Quick Cryptic 410 by Tracy

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I got off to a quick start but the answers didn’t flow too well around the grid and I ground to halt after about 10 minutes with most completed but very little written in the NE quarter. After that I battled through the remaining clues very slowly and finished the puzzle eventually in 19 minutes. On reviewing the clues when writing the blog I couldn’t identify what the problem was and I shall be interested to find out how others fared. If anyone’s interested in having a go at the main puzzle, today could be a good day for it as it took me only 4 minutes longer than this Quickie.

As usual the definitions are underlined, {deletions are in curly brackets} and [indicators are in square ones]


Across
1 Husband with applause (4)
HAND – H (husband), AND (with) – give him a big hand!
4 Shameful shout we hear in game (8)
BASEBALL – BASE (shameful), BALL sounds like [we hear] “bawl” (shout)
8 Piece of music from show, last in ‘Chicago’ (8)
CONCERTO – CONCERT (show), {Chicag}O
9 Close to Jerez, unique region (4)
ZONE – {Jere}Z, ONE (unique)
10 From Mavis, an endorsement (4)
VISA – Hidden in {Ma}VIS A{n}
11 Worked out carrying much weight in diamonds (8)
FATHOMED – FAT (carrying much weight), HOME (in), D (diamonds). My last one in and I found it hard to think past “figured” which obviously didn’t fit.
12 Ancient city he bets is in a destroyed state (6)
THEBES – Anagram [in a destroyed state] of HE BETS
14 Greatly pleases church members (6)
CHARMS – CH (church), ARMS (members – as in limbs)
16 Sure boat at sea is a wrecker? (8)
SABOTEUR – Anagram [at sea] of SURE BOAT
18 Chapter and verse in secret language (4)
CODE – C (chapter), ODE (verse)
19 Work the land – there may be money in it (4)
TILL – Two definitions, one straight, one vaguely cryptic
20 Flower girl mad, crazy to consume nothing (8)
MARIGOLD – Anagram [crazy] of GIRL MAD containing [consuming] 0 (nothing)
22 Money the head required for food item (8)
DOUGHNUT – DOUGH (money), NUT (head) – two bits of slang
23 Runs excellent sprint (4)
RACE – R (runs), ACE (excellent)

Down
2 Get rid of nasty boils in a hospital (7)
ABOLISH – A, anagram [nasty] of BOILS, H (hospital)
3 Beginning to drink a tea in country cottage (5)
DACHA – D{rink}, A, CHA (tea) – as found in Russia, a word that may no tbe familiar to all
4 Save in bank (3)
BAR – Two definitions, “save” as in “bar/save nothing” and “bank” as in “sand bank/bar”
5 Proudly display evidence of accident, in fast vehicle (6,3)
SPORTS CAR – SPORT (proudly display), SCAR (evidence of accident)
6 Sort of map shown in manual on a weapon (7)
BAZOOKA – A-Z (sort of map) inside BOOK (manual), A
7 Weapon‘s spike catching knight (5)
LANCE – LACE (spike – as one might a drink) contains [catching] N (knight – chess). Having the same defintion in consecutive clues is a bit feeble.
11 Female is on Channel Island with an angler (9)
FISHERMAN – F (female), IS, HERM (Channel Island), AN
13 Illegally made kick on limb (7)
BOOTLEG – BOOT (kick), LEG (limb – another member!)
15 Note what Tuscany has? (6,1)
MIDDLE C – a straight defintion with a cryptic hint
17 Friend, male one in past (5)
AMIGO – M (male) + I (one) inside AGO (past)
18 US soldier climbing in automobile finds smoke (5)
CIGAR – GI (US soldier) reversed [climbing] inside CAR (automobile). Our second CAR of the day.
21 Deserter, sailor, capsized (3)
RAT – TAR (sailor) reversed [capsized]

19 comments on “Quick Cryptic 410 by Tracy”

