Quick Cryptic 46 by Dazzler

Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic
As of midnight UK time, the online link is pointing to last Monday’s puzzle. Nothing new there, but the usual URL fudging doesn’t work and I had to do some hunting around to find my quarry at http://feeds.thetimes.co.uk/timescrossword/20140512/146 – I would have expected the last section of the URL to be 152. However I couldn’t get the puzzle to display in a grid – I’m not sure if that’s a general problem or just some issue with my browser. The link is now pointing to the correct puzzle and it also displays correctly, though the URL is still a departure from the numbering convention we’ve seen in recent weeks.

Though the aforementioned display problem prevented me from solving the puzzle in the normal way, it did give me all the clues/answers. I must say that writing a blog merely from a set of clues/answers is considerably less fun than doing so after having battled the thing in grid form, plus the grid itself can contribute to how difficult or easy a puzzle is so I can’t comment on that aspect of the experience.

This is Dazzler’s third Quick Cryptic puzzle, the previous two having met with general approval. It appears to be another good one with nothing likely to cause alarm, except maybe to overseas solvers not familiar with car breakdown organisations in the UK, though I think there’s a similarly named outfit in Australia and possibly in other Commonwealth countries. I particularly liked the smoothness of many of the surfaces, not to mention the image of the bothersome club-going chicken, but 14A gets my COD (Clue Of the Day) vote for stringing its parts together so well.

Note for tomorrow’s blogger: I can’t see tomorrow’s puzzle at either the location expected from the numbering system used in recent weeks, or the numbering system suggested by today’s puzzle. Tomorrow’s puzzle seems to have the correct date but 152 as the number.

Definitions are underlined.

Across
1 Fast vehicle left on board motoring organisation sent back (6,3)
SPORTS CARSS (steamship) around PORT (left), hence PORT is “on board”. Then add RAC reversed (motoring organisation, i.e. Royal Automobile Club, sent back)
6 Outstanding, timeless couple’s song (3)
DUE – the definition is in the sense of a debt. DUEt (couple’s song) without the t (i.e. timeless)
8 People possessing paintings about continued struggle to get on (3,4)
RAT RACERACE (People) outside (possessing) ART reversed (paintings about)
9 Officer in spot of trouble retreating with men (5)
MAJORJAM reversed (sport of trouble retreating) + OR (men, i.e. other ranks)
10 One politician with extremely exceptional drive (5)
IMPELI + MP + ExceptionaL (extremely exceptional, i.e. the ends of exceptional)
12 Headless chicken in club a nuisance (6)
MENACEhEN (Headless chicken, i.e. hen without its first letter) in MACE (club)
14 Judge initially thinks burglary before midnight is very upsetting (13)
HEARTBREAKINGHEAR (Judge, as in a court case) + T (initially thinks, i.e. the initial letter of thinks) + BREAK-IN (burglary) + G (midnight, i.e. the middle of night). Lovely!
16 Crackling noise on radio not mobile (6)
STATIC – double definition
17 A great time – one eating good mushrooms (5)
FUNGIFUN (A great time) + I all around (eating) G (good)
19 Alarm father and son finally (5)
SIRENSIRE (father) + soN (son finally, i.e. the last letter of son)
20 Ten Euros, not shillings, wasted when travelling (2,5)
EN ROUTE – anagram (wasted) of TEN EUROs, where the exclusion of s from the anagram fodder is denoted by “not shillings”
22 Rum starts off old drunkard’s dipsomania (3)
ODD – initial letters (starts) of Old Drunkard’s Dipsomania
23 Regulars must score when playing (9)
CUSTOMERS – anagram (when playing) of MUST SCORE
Down
1 Frank‘s good poker hand (8)
STRAIGHT – double definition, the second being five cards of sequential rank in at least two different suits
2 Showing no resistance in crushing defeat is unacceptable (3)
OUTrOUT (crushing defeat) without the r (showing no resistance)
3 Wake made by dog crossing river (5)
TRAILTAIL (dog, in verbal form) around (crossing) R (river)
4 Best nuts? They’re usually eaten with cheese (5,8)
CREAM CRACKERSCREAM (Best, e.g. the cream of the crop) + CRACKERS (nuts, i.e. mad)
5 Look upset about sultanate becoming an EU member (7)
ROMANIAAIR reversed (Look upset) about OMAN (sultanate)
6 Unhappiness shown by daughter over dismissal (9)
DEJECTIOND (daughter) + EJECTION (dismissal)
7 Make listener nervous at first (4)
EARNEAR (listener) + Nervous (nervous at first, i.e. the first letter of nervous)
11 Drunk spelt and read poorly (9)
PLASTERED – anagram (poorly) of SPELT + READ. One of those clues where you know it’s an anagram but you can’t tell immediately which end is the definition and which is the anagram indicator. There is an argument to be made that someone in a plaster cast (or a sticking-plaster) is plastered, which I suppose would make them poorly, in which case the definition and anagram indicator would be the reverse of what I’ve just described.
13 English endlessly misused in America? A far from attractive trait (8)
UGLINESS – anagram (misused) of ENGLISh without the h (endlessly) in US (America). Nice surface
15 Enormous bird taking a short cut (7)
TITANICTIT (bird) + A + NICk (short cut, i.e. nick without its last letter)
17 Supporting attempt to give up (5)
FORGOFOR (Supporting) + GO (attempt)
18 Capital found once in Czechoslovakia (4)
OSLO – hidden in CzechOSLOvakia. An oldie but goodie. The “once” is arguably unnecessary, though it maybe makes the surface a little better.
21 Good service (3)
USE – double definition. An example of the first: “What is the good of worrying?”, and of the second: “Can I be of service?”

