well-ventilated eagle’s nest, as some would say (4)
AIRY – sounds like EYRIE. Or does it? I always pronounce it like the lake.
4 Setter’s regrettably served up highly seasoned sausage (6)
SALAMI -I’M ALAS backwards. Chestnutty chesty chest nut.
5 Window of no great significance seen around Kentucky (8)
SKYLIGHT – SLIGHT outside KY
6 Look fixedly on old boy going round summerhouse (6)
GAZEBO – GAZE + OB backwards
7 Reportedly transmitted small sum of money (4)
CENT – sounds like SENT
13 Lacking energy and ill-prepared for shopping? (8)
LISTLESS – A prepared shopper always has a list
15 Get a rule prepared to adjust (8)
REGULATE – anagram (‘prepared’) of GET A RULE
17 Name of titled woman in Gilbert and Sullivan originally (6)
GLADYS – LADY inside G&S
19 Choral composition put worker possibly on edge (6)
ANTHEM – ANT (worker) + HEM
20 Popular act? Absolutely (6)
INDEED – IN (popular) + DEED (act)
21 Break cooking vessels when climbing (4)
SNAP – PANS backwards
22 No more than a lake (4)
MERE – double definition. Reminds me of the trick question: how many lakes are there in the Lake District? Answer: one. (All the rest are ‘meres’ or ‘waters’ or ‘tarns’).

83 comments on “Quick Cryptic 2948 by Orpheus”

  1. 9 minutes for this, my best time in 10 puzzles. I’d have been even quicker had I not put STOP at 21dn, a perfectly acceptable alternative answer until the time came to write ABYSS at 23ac.

    I was a little puzzled on two counts by 3dn as my word for eagle’s nest is ‘eyrie’ pronounced ‘eerie’ which even allowing for regional differences etc doesn’t sound remotely like AIRY. But it seems we are yet again in North America where they spell it ‘aerie’ and the aural wordplay would work.

    I assumed SCARLET as ‘mark from a very minor injury’ is a play on words rather than a bona fide meaning, but given our blogger’s field of expertise his comment has me wondering if it actually exists in that sense?

    1. Matched you even to the extent of making the same slip with stop. Agree about airy too – not sure where Kevin comes from but it’s always eerie in the UK I’d suggest. Thanks Orpheus and Curarist!

  2. I think I’d spell the eagle place ‘eyrie’, but I pronounce it ‘airy’, so I had no problem with 3d. 5:53.

    1. Also American but I pronounce “eyrie” as “eerie”. Somebody must pronounce it “airy” but I don’t know them, personally I mean.

  3. Puzzled of Plymouth – where have all the gnarly QCs gone? Jason is playing with our expectations. Next week will be hell…

  4. A nice straight forward puzzle finished in 16.02, thanks Orpheus.

    Liked listless, and scar-let

    Thanks Curarist

  5. A very gently Friday offering with only KNAVE putting up any resistance as I was trying to think of church bodies such as synod, rather than physical parts of a church.
    Started with AMERICA and finished with KNAVE in 5.50.
    Thanks to Curarist and Orpheus.

  6. After a slow start, I breezed through it all until I got to GLADYS – she sent me into the SCC. I was fixated on the Y being the penultimate letter meaning the only word construct I could imagine would be GxxNYM. That was a rabbit hole that would have put even Alice in a bad mood.

    Pi ❤️

  7. 7.28, held up by a string of connected answers at the bottom: GLADYS, ABYSS, EARNEST and ANTHEM. LOI was STARTLING. But all good, thanks Orpheus and Curarist, a good weekend to all.

  8. Steady as she goes from FILLY to AMERICA in 7:25. Thanks Orpheus and Curarist.

  9. A smooth solve in 7:06, but I did share Jack’s puzzlement on how, and by whom, airy and eyrie are pronounced the same. Fortunately Kevin has explained that one! No other hold-ups on this enjoyable and gentle offering.

    Many thanks Curarist for the blog.

        1. How odd, since I as a Londoner (well near enough) have never heard it pronounced any way but ‘eerie’.

      2. eye-ree in Jamaican patois meaning alright, a bit like wagwan meaning where are you going (wa-go-in’).

