Quick Cryptic 430 by Juno – One for the uccelli

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
This is only Juno’s third puzzle so far and she (?) last appeared a  year ago last week. I think most will find this fairly straightforward as long as they have a working knowledge of musical terminology. Indeed there seems to be something of an Italian theme going on but it’s possibly no more than a coincidence. On very late edit: Thanks to anon for spotting the extended Nina that I had missed though I saw a small part of it.

No sun – no moon!
No morn – no noon –
No dawn – no dusk – no proper time of day.
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member –
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds! –
November!
Thomas Hood

Across
7 Colour having zero scope (6)
ORANGE – 0 (zero), RANGE (scope)
8 Slowly, a US serviceman gets into trouble (6)
ADAGIO – A+GI (A, US serviceman) inside [gets into] ADO (trouble). The first of two Italian musical directions in today’s puzzle.
9 Old fascist some partizans repelled (4)
NAZI – Hidden [some] and reversed [repelled] inside {part}IZAN{s}. I don’t recall seeing this spelling of ‘partisans’ before so I was immediately alerted to the possibility of a hidden answer. It might also have signalled the possibility of an anagram but for the enumeration.
10 Discounted what mimic has done? (5,3)
TAKEN OFF – A straight defintion and a cryptic hint
11 Fisherman MPs hire swimming across river (8)
SHRIMPER – Anagram [swimming] of MPS HIRE encloses [across] R (river)
13 Graduate I left providing security (4)
BAIL – BA (graduate – Bachelor of Arts), I (one), L (left)
15 Lake one has gone in before, once (4)
ERIE – I (one) inside [gone in] ERE (before, once – i.e. an old-fashioned word)
16 Adore Tom moving about at a fair pace (8)
MODERATO – Anagram [moving about] of ADORE TOM. Our second Italian musical direction.
18 Orchids found in caravan I’ll assemble (8)
VANILLAS – Hidden [found in] {cara}VAN ILL AS{semble}
20 Article and novel together again (4)
ANEW – A (article), NEW (novel). ‘Together’ can be taken as an instruction to put the two components side by side.
21 Motorists keeping dry at home – and secure (6)
ATTAIN – AA (motorists – Automobile Association) encloses [keeping] TT (dry – teetotal), IN (at home)
22 Eg wide, unusual, shoe (6)
WEDGIE – Anagram [unusual] of EG WIDE. I’m relieved the setter didn’t choose to use the other definition of this word!

Down
1 Swimmer going round about for some respite (8)
BREATHER – BATHER (swimmer) encloses [going round] RE (about)
2 In semi-final, it somehow becomes very insignificant (13)
INFINITESIMAL – Anagram [somehow] of IN SEMI FINAL IT
3 Others, cheerful, take it easy (4,2)
REST UP – REST (others), UP (cheerful)
4 Less light from old vessel in red turning up (6)
DARKER – ARK (old vessel) enclosed by [in] RED reversed [turning up]
5 Dogs that are large or small aren’t boy’s (5,8)
SAINT BERNARDS – S (small), AIN’T (aren’t), BERNARD’S (boy’s)
6 Hum very loudly after turning in (4)
NIFF – IN reversed [turning], FF (very loudly – fortissimo, another Italian musical direction). Some may not be familiar with one, other or both of these slang words meaning a bad smell.
12 Self-esteem, for example. and love (3)
EGO – EG (for example), 0 (love – in tennis)
14 Vaguely prevalent part of tune? (2.3.3)
IN THE AIR – A straight definition and a cryptic hint
16 No mail unusually in city for Italians (6)
MILANO – Anagram [unusually] of NO MAIL. ‘For Italians’ tells us we need the native spelling of Milan.
17 Daughter one’s to have to abandon (6)
DISOWN – D (daughter), IS (I’s), OWN (have)
19 Stake hot-head in Sicily raised (4)
ANTE – ETNA (hot head in Sicily – a cryptic definition of the volcano) reversed [raised]. Yet another Italian reference. The answer is a bet placed e.g. in poker before drawing cards.

16 comments on “Quick Cryptic 430 by Juno – One for the uccelli”

  1. I was held up by 5d, my LOI; simply couldn’t see the wordplay and biffed from checkers, finally. It didn’t help matters that I had put in ‘mail’ instead of BAIL. It also took me a bit of time to remember the third member of the smelly trio, besides ‘hum’ and ‘pong’; none of them being used in the US. 5:55.
  2. Niff is a completely new one on me, and how is a 68 year old man supposed to know that a wedgie is a shoe? Seemed a reasonable guess though.
  3. Quite straightforward, I thought. Nice misdirection at 18a had me trying to do an anagram of ‘caravan i’ll’ before I realised I had too many letters. I never knew VANILLA was an orchid. COD to 5d.

    Edited at 2015-11-02 09:56 am (UTC)

  4. I only got half way through this one, mainly due to the dreadful grid. I seem to rely a lot on getting a checker for the first or last letter, it just didn’t happen today.

    Brian

  7. I thought this was going to be really easy, but problems with 1 and 5d and 21ac turned this into a disappointingly average time for me. I keep forgetting that TT can mean dry. Invariant
  8. Even though I didn’t properly count the letters in 16a and ended with an “e”. COD 21a. Honorable mention 5d.
  9. I note we have BIRDS in the first row of unchecked letters and I thought we might combine this with the Italian theme.

    Edited at 2015-11-02 01:57 pm (UTC)

  10. Is there a special language for crossword solvers as I can often complete the crossword but don’t understand the comments some people leave.
    1. Not so much a special language, as a few well used acronyms: COD clue of the day, LoI last one in and BIFD bunged in from definition. Invariant
  11. I thought this was going to be very easy, particularly after trying Saturday’s impossible cryptic (26244). In the end I was held up by three clues: 6d had to be Niff and I was unaware of Hum’s smelly meaning.That left 19d and 21a ,both excellent tricky clues with hindsight. Overall a good balance and enjoyable David

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