30 comments on “Quick Cryptic 46 by Dazzler”

  1. I’m starting this week in a carnival of slovenliness: a stupid mistake on the cryptic–one of the easiest I’ve ever seen–and another on the Concise, and one here to make it complete. I threw in ‘racing car’ at 1ac, thinking RAC would be in there somehow, later realized it was SPORTS, corrected to SPORTGCAR. I think the ‘once’ in 18d helps to add the red herring of capital=money.
      1. I think it’s me; for one thing, I don’t know what ‘oncer’ means. But all I meant, I think, was that ‘capital found once’ might be more likely than just ‘capital found’ to suggest, say, a currency replaced by the euro–at least, I entertained that thought for a few seconds before spotting the hidden.
  2. In the middling to hard range with the south-east (especially when one doesn’t spot the anagram at 23a) particularly resistant. I was looking for a word beginning with a ‘j’ at 14a. 13-14 minutes for a very nice puzzle.
  3. Found this on the hard side. I eventually filled the grid but with three unparsed: didn’t get either definition of USE (my LOI), thought “people possessing paintings” was RA then got nowhere with TRACE, and failed to spot midnight = G (my COD).

    Very much appreciated the blog today, mohn.

  4. Fizzled out somewhere between 10 and 14 minutes not convinced that I had actually finished it. I eventually opted for USE at 21 as the mostly likely fit though I couldn’t see either of the required meanings (so thanks to the blogger for that). I was somewhat thrown because earlier in the proceedings I had written the answer ACE with absolute confidence and after recent misprints and editing problems elsewhere I did not trust the clue to be accurate.

    If we’re on 152 tomorrow that resumes the sequence where it left off on Friday but in the meantime for today’s we have jumped back to 146 which was omitted from the sequence last Monday.

