Quick Cryptic 3272 by City

Another fine puzzle that seemed to fly by until the last two clues. I was held up by a pesky typo that I couldn’t see for ages, eventually coming in at a disappointing 8 minutes.

Across
1	Fido playing with cat? It’s probably not true (7)
	FACTOID – anagram (‘playing’) of FIDO + CAT. ‘An item of unreliable information that is reported and repeated so often that it becomes accepted as fact’
5	Card game and second card game (4)
	SNAP – S + NAP (also a card game)
7	Queen abandons train tax (6)
	EXCISE – ER taken out of EXERCISE. I have nothing whatsoever against our current Queen Consort, but when someone says ‘the Queen’ I will never not think of Elizabeth II
8	Unexpected answer brought round, using past tense to begin with (6)
	ABRUPT – acronym
9	Mathematical figure finally struck corrupt Nobel title (5,6)
	KLEIN BOTTLE – [~~STRUC~~]K + anagram (‘corrupt’) of NOBEL TITLE. ‘a closed surface with only one side’, cf Möbius Strip.
10	Dog’s underwear (6)
	BOXERS – double definition
12	Stage covered in man-made greenery (6)
	DEGREE – hidden word. This one got me hook line and sinker, my LOI
14	Gardener involved with big cake (11)
	GINGERBREAD – anagram (‘involved’) of GARDENER + BIG
17	First aid welcomed by soldiers (6)
	MAIDEN – AID inside MEN
18	US writer to attempt verse (6)
	POETRY – POE (Edgar Allan) + TRY
20	Misled, losing exterior key? (4)
	ISLE – [M]ISLE[D]
21	Decorum of style — 60 per cent of style (7)
	MODESTY – MODE (style) + STY (60% of STYLE)

Down
1	Puzzle of overturned vote (3)
	FOX – OF backwards + X (vote)
2	Asian since he converted (7)
	CHINESE – anagram (‘converted’) of SINCE HE
3	Canoe tossed around here? (5)
	OCEAN – anagram (‘tossed around’) of CANOE, and an &lit
4	Where sport is played — it might be in a ring (7)
	DIAMOND – double definition. Baseball is played in a diamond.
5	Quarrel about river fish (5)
	SPRAT -SPAT around R
6	Criminal had pen, per arrest (9)
	APPREHEND – anagram (‘criminal’) of HAD PEN PER
9	Weed pronounced not weed (9)
	KNOTGRASS – sounds like ‘not grass’
11	Problem swallowing seabird’s bone (7)
	STERNUM – SUM (problem) around TERN
13	Wow! Mostly birds and horses (3-4)
	GEE-GEES – GEE (wow) + GEE[SE]
15	Reminder of when you would hug me, ultimately (5)
	NUDGE – whatever you call a string of last letters. End-acronym?
16	Attempt to grab wings of pedigree ostrich? (5)
	BIPED – BID outside of P[~~EDIGRE~~]E
19	Fish bar that provides illumination (3)
	RAY – double definition

86 comments on “Quick Cryptic 3272 by City”

Comment Cancel reply