  10. Indeed a mere model did it for me. 18:45
    Fast up to those last 3
    Thanks Gasman and no looking back Orpheus

  11. All done in 7:10, so the second one in a row that flowed beautifully for me. Liked the punny SCARLET and LISTLESS, both good Dad Joke material.

    Thanks to Orpheus and Curarist.

  12. 5.39

    Also had STOP until it couldn’t be. Liked DAFFODIL.

    Thanks Curarist and Orpheus

  13. Hooray; Orpheus back to being friendly. All good fun; LOI AILMENT. In 1950 there was only DOWEL, wasn’t sure about the LING, but there it now is. Slight doubt about exemplary (adj.) = MODE (noun, surely?), so turn to Curarist for assurance which he doesn’t quite give – but seem to remember that parts of speech are deemed not sacrosanct, so maybe that’s it. Couldn’t find the graduate in AMERICA, ah my problem was these celebrities, always forget it isn’t the town, it’s Eric! Thank you, Orpheus and Curarist.

    1. Exemplary = Model. Fashion = Mode. 👍
      Liked this a lot, but glad my grandmother was Gladys.
      Thanks Jason, Orpheus and he of the Curare.

          1. Yes, it seems he puts more effort into assessing the QC than many of us thought. He deserves thanks in any event, but especially as an offset to those times when we draw into question the QC’s general oversight.

    2. In the 1970s my father would buy a long piece of dowelling from which he would cut dowels.

  14. Also liked the daffodil clue. Had sunspot at 21ac for a while before listless made the improbable impossible. 8:29.

  16. Like Jack, I initially entered “stop” before my SLOI ABYSS alerted me to the error (I concur that the “wrong” answer would work). I was only left with 3 other clues after my first pass. This one should really have been held over till Monday – we shall see what terrors await us then!

    FOI AMERICA
    LOI SNAP
    COD DAFFODIL (made me think of Scunthorpe in today’s news)
    TIME 3:45

  17. 8:03 for the solve. An enjoyable puzzle – some longworded clues yet able to construct anwers without too much difficulty. Only GLADYS holding me up but only pencilled in SCARLET until the checkers confirmed.

    A clean sweep of SCC escapes for the week coming in at 1hr04 which is duffed up by taking eight mins on my final answer yesterday. An enjoyable week of puzzles once I found the mojo again.

    Have a good weekend everybody who isn’t back for Saturday’s puzzle and for those who are, have a good weekend too 👍

    Edit: remiss of me to forget to thank Curarist and Orpheus

  18. Excellent puzzle. Thanks to Orpheus for reading the QC memo and acting on it with style.
    I was quick but I was interrupted by 3 vans with a crew here to replace an ageing glass roof on our ‘mature’ timber conservatory. Didn’t check the time when I stopped.
    I enjoyed it and, like others above, only changed STOP to SNAP when ABYSS dawned on me.
    I hope that next week’s QCs will continue down this week’s enjoyable direction of travel.
    Well done, both.

  19. Didn’t get many across at first, but the downs proved much more approachable and with crossers in I finished in 22:36, pretty average for me.

  20. 09:20. Train solve, done well before Surbiton.

    Held up with POTS/STOP rather than PANS/SNAP. That led to ABYSS being my LOI. And BAY was my first thought for “Morecambe, say”. Although he took his name from his home town, otherwise would have been Bartholomew and Wiseman, which sounds like a solicitors office.

    Liked SCARLET. But didn’t understand the LET business until coming here.

  21. The easiest one for some time as far as I am concerned, finishing in 5.08. Most of the across clues went in on first pass, and I can’t think of anything that held me up unduly. I’m with the ‘eerie’ brigade for the pronunciation of the eagles nest, but in fairness I have heard it pronounced the way the setter intended it to be heard.
    Total time for the week was 49.24 (helped enormously by todays time), giving me a daily average of 9.53, just under schedule.

