Quick Cryptic 322 by Dazzler

Author   nick_the_novicePosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A wee gem, I thought, and a Pangram to boot!

Lots of wit and drollery today, which I always enjoy in a crossword, and some clever clues and nice surfaces. COTD to 4dn, but honorary mentions also for 11dn, 10ac, 3ac and 22dn. Many thanks to Dazzler, our (red) setter!

Definitions underlined, DD = double definition, anagrams indicated by *(–)

Across
1 Dear wife, perhaps, once thoughtful (9)
EXPENSIVE – EX (wife, perhaps, once) + PENSIVE (thoughtful). Cleverly constructed surface with crafty misleading punctuation to throw us off the scent (which, for the benefit of anyone new to Crosswordland, is all part of the game – took me a long time to fathom that out when I first started doing these things!)
6 Task for someone with a lot of patience (3)
JOB – DD – the task and the Biblical sufferer
8 A revolutionary device – whichever way you look at it (7)
ROTATOR – Thing that rotates (revolutionary device) and a palindrome indicated by “whichever way you look at it” – neat clue, I thought
9 The New World overlooked by a married girl (5)
ERICA – AMERICA. The New World without (overlooked by) A + M (married) giving the girl. Quite a tricky one, I thought
10 Cheer runners crossing street in Derbyshire town (12)
CHESTERFIELD – CHE[ST]ER_FIELD. The town of the crooked spire emerging from ST (street) inside (being crossed by) CHEER and FIELD (runners – as in “the field” of runners and riders in a horse race). Great surface
12 Language that’s somewhat absurd, unfortunately (4)
URDU – Hidden (indicated by “somewhat”) in absURD Unfortunately
13 Beer maybe with no head to leak out slowly (4)
OOZE – BOOZE (beer, maybe) without it’s first letter (no head)
17 Sang and let rip – it could be extremely loud (3-9)
EAR SPLITTING – *(SANG LET RIP IT) with “could be” as the anagrind
20 Share with mediocre journalist (5)
WHACK – W (with) + HACK (mediocre journalist), giving fair share / fair whack
21 Don’t consume so much – it’s futile (7)
USELESS – USE LESS (don’t consume so much). Nice jokey wordplay
23 Vegetable they finally selected in the morning (3)
YAM – Y (theY finally) + AM (in the morning)
24 Dog looking so embarrassed by me? (3,6)
RED SETTER – RED (looking so embarrassed) + our tormentor today, who is clearly a bit of a hound… (sorry about that folks)
Down
1 Make first of episodes appear rather novel (4)
EARN – Answer (as in “how much does he make?”) derived from first letters of Episodes Appear Rather Novel. Some clever deception going on here, I thought, with various potential anagrinds to throw us off the scent
2 Baseball player that can hold his drink? (7)
PITCHER – Another piece of jokey clueing based on a pitcher also being a container for drink
3 Catch insects regularly (3)
NET – Every other letter (regularly) of iNsEcTs
4 Country is supported by king after uprising (6)
ISRAEL – IS “supported by” LEAR reversed (king after uprising). Lovely clue
5 One order in forty seen out of order (4,5)
EYES FRONT – *(FORTY SEEN) with “out of order” as the anagrind. The “order” being as barked by the sergeant major to prevent an unseemly pile up after an “eyes left” or “eyes right”…
6 Drink something very cold at end of hot month? Not half! (5)
JUICE – JU (half a hot month – June or July, take your pick) + ICE (something very cold). June and July are, of course, the coldest months here in Sydney but hey – this is the London Times so fair enough!
7 Spirit – type unknown? (6)
BRANDY – BRAND (type) + Y (unknown – as in algebraic convention)
11 Someone prodding boss in card game (4,5)
STUD POKER – A “Boss” can mean a stud (e.g. shirt stud), so someone prodding a boss could be said to be a stud poker. Very droll, great clue
14 Most bizarre enthusiasm about a new island (7)
ZANIEST – Z[ANI]EST. ZEST (enthusiasm) goes around (about) A + N (new) + I (island)
15 River in Kent or sea lane (6)
MEDWAY – MED (sea) + WAY (lane), giving us the river that separates the Men (and Maids) of Kent from the Kentish Men (and Maids)
16 Fifty-one pounds held in cash (6)
LIQUID – LI (fifty one in Roman numerals) + QUID (pounds) giving us liquid assets (cash)
18 Mahler composed, not Handel, primarily in this kingdom (5)
REALM – *(MAHLER) with “composed” as the anagrind – Gustav loses his H (not Handel, primarily)
19 Son breaking sailor’s old ruler (4)
TSAR – S (son) inside TAR (sailor) for the former Russian royal
22 On radio second person is a wool producer (3)
EWE – Homophone (signalled by “On radio”) with second person being YOU. Another amusing clue

10 comments on “Quick Cryptic 322 by Dazzler”

  1. I had no idea, of course, where CHESTERFIELD is, and it took me a while to think of FIELD=’runners’. Similarly ignorant of the location of the MEDWAY, but remembered the name after a while. On the other hand, ‘boss’ provoked a Pavlovian response of STUD, having been conditioned over the years by the 15x15s. COD to ERICA, although vinyl has a point. Nick, you’ve got a typo at 13ac (leek). 7:10.
  2. A little more tricky than the last couple of Quickies taking me over my target by some way to 16 minutes.
  3. A first for me. With 3 clues to go in the SE I could see most of the alphabet had been used but no Q which then got me LIQUID, USELESS & TSAR.

    Good puzzle with EXPENSIVE my favourite.

  4. My luck with chesterfield set me up for a quick for me canter through this one – just a few seconds over 10 minutes. Anything that might have been tricky was ameliorated by checkers – I suspect I was just lucky (again) in the order in which I attacked the clues.
  5. Found this easier than yesterday (no flora involved which always helps), but it still had me scratching my head in places. Nearly put Evita in for 9a, but I saw the light just in time. LOI was 20a because I couldn’t see what whack had to do with share, but it couldn’t really be anything else from the checkers, so thanks for the explanation Nick. COD for me was either 1a or 10a
  6. A bit harder today, I thought. 9:33 for me so just under my 10 minute target. With the J at 6ac, once I got 14d I realised we were heading for a pangram, which helped. A couple made me stop and think – 9a was LOI for me. I enjoyed the boozy theme – which reminds me : I must rack off my St Peters cream stout brew today, but it will be a couple of weeks before it will be ready to fill a pitcher.
  7. After struggling with the last couple of offerings from Dazzler, I seem to be getting to grips with his style. Didn’t find this one too bad, being an average 1hr solve for me. 5d is my pick from several CoD contenders. Invariant ps: Nice to see AM can be used for morning. . .
  8. I found this relatively easy and most enjoyable starting at the bottom with Red Setter and working up and my last in was 9a.
    I had a quick mental trip around Derbyshire starting at Buxton via Matlock and then … Macclesfield, which quite quickly was proved wrong. David

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