Quick Cryptic 3113 by Jalna

Author   BletchleyRejectPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

I thought this was a medium level difficulty puzzle from Jalna today.

I took a while to get going but then the answers went in steadily. A few queries as shown in the blog which hopefully will be clarified in the comments – thanks in advance. Cryptic defs, rather than hiddens, are usually my Achilles heel, but 22a could have elements of both. All finished in 11:48

Thanks to Jalna

Definitions underlined in bold , deletions and letters in wordplay not appearing in answer indicated by strikethrough.

Across
1 Package somehow goes around seemingly forever (4)
AGES – Hidden (‘goes around'(?)) in ‘PackAGE Somehow’

As in “It took ages / seemingly forever to finish this puzzle.”

The usual 1 across hoodoo, just like yesterday’s; took me, well, not quite AGES to get this as the hidden indicator seems to be hidden as well. It must be ‘goes around’ but I don’t recall having seen this before; someone will probably give several recent examples.
4 Boy, it’s, er, crazy being off the booze (8)
SOBRIETY – Anagram (‘crazy’) of BOY ITS ER

Amusing surface. My COD

Edit: Thanks to Too often Lost and Paul below. I think it works better, to match the part of speech, with ‘being off the booze’ as the def.
8 Good-looking workers love me! (8)
HANDSOME – HANDS (‘workers’) O (‘love’) ME (‘me’)
9 Article primarily mentioning those people (4)
THEM – THE (‘Article’) Mentioning (‘primarily mentioning’)
10 Arranges group drink (4,2)
SETS UP– SET (‘group’) SUP (‘drink’)
11 Awful Conservative beginning to take lead (6)
DIRECT – DIRE (‘Awful’) C (‘Conservative’) Take (‘beginning to take’)
12 Arrogant and shallow, needed to change (7-6)
SWOLLEN-HEADED – Anagram (‘to change’) of SHALLOW NEEDED
16 Sparkling wine’s found around the middle of Neive, currently (2,2,2)
AS IT IS – ASTI (‘Sparkling wine’) S (”s’) containing (‘around’) NeIve (‘the middle of Neive’)

I admit I’d never heard of it, but Neive is a well-known Italian village in the Piedmont region, famous for its architecture and as a centre of wine production, including Moscato d’Asti, so making sense of the surface.
17 A gun for each person (6)
APIECE – A (‘A’) PIECE (‘gun’)

PIECE for ‘gun’ seems to be something you hear more often in American police shows and Oxford Dictionaries Online confirms this, noting it as “INFORMAL mainly North American English“
19 Government levy attached to one hire vehicle (4)
TAXI – TAX (‘Government levy’) then (‘attached to’) I (‘one’)
20 Threaten complete fury (8)
 ENDANGER– END (‘complete’) ANGER (‘fury’)
21 Stood by, we’re told, carrying loads? (8)
WEIGHTED – Aural wordplay (‘we’re told’) of WAITED (‘Stood by’)
22 In part, you’re talking about holding everyone up, maybe? (4)
 LATE – Reverse hidden (‘in part…about’) in (‘you’rE TALking’)

I couldn’t convince myself of the parsing of this one. I initially called it a cryptic def, with the surface reading suggesting everyone being delayed or LATE, but the ‘In part’ bit doesn’t really work for this. In the end, I decided on having just ‘holding everyone up, maybe?’ as the def. Maybe (I’m missing something!).
Down
2 Goodwill shown by good people (5)
 GRACE – G (‘Good’) RACE (‘people’)
3 Players leaving? That’s hilarious (4-9)
 SIDE-SPLITTING – SIDE ‘(‘Players’) SPLITTING (‘leaving?’)

My FOI, probably because SPLITTING appeared in a similar sense in a 15×15 appearing very recently.
4 Amount of ice cream possibly in small shop (5)
SCOOP –S (‘Small’) COOP (‘shop’)

COOP for “co-op”, either an informal term for an often local shop or business, or in the UK, “Co-op” as a supermarket chain with branches or ‘shop(s)’.
5 Money reduced the range (7)
BREADTH – BREAD (‘Money’) THe (‘reduced the’)

My LOI. According to the OED, BREAD as an informal term for ‘money’ originated in the US, with the first quotation from 1935.
6 Match between countries is not a triennial, strangely (13)
INTERNATIONAL – Anagram (‘strangely’) of NOT A TRIENNIAL
7 Golden syrup topping for tasty new cereal (7)
TREACLE – Tasty (‘topping for tasty’) then anagram (‘new’) of CEREAL
10 Member of family is upset with son (3)
SIS – Reversal (‘upset’) of IS then S (‘son’)
13 Loss of assets regularly hidden by regular payment (7)
WASTAGE –AsSeTs (‘loss of assets regularly’) contained in (‘hidden by’) WAGE (‘regular payment’)
14 Each short afternoon nap is most convenient (7)
EASIEST – EA (‘Each’) SIESTa (‘short afternoon nap’)
15 Stain interior of shed yearly (3)
DYE -Hidden in (‘interior of’) sheD YEearly

This and 13d above are more like the hiddens we’ve come to know and love.
17 Extra publicity ultimately pleased the board (5)
ADDED – AD (‘publicity’) pleaseD thE boarD (‘ultimately pleased the board’

There’s no such thing as bad publicity? I don’t know about that.
18 Top clubs, ahead of all others (5)
CREST – C (‘clubs’) in front of (‘ahead of’) REST (‘all others’)

65 comments on “Quick Cryptic 3113 by Jalna”

  1. 19:03

    Spent the last 5 mins on LATE which I guessed in the end and LOI WEIGHTED.

  2. Lovely puzzle, definitely on the easier side after a hard Monday. Didn’t parse late but got the rest.

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