  22. A lovely end to my solving week. From DAFFODIL to ANTHEM in 5:07. I think I would have matched my PB if I hadn’t bunged in ANTriM instead of ANTHEM in my haste which meant EARNEST took longer than it should. Thanks Curarist

    1. I also tried to find a composition called Antrim…maybe a companion piece to the Londonderry Air?? Or Downtown?

  23. Misdirection 14a timE ON radio.

    13 solved after a dodgy start. I didn’t get any across on the first pass.

    1. So how are you parsing your eon answer? What is “your and my” doing? What is “radio” doing?

  24. A good solid seven on the first pass of acrosses and then better on the downs. Never really stuck but also no true right ins, so a fully absorbing 8.16. Good one!

  25. A lovely QC to round off the week. All done in 13 minutes and all parsed except scarlet (doh!). A MER from me about 3dn but obviously others pronounce the eagle’s nest differently.

    FOI – 8ac AMERICA
    LOI – 16ac LEG (almost overlooked it)
    COD – 13dn LISTLESS

    Thanks to Orpheus and Curarist.

  26. 12:25

    After yesterday’s struggles this was a nice simple puzzle. No real hold ups but failed to parse LOI SALAMI.

    My view on 3dn, airy and eyrie don’t sound remotely similar but the answer was obvious and the OED offers 3 alternative pronunciations in British English.

  27. 4:11

    Very gentle. Another puzzle where most everything slotted in without too much fuss, and all answers were easily understood.

    Many thanks Curarist and Orpheus

  28. 3d Airy, yes I pronounce eyrie like the lake too. So does Wiktionary.
    7d Cent, I wrote Sent then changed my mind and rubbed the S out, replacing with C.
    Joint CODs 13d List-less and 21a scar-let.
    Thanks Curarist and Orpheus in the Underworld.

  29. 5.41 Very straightforward giving my fastest time this year. LOI MERE. Thanks Curarist and Orpheus.

  30. Very friendly of Orpheus to give us a gentle Friday solve. Like others, I had to back out from a hasty Stop at 21d when Abyss came along. Odd how we all went for pots rather than pans.
    My final pair, the Mere Model in the SE, made doubly sure that the fleeting chance of a sub-15 was well and truly missed, but 17mins seems good enough these days. CoD to Listless for the humour, though Startling ran it close. Invariant

  31. Yes, a quick, steady solve after an enjoyable week. FOI DAFFODIL, followed by COD AMERICA. Good old Eric made me smile. (Though am not that happy with MAGA).
    Also liked many others inc KNAVE, FILLY, GLADYS, GAZEBO, OUR. I too put Stop for 21d at first, wondering what kind of Chasm could begin with OT ( Tot without first letter.)
    LOI AILMENT.
    Thanks, Curarist. It seems our cries of woe have been heard!

  32. Off to a terrible start in the NW corner, so I popped down to the SW which improved things considerably, finally finishing in 13:00.

    Thank you for the blog!

  33. Needed three checkers to get DOWELLING but otherwise a canter from DAFFODIL to CENT in 05:10. Elegant work from Orpheus and Curarist, many thanks to both.

  34. Finished correctly in an hour.
    This was easier than yesterday’s puzzle which took much longer.

  35. I also tried to find a composition called Antrim…maybe a companion piece to the Londonderry Air?? Or Downtown?

  36. 12 mins…

    An enjoyable end to the week. Wasn’t the Eyrie (House of Arran) in Game of Thrones pronounced “Airy”. In that regards, I didn’t have an issue.

    For anyone who is interested, or didn’t know, the only lake in the Lake District is Bassenthwaite, just north west of Keswick. Not sure “tarns” technically count as what is defined as a lake in respect of the various waters, meres and Bassenthwaite – but I’m just being pedantic.

    FOI – 2dn “Yellow”
    LOI – 16ac “Leg”
    COD – 2dn “Yellow”

    Thanks as usual!

  37. Nice one Orpheus.
    Only hold ups were LEG before the penny dropped and GLADYS which had to be but seemed a bit imprecise for ‘name’
    COD YELLOW
    Thanks Curarist.

  38. 7:34 for my second fastest time. Nice one. I enjoyed LISTLESS and STARTLING. Thanks Curarist and Orpheus

  40. I’m definitely bucking the trend today, as I really struggled in the later stages. My parsing was fine, but I just could not think of the correct synonyms when needed (e.g. HEM for edge; SCAR for mark; LADY for titled woman; DWELLING for residence; DEED for act; …. the list gies on).

