Quick Cryptic 2961 by Pedro

Author   galsprayPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Parksolve time = 39:03, slightly sluggish on both counts.

Thought it was quite a tough offering from Pedro.  The early times on the leaderboard seem to reflect this, although our favourite Hong Kong blogger seems to have swept it aside in a flash.
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(In the clues, definitions are underlined and anagram indicators are in bold italics.  In the explanations (ABC)* indicates an anagram of abc.  Deletions and other devices are indicated accordingly, I hope).
Across
1 Impropriety of only Conservative ideology (8)
SOLECISM – SOLE (only) + C (Conservative) + ISM (ideology)

I knew this word to mean a grammatical error, or a way to describe the sun and the objects that surround it after a few beers.

Apparently it also means a breach of good manners.
5 Footpath legislation backed by King (4)
WALK – WAL [LAW (legislation) reversed (backed)] + K (King)
8 Celebrity acquiring new line and identifier in computer system (8)
FILENAME – FAME (celebrity) “acquiring” (LINE)*
9 I love getting behind British spirit (4)
BRIO – I + O (love) behind BR (British)
11 Hybrid to come out in shade (10)
CROSSHATCH – CROSS (hybrid) + HATCH (come out)
14 The Parisian stifling cry of pain is shifty (6)
LOUCHE – LE [“the” in French (Parisian)] “stifling” OUCH (cry of pain)

“Disreputable or sordid in a rakish or appealing way”.  But enough about our Hong Kong blogger.
15 Rejection of agreement involving province (6)
DENIAL – DEAL (agreement) “involving” NI [province (Northern Ireland)]

Crosswordland’s favourite province.
17 Actor so excited about bet returned for race meeting (5,5)
ROYAL ASCOT – (ACTOR SO)* “about” YAL [LAY (bet) reversed (returned)]

We have our own Ascot Racecourse in Perth.  You don’t see quite as many top hats.
20 Certain contentment after dismissal of plea (4)
SURE – pleaSURE (contentment) after “dismissal” of PLEA
21 Active party member, one welcomed by most of respectful company (8)
POLITICO – I (one) “welcomed by” POLITe [most of polite (respectful)] + CO (company)

Now better known as the on-line political newspaper of the same name.
22 Several deliveries too many? (4)
OVER – Double definition

One of a few cricket terms you’re expected to know around here.  Sorry, that’s just the way it is.  I don’t make the rules.
23 Greatly upset about husband’s sluggishness (8)
LETHARGY – (GREATLY)* “about” H (husband)

Got held up for a while trying to enter my wife’s name, but it has nine letters.
Down
1 Gentle opening to sort of tango (4)
SOFT – S (opening to Sort) + OF + T (tango in the NATO alphabet)
2 Pale, likely to lose heart (4)
LILY – LIkeLY with the middle letters removed (to lose heart)

As an adjective, Chambers has: 1. White.  2. Pale.  So no argument there.
3 He learnt football club sacked defender (6,4)
CENTRE HALF – (HE LEARNT FC)*

Approaching indirect anagram territory here, which is usually a no-no, as you have to derive FC from football club to complete the anagrist.  Not that it’s much of a stretch.
4 Indian delicacy, source of sustenance in Pacific territory (6)
SAMOSA – S [source (first letter) of Sustenance] in SAMOA (Pacific territory.
6 Broadcasts holiday flights from here? (8)
AIRSTRIP – AIRS (broadcasts) + TRIP (holiday)
7 Gap in wood’s incomplete, by the sound of it (8)
KNOTHOLE – Homophone (by the sound of it) for NOT WHOLE (incomplete)
10 That woman from European country imports old footwear treatment (4,6)
SHOE POLISH – SHE (that woman) + POLISH (from European country) “imports” O (old)
12 Outside, and adjusted for scale (8)
ALFRESCO – (FOR SCALE)*
13 What one must do: start to rake in payment in airport shop (4-4)
DUTY-FREE – DUTY (what one must do) + R (start to Rake) in FEE (payment)
16 Remains of burning rock on the beach? (6)
ASHORE – ASH (remains of burning) + ORE (rock)
18 Elevated transport system? One’s unreliable (4)
LIAR – RAIL (transport system) reversed (elevated in a down clue)
19 Diffident about power issue (4)
COPY – COY (diffident) “about” P (power)

I’m not convinced that copy and issue are really synonymous, copy being a single specimen of a book, magazine, etc.  But I’m probably missing the point.