  1. I started slowly, getting only ZONE, CODE, & RACE on the first pass through the acrosses. And I had trouble with the anagrams: I knew from the start that 12ac was an anagram of HE BETS, but I just couldn’t see what to do until I got a checker or two. SABOTEUR was another that needed a checker. I realize now that I never checked FATHOMED, just biffed it, after wasting time looking for TON and ICE (diamonds). US solvers may not be familiar with A-Z. 6:40.
  2. Same again here. NE corner was hard – thought 4a, 6d and 11a were tricky by QC standards.
  3. I too, had exactly the same experience. Started off really well then ground to a halt at N W corner. Took a long time to work them out then wondered why!
  4. I had the same problem finished in quick time 3/4 but top right was difficult – one i struggled with was 4 across possibly worthy of the main crossword !
  5. Not often that I agree so much with other’s comments but I have little to add today. I also had trouble with the NE (sic) corner particularly with Bazooka and Fathomed. I failed to parse “bar” except by saving some gold bars in the bank.
  6. 11 minutes here – so not too bad – but with the same comments as above. LOIs were the two 4s. Thanks to jackkt for the explanations – fathomed parsed post solve and fisherman only when I saw the blog. I’d leapt at ‘man’ as an island and had F, is and her but hadn’t really worked it out. The same applies to bazooka. A good crossword, I thought, as the tough clues had reasonably easy to get definitions.
  7. I managed to finish inside my hour, but only after looking up the answer to 4A which gave me the rest of the corner. I also had more than usual un-parsed, had to resort to my checker app for 8A and 11A, and I was never quite sure about some of the definitions as I wrote them in.
    I rate this one as difficult but fair, with no complaints after a few easier puzzles.

    Brian

  8. Hadn’t come scross HERM as a Channel Island and couldn’t fathom 11a foir a while, thinking it had to have a TON in the middle. Yes I think there a few tricky clues for the quickie, but finished in just over average time for me. Favourite 15d. 7:53.
  9. Thanks for explaining 11a which I only got using the Word Wizard. I don’t think I would ever have worked out that ‘in’ implied ‘home’. Otherwise fine
    1. Hi, lisiate16,

      “In” for “home” is one of the oldest of most ancient chestnuts, so hang on to it for the future!

  10. I got there in the end, but with a couple unparsed – both the 11s (not heard of Herm before). Like others the NE corner was problematical but when I finally got 4d the rest followed quickly.
    15d made me smile and also thought 6d was a fine clue.
  11. I had the same experience as Jackkt, though on a slower timescale, even down to having 11ac as LOI. Some nicely worded build-up clues if you like that sort of thing (I do). Invariant
  12. Did not find this too bad. Last in FATHOMED with FISHERMAN unparsed. Favourite MIDDLE C which went in with a smile.

    Tried the main puzzle and managed about 60%.

  13. Unlike most contributors it was the SW corner which held me up. The rest fell into place quite quickly once I’d got fathomed, but I only parsed it as I walked back to my desk after lunch! Noting the comments on the main cryptic, I may have a go at that tonight!
  15. A ditto to several other comments – nearly gave up with several unsolved clues in the NE.The rest of it went in quite quickly.Took a long time to get 4a Baseball, and wasn’t totally sure about Bar for 4d. Anyway once 4a was in, the rest bar one went in quickly leaving 11a.I had FAT in mind but also wanted Figured to be the answer. A good puzzle and nothing unfair or too obscure in my opinion.David
  16. Found this one tough, but then it has been a long day. Managed nearly all without help but I had to invent an obscure new food along the way – ‘wonganut’ for 22ac. I’m sure it should exist. Have often come across ‘Home’ indicating ‘In’ but don’t recall seeing the reverse in a QC so fathomed defeated me. Nomis
  17. 3D surely char is spelt with an ‘r’ on the end? As in ‘char and a wad’ = a cup of tea and a slice of bread and butter.
    1. All the usual sources have both “char” and cha” though without the “r” appears to be linguistically closer to the Chinese original and therefore more accurate. Chambers goes so far as to say that “char” is the Cockney spelling of “cha”.

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