    On a brighter note – I enjoyed LISTLESS.

    Probably 45-50 minutes in total. I’m struggling most days at the moment. Not good!

    Many thanks to Curarist and Orpheus.

  41. Managed to solve todays one, thought don’t know how long. Started it on my laptop, had about 30 minutes solving 3 clues, then when I printed it out, it went quicker. Somehow I find it easier when I’ve printed it out which made me laugh. 😆 Is there any science behind it? First was FILLY, last was MERE, and favourite was LISTLESS, as I often write my list for shopping, but then forget to take it with me! Thank you for the blog

    1. Dear Nevets,
      Just to say that, like you, I do better when and prefer to solve on paper. No idea why, though.

      1. Thought I’d use my laptop for once so I could time it properly. Knew 1d was an anagram of laid off d, but as soon as i had it printed, without writing down the letters, somehow DAFFODIL came to me. Very odd 😆

  42. Gracious! That just wrote itself in with a few pauses to think and appreciate some of the surfaces. That poor dog, after the SALAMI I foresee some bland rice and chicken in its future. It helped that after hanging around here for a while I am wise to Eric Morecambe. And on review I see there were no hiddens or straight cryptics, both are traps for me. The timely DAFFODIL came to mind easily as I’m watching daily for my first YELLOW flower. 8:24, pretty speedy for me, especially on this dull morning.

    Thanks Orpheus and Curarist.

        1. Ernie clued from Wise would be a little too obscure and far too many alternative synonyms – it’s about 40 years since Eric died and they were last performing together. Bit different to the French & Saunders clues we had last summer. Whereas Morecambe really only has two possibilities ERIC or the holiday resort (see Merlin’s comment above).

          We have however had in Oct 2022 … “Fellow that is connected with English navy (5)”
          And in April 2022 … “Boy who picks the winners? (5)” which I will leave you to go investigate as it is very UK-centric …

          1. Thanks for the elucidations and particularly for the ERNIE warning! Wonder if I’ll remember?

  43. Nice, straightforward solve today. Couldn’t parse SCARLET initially but now I sort of get it. Had wrong definition for KNAVE until the K in SKYLIGHT sorted that out. I also pronounce eyrie as eerie but knew what the setter was after. COD to LISTLESS (the old ones are always the best 😆). Thanks Orpheus and Curarist.

  44. 4:42

    AMERICA to SALAMI with the pen scarcely pausing.

    Thanks for a fun Friday Orpheus and Curarist.

  45. This was a very reasonable QC for a Friday. Some like Gladys, knave have been seen before.
    Maybe I could attempt the 15×15 today.

  46. Straightforward. I’ve just read Jason Crampton’s comments on the QC. I respectfully (and for once this word is not intended sarcastically!) agree with them. I am not a crossword beginner, but I greatly enjoy the transparency of (most) of the clues, and no need for a pile of dictionaries and encyclopaedias! I can imagine it is tricky to edit, but it seems to me that this is excellently done. We should be grateful, and be slow to criticise!

  47. 13m until LOI scarlet. Couldn’t see it so tried again after the school run and it worked.
    COD earnest.

  48. 3:52. Solved on a coach trip. Like Busman, all but 3 solved on a first pass. Thank-you ever reliable Orpheus and Curarist.

  49. Fun! True, there were a few chestnuts but it’s so nice not to do 17d in the biggie! I’ve got to say that that is one of the truest clues I’ve ever met 😂😂😂 Have a look if you want a giggle.
    I liked the bijou SCAR-LET, GLADYS and LISTLESS.
    6:48 FOI America LOI Knave (I nearly forgot to go back to it) COD Yellow – yes, we’ve seen similar before but it makes me smile every time!
    Thanks Orpheus and Curarist

  50. 8:30 is still pretty quick for us but it felt like we made hard work of it in places. We’d perhaps have shaved a couple of seconds off if I hadn’t paused to predict that there’d be discussion of AIRY! LOI GLADYS. Thanks, Orpheus and Curarist.

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