49 comments on “Quick Cryptic 2961 by Pedro”

  1. 20 minutes for me suggests this was not an easy puzzle. My LOI was POLITICO. I hadn’t thought of LOUCHE as ‘shifty’ before but on reflection I think it’s covered.

    It’s useful to know that Chambers has LILY as ‘white/pale’ because Collins is less clear with only ‘lily-white’ in its printed edition and on-line the other entries are all under American English. ODE also only has ‘lily-white’.

    I don’t have a problem with ‘issue / COPY’ as in ‘a back issue / copy of a magazine’.

  2. I biffed CENTRE HALF (inter alia) so didn’t notice any problem, but I don’t think there is one: FC stands for ‘football club’, punkt. If it had been, say, ‘soccer team’, that would have been a problem. 7:40

  3. Some tricky definitions today which always means that it’s going to be a tricky solve for me as someone who is very fond of the BTP style of solving.
    SOLECISM, CROSSHATCH (so not a colour then), FILENAME, COPY and POLITICO all proved particularly stubborn.
    Started with BRIO and finished with LIAR in 12.40.
    Thanks to Galspray for the blog and Pedro for the enjoyable workout.

  4. 5:26, which is about an average time for me. I was surprised to see LOUCHE here as I had used it myself just yesterday possibly for the first time. One or two clues on the tricky side, but none held me up too much. LOI POLITICO for which I needed the checkers. COD to the surface for LETHARGY. I am not permitted to be lethargic. Thanks Pedro and Galspray.

  5. 23:21. Being a Saturday, I gave myself a few minutes over the cut off, to get WALK/ KNOTHOLE. I thought “sounds incomplete” meant HALF, and did not understand that “backing” meant reversal, not just add after.

    Never really knew what SOLECISM meant, and tried gamely to make USERNAME work.

  6. SCC again today 24:03 (so I’d need a sub 15 min parkrun to top Galspray) Louche went in from wordplay and on researching I discovered it’s from the French word meaning squint so the clueing was doubly appropriate. Pleased to write in Brio Over Lily and Walk (had to remember verbs can also be nouns for walk)
    Had a bit of an issue (or didn’t) inserting letters for power into SHY until pdm. Far too long on politico and airstrip. LOL when I got knothole.
    Nice puzzle thanks Pedro and cheers Galspray (what’s the vote btw and why does it only appear in the header?)

    1. “Vote for Pedro, and all your wildest dreams will come true “.

      It’s a Napoleon Dynamite reference which probably won’t have much currency on here.

      A favourite in the Galspray family but I admit I needed to see it through the eyes of my (then) young teen offspring before I “got” it.

      1. Another Napoleon Dynamite aficionado here. Pleased to see Uncle Rico got a juicy role in The White Lotus.

        1. Amazing. My wife is watching White Lotus (I’m not) but at about the time you posted this I walked past and said “Hey, Uncle Rico!”.

          Wanna see me throw a ball over that mountain?

          1. As Napoleon’s brother put it so aptly “That’s what I’m talking about.”

      2. ah yes. Calm silent small moustachioed diversity representative president just who says art doesn’t mirror life.
        Great film and a family fav too…eat your heart out John Travolta (and no vote for Ricky Gervais but he comes a close second)
        Thanks for the reminder

  7. Started well then found the NE difficult. Keep coming back until just knothole, denial and crosshatch remained. With those really odd crossers, was convinced the hybrid was some kind of NHO crysanth… until cross opened it up. 33.12

    COD to ashore, got ash early on but that change in the vowel sound was very tricky especially as ashes was shouting loudly in my head.

    Thanks Pedro and Galspray. Off for our “Park Walk” which also takes around 33 minutes

  8. 9.30

    Not one but two LOLs Mr Galspray. Solar shystem indeed.

    I’m more of a PTB solver but also found this decidedly tricky. Liked it a lot though particularly CROSSHATCH.

    Thanks Pedro and our amusing blogger

  9. Brilliant stuff, much enjoyed – a good 13′ workout.
    Thanks Pedro and galspray – particularly for your alternative def of solecism 🙂

  10. A tough one to end the week, or start the weekend, but instead of getting frustrated I rather enjoyed it. In places it felt like good practice for the 15*15.
    50 minutes for a DNF as I finally thought of NY as a province and quickly bunged in DENYAL and then AIRSTAYS for 6d. Ah well…
    Nice blog Galspry. ‘Solecism’ was very funny.

