Quick Cryptic 345 by Tracy

Author   mohn2Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic
An offering from Tracy today that is pitched squarely in the middle of the difficulty spectrum. I’m guessing that 10A might be the only clue that causes any head-scratching. Anyone celebrating National Fried Chicken Day in the US should feel free to let us know in the comments – I will understand if you choose to adopt a pseudonym.

The puzzle can be found here if the usual channels aren’t available: http://feeds.thetimes.co.uk/timescrossword/20150706/7353/

Definitions are underlined.

Across
1 Specially-trained animal given signal to enter tangled gorse (6,3)
RESCUE DOG – CUED (given signal) inside anagram of (tangled) GORSE. I think I’m more used to hearing this phrase in the context of an animal that has been rehomed due to an abusive/incompetent/dead owner, but Collins supports both definitions.
6 Type of lettuce company sold, initially (3)
COS – CO (company) + S (sold, initially, i.e. the first letter of “sold”)
8 Rough terrain for a coach (7)
TRAINER – anagram of (Rough) TERRAIN
9 Ready to drop everything at work? (3,2)
ALL IN – ALL (everything) + IN (at work?). We tend to get the “at home” version of “in” a lot in Crosswordland, but it can also mean at work. Chambers: “At home or at one’s place of business”
10 Hypocritical show of affection from press, nothing more (8,4)
CUPBOARD LOVE – CUPBOARD (press) + LOVE (nothing). Though I’d heard of this phrase, I’m not sure I’d ever thought about what it actually meant. The required meaning of “press” is not one I’ve encountered often.
12 The man is taken in by right-wing supposition (6)
THEORY – HE (The man) inside TORY (right-wing)
13 Pair left in two-door car (6)
COUPLE – L (left) in COUPE (two-door car)
16 C-cornet damaged? £1000 for piano (7,5)
CONCERT GRAND – anagram of (damaged) C–CORNET, + GRAND (£1000). I’m not sure whether the surface is suggesting someone stammering at the thought of their instrument being damaged, or a reference to a C-cornet (Google tells me that a C cornet is a thing).
19 Scottish estate owner in place of seclusion with duke (5)
LAIRD – LAIR (place of seclusion) + D (duke)
20 Item taken from lorry, extremely large (7)
ARTICLE – ARTIC (lorry) + LE (extremely large, i.e. the outermost letters of “large”)
22 Expected of the French facing English (3)
DUE – DU (of the French, i.e. one of the French expressions for “of the”) + E (English)
23 Meat dish – best fare, possibly including duck (5,4)
ROAST BEEF – anagram of (possibly) BEST FARE, around O (duck)
Down
1 Assess speed (4)
RATE – double definition
2 Law in country restricting trade union (7)
STATUTE – STATE (country) around TU (trade union)
3 What may be kept by mourner? (3)
URN – hidden in (kept by) moURNer. Semi-&lit
4 Diamonds from a city, a city in South Africa (6)
DURBAN – D (Diamonds) + URBAN (from a city), for the city on the east coast of South Africa. Twinned with Leeds.
5 Excellent time to go on our extended sightseeing trip (5,4)
GRAND TOUR – GRAND (Excellent) + T (time) + OUR
6 In small room, old musical instrument (5)
CELLO – CELL (small room) + O (old)
7 Seeing that note above board (7)
SINCERE – SINCE (Seeing that) + RE (note)
11 Bank on young local worker (9)
BARTENDER – BAR (Bank) + TENDER (young)
12 Took on equipment heading for Dover (7)
TACKLED – TACKLE (equipment) + D (heading for Dover, i.e. the first letter of “Dover”)
14 Criticise a revolutionary’s swagger (7)
PANACHE – PAN (Criticise) + A + CHE (revolutionary)
15 Ring a Scottish engineer up in capital (6)
OTTAWA – O (Ring) + reversal of (up) A + WATT (Scottish engineer), for the capital of Canada, situated in the south-east of the country
17 Sound of hooter around one (5)
NOISE – NOSE (hooter) around I (one)
18 Ale drunk shown on following page (4)
LEAF – anagram of (drunk) ALE, + F (following)
21 Nip, or nipper? (3)
TOT – double definition, the first referring to a small drink and the second to a small human

13 comments on “Quick Cryptic 345 by Tracy”

  1. Another one where I ran through the acrosses and the downs with little to show for it the first time. I was sure enough that 1ac was X DOG, but ‘guide’ and ‘service’ wouldn’t work, and it took me a while to come up with RESCUE. American solvers may have had trouble with ARTICLE, as ‘artic’ is, to my knowledge, not used in the US. Have we had a stuttering clue in the Quickies? I don’t recall one; but then I don’t recall breakfast. 6:20.
  2. Had to work hard to remember cupboard = press and then to be fully comfortable with sincere = above board but the real doh moment was 15dn – Mr. Watt didn’t occur for a while. Highly enjoyable start to the week.
  3. My grandmother called her kitchen cupboard “the press”, so that helped me with 10a. Quite a few not-so-easy clues – 13a my favourite. A little harder than average – about 9 minute for me.
  4. I did not know that definition of press but got the correct answer. Last 2 were ALL IN (thought it might have been ALL UP)and SINCERE.

    Favourite ROAST BEEF.

  5. My first Times crossword. Usually do Derek Allen in The Scotsman. Only one I got wrong was Ottawa. Thoroughly proud of myself.
    1. Welcome! I must admit I have no knowledge of either the style or difficulty of the puzzle in The Scotsman, but the Quicky puzzles in the Times are intended as a good grounding for the main cryptic. You will find both beginners and old hands here. For future commenting, feel free to either create a LiveJournal account or just add a name/pseudonym at the end of your comments so that you stand out from the bevy of “anons” who comment here from time to time.
  6. I breezed through this quickly in one sitting -obviously on my wavelength(contrast Saturday Times 26,136).
    No real problems, just had to find the right dog at 1a. David
    1. 26136 was not an easy puzzle, as evidenced by the 10 minute plus times taken by some heavyweight names in the crosswording world, so don’t be disheartened if you found it tough!
  7. This one was way to tough for me. Never heard of 10a or press meaning a cupboard. Didn’t get 7d, is ‘re’ a note as in doe, re, me etc? For 11d I was looking at ‘bank on’ as the definition and I completely missed the point of 15d.
    Oh well better luck tomorrow hopefully
    1. Yes, you have the right idea for the note. Apologies for not making that clear – unfortunately I was also writing a blog for a Jumbo Cryptic at about the same time and I may have strayed from the Quicky mindset in some of my explanations here. As you say, better luck tomorrow!
  8. Tracy, Joker et al seem to be trying to out do each other at the moment. I’ve managed to get to 60 without ever coming across cupboard love, and I don’t consider my life to have been sheltered. Invariant
    1. If you have had either a child or a pet then you will have encountered cupboard love, even if you didn’t know that was its name 🙂 But yes, it’s not an expression regularly bandied about, even in Crosswordland – it last appeared in the main cryptic about 6 years ago.

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