  11. After a couple of minutes without settling into the puzzle, I girded my loins for the long haul. Apart from FOI, SOFT, and SOLECISM (haha blogger!), the NW stayed stubbornly blank. I worked my way from the NE in a clockwise direction, eventually finishing up in the NW with 2d and 8a spurning my blandishments for a while longer until I took 2 letters from the centre of LIKELY and thought Aha! Then FILENAME came out in the wash and all was well. 14:36. Thanks Pedro and Galspray.

  12. Dnf…

    Certainly not on the right wavelength for this – not helped by putting in “Airports” for 6dn and somehow managing not to see “Centre Half” for defender, even with the funny anagram.

    As someone who does a lot of art, the fact I didn’t see Crosshatch for 11ac was another forehead smack moment.

    FOI – 1dn “Soft”
    LOI – Dnf
    COD – 16dn “Ashore”

    Thanks as usual!

  13. DNF disaster. Way off wavelength. But thanks for blog, Galspray. I had been happy that I’d completed so many crosswords recently but this one was way out of my league.

  14. Slow for me, particularly top half. Had CENTRE HALF in mind for ages but couldn’t parse it. IMHO “fc” is an indirect, however mild, and it got me.
    Incidentally “Lay” for bet as a verb has been seen many times before, but it is the wrong way round. If you go into Ladbrokes and have a fiver on your fancy it is the bookmaker who lays the bet, not you. It means to accept a bet, or bet against something. (You are betting that your horse will win, and the bookmaker is betting that it wont)

  15. Must be a wavelength thing because it went in fast for me: all but two acrosses (FILENAME and CROSSHATCH) at first pass, then all but one down (LOI CENTRE HALF – that was a bit sneaky).

    Excellent dry humour in the blog! I wonder who our defamed Hong Kong blogger is.

    All green (yes I proofread it, too many painful DPSs recently) in 07:02 for a nosebleed on the leaderboard. Many thanks gallers and Pedro.

  16. LHS wasn’t too bad, but after 20mins or so Brio was my only entry over on the RHS, so that rather put paid to the idea of a quick trot through the QC before another stint trying to bash dried Cheshire clay into something that passes for soil. Walk (Rex was off his lead ?) and then CoD Knothole kept me interested until poi Copy (. . .not Shy then) made Politico obvious. Slightly easier than clay bashing, but that’s really not saying much. Invariant

    1. You have my deep, deep sympathies over the clay. Too early for that here, everything still very wet, but I look forward to some joint pain.

  17. DNF, for the third time this week and for my worst week since Saturday puzzles started. A classic breezeblock, as I was going pretty well (albeit with a few biffs, eg FILENAME, put in from just the F checker), all the way to my last two clues, KNOTHOLE and POLITICO. Knothole eventually emerged, but that was it, as Politico simply would not come (-O-I-I-O is perhaps not the most helpful set of checkers from which to start a wordsearch) and after about another 7-8 minutes I threw in the towel.

    Many thanks Galspray for the blog, much needed for several of the clues.

  18. 17m
    No exact time as done in 2 sittings. Centre Half was hard. And putting in center didn’t help my LOI crosshatch.

    COD Ashore.

  19. 18:04

    Not sure why but I found this hard in places – had to look up what diffident meant. Some uncommon words too in SOLECISM (didn’t know that meant impropriety) and POLITICO. Probs should have got the WALK and CENTRE-HALF sooner. Without my notes to remind me, I think I always find Pedro on the tougher side, but IMHO that’s no bad thing.

    Thanks G and P

  20. 15:25. I thought I was making heavy weather of this, so I was surprised to see the Snitch that high. I must have been on the wavelength after all. LOIs POLITICO and the second half of ASHORE. I liked KNOTHOLE and CROSSHATCH.
    Thanks Pedro and thanks galspray for the blog and the one definition of SOLECISM that I will remember

  21. 24:57 for the solve! Had a heads up from friend this was a toughie and as I needed success for 20-in-a-row (median time 14:15, mean 15:42 – just 5 visits to the SCC) I was more determined to finish it than caring about time.

    Have to say I couldn’t have defined SOLECISM, LILY, LOUCHE, CROSSHATCH, POLITICO and combined with some of the clueing e.g. SHOE-POLISH, FILENAME, ROYAL-ASCOT this was a toughie.

    Parksolve coming in at 48+mins but both successfully negotiated. Came home and did some plyo and sprints – vertical jump increased by 2inches / 6cm over the past fortnight.

    Thanks to Galspray and Pedro.

  22. 30:23

    My target is to avoid the SCC, so anything over the half hour mark shows a struggled. Another one who biffed Airports causing no end of delay. NHO KNOTHOLE and didn’t associate LOI LILY with pale.

  23. 13:44. Lucky to see FILENAME and SOLECISM when enough crossers appeared. KNOTHOLE, POLITICO, and CROSSHATCH were favourites.

  24. Overthinking made me think 2d was looking for heartless ‘liable’ (likely), i.e. ‘lile’ which I convinced myself must be a word meaning pale. The solution was of course far simpler – and more sensible. Just under 15 mins but with that one error. A tough challenge but enjoyable enough. Pleased to get knothole and crosshatch – unusual words for a QC.

  25. I found this very hard, almost from the off. A tad over 45 minutes I think, but I count myself fortunate to have finished at all. Virtually nothing came easily. Almost everything had to be ground out. Phew!

    Many thanks to Galspray and Pedro.

    1. Mr Random – did you ever manage the 20-in-a-row? I recall it was one of your goals

      1. Yes I did, thank you. In fact, I think I nearly reached 30 at best. But that was last Spring/Summer – before the QC went awry. I can’t check anymore, however, as I deleted my records spreadsheet in disgust last Autumn and don’t time my attempts properly any more.

        1. Well done. I wasn’t sure if you had or not. It must have been during April as I’ve just noticed I did 20-in-a-row from March 29th to 20th April and you’re a bit more careful than me so and I had some silly DNFs either side.

  26. After a good 4 days last week, I suppose it was inevitable that someone would spoil the QC party – step forward Teazel (Fri – TUSSORE indeed!) and Pedro.
    Some good clues and chewy moments in both but really not QCs for this solver, at least.
    Thanks, galspray.

  27. Pedro had me acutely feeling my newbie foreigner status with this one. It took me 25:20 to carefully dig out CENTRE HALF, ROYAL ASCOT, OVER, and DENIAL. And the rest of the puzzle was by no means simple for me either, although there’s not much excuse for taking so long over ALFRESCO or KNOTHOLE. Really enjoyed this puzzle, many favorites but will award COD to CROSSHATCH.

    Thanks to Pedro and galspray. Very amusing blogging!

  28. Trickiest of the week but, somewhat surprisingly, all correct in reggo ‘one coffee time’ and much enjoyed. Struggled to parse LIAR, took an age to see COPY, and had the wrong definition for LETHARGY for a while. LOI POLITICO. Didn’t know what SOLECISM really meant but ‘knew’ the word. Have now looked it up 😁 COD to CROSSHATCH (oh, that sort of shade). Many thanks galspray and Pedro. Lovely QC.

  29. 16:50 here, held up in both the NW and the SE. SOLECISM turns out to be a word that I knew of without having the faintest idea of its meaning. LOI COPY, after trying all possible ways to put P into SHY.

    Thanks to Pedro and Galspray.

  30. Well, I didn’t think it was THAT tough… agree some hard ones, but overall wasn’t too difficult.
    FOI 1a Solecism
    LOI 15a Denial – unparsed
    COD 7d Knothole – amusement factor!
    Cheers.

  31. 11:36 (Treaty of Durham. King Stephen concedes Carlisle to Scotland)

    No particular hold ups. ASHORE was my LOI.
    COD to KNOTHOLE.

    Thanks Galspray and Pedro

  33. I found this one very difficult. I have eventually finished but I’ve been dipping in on and off all day with a few answers coming each time.
    Thanks Pedro and Galspray

  34. Nice crossword but hardly a QC I thought. There were several clues that were more the sort of thing one sees in a 15×15. 21 minutes, about twice as long as I usually take.

  35. DNF with this one, only solving just over half of the clues, and even when looking at the answers struggled to get some of them backwards. Thank you for explaining the clues 😊

  36. 28.39 I came in late last night and found this very hard. Finished this morning. I never parsed DENIAL. POLITICO and COPY were the last two. CROSSHATCH was nice. Thanks galspray and Pedro.

    1. Thanks for the feedback M. Were you referring to the crossword or the blog?

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