    1. If I hadn’t been blogging, I wouldn’t have bothered looking at the clue for USE in any depth, but I ended up spending ages trying to parse it. It was further complicated by one of the definitions of good in Collins being service. Quite a nasty sting in the tail when I thought I was just about finished with the post!
  5. 4 mins. Another enjoyable QC that was set at the right level. USE was my LOI and I couldn’t see the first of mohn2’s definitions so thanks for that. Like Jack I would have been convinced that the answer was ACE had it not been for my being absolutely certain that EN ROUTE had to be the answer for 20ac. I did consider that there might have been another screw-up.
  6. I really enjoyed this one. Thanks for midniGht. I just couldn’t get that one and also struggled over USE for quite a long time.
  7. Before I came to the Quickie, I completed the Concise and at the same time checked out the Comments on the puzzle website for past crosswords. On coming to the General Forum, I saw that the latest comment was from jackkt . It just had to be about the non-appearance of the Quick Cryptic and so it was. I fully understand Jack’s frustration. you would think that The Times would have this sorted by now but, reading the comments from the Editor it does seem as if we are about to enter a new Golden Age with this new software. Let us hope so.

    In this case, I agree with mohn that 14ac was excellent. I thought it was worthy of the main puzzle. 8ac was good, too. 2 days after Eurovision had reminded me of the days of ‘Norway -nul points!’, I had no problems with Oslo. Again, a nice blog, john; very clear. Middling-to-difficult: 16mins.

  8. I struggled with this. Did it in 2 goes and thought it would be a DNF (did not finish)but when I realised 6a was DUE and not AIR I was able to complete.

    14a was clever and took me a long time to get but was able to parse fully. 4d was my favourite.

  9. Unusually for me, did this one after having had a go at the main cryptic (which I did not get out fully, but pretty close so quite chuffed with that).

    Found this one fairly straightforward (maybe as a result of the prior session with the big one), but some clues that were trickly.

    Shared the difficulty of parsing USE. Had to be the answer, but hard to validate. Thanks to mohn for such a clear explanation.

    LOI was HEARTBREAKING – only got it once all cross checkers were in place.

    COD 1dn – not that hard, but compact and elegant surface I thought.

    1. I also tried the main cryptic today. Got well over half but, sadly, there were several answers I was never going to get. Also tried Saturday’s which is currently embargoed. I have a completed grid but with several completely unparsed, suspect I do not have a correct grid.
  10. Well, I found this one harder and have a couple of questions for you:
    1. I got RAT RACE for 8ac but even after reading the blog I can’t explain why it’s the right answer. I understand the definition but not the word play. Can anyone make this clearer for me?
    RACE (People) outside (possessing) ART reversed (paintings about)
    2. I’m not sure what this means — is it just about the topology of the grid?
    smoothness of many of the surfaces

    Thanks as ever

    1. 1) Try this:

      “People possessing paintings about” = “Race holding art backwards” = raT RAce

      2) surface = surface meaning (the deliberately misleading but natural way to read the clue).

      If they’re smooth or neat, you don’t even notice on first glance, and that is both frustrating for the solver and accomplished from the setter.

      Please ask for a better explanation if this doesn’t help!

      1. Thanks William,
        “Race holding art backwards” = raT RAce
        OK I see it now!
        I was confused because I thought RAT was the “art backwards” part of the clue but now I realise it was rather “art jiggled about a bit”

        And surfaces, nothing to do with the shape of the grid then. So the smoothness of a puzzle is a measure of it’s sophistication.

        I’m getting there slowly. Getting better at the puzzles, learning about the statistics and now coming to grips with the terminology 🙂

        1. Thank you for asking for this clarification – I too was assuming that RAT was the “art backwards” bit!

        2. I often get caught out by indicator words that could indicate more than one operation, like “about”, which could indicate an anagram or a reversal (about turn). Another that springs to mind is ” without x”, which could mean “missing x” or “outside of x” (as in, without the city walls).

          I’m sure the others could add many more.

    2. I’ve been trying to avoid jargon but this one slipped through – my apologies! By surface, I mean the surface reading, i.e. how the clue reads if considered as a stand-alone phrase/sentence rather than as a crossword clue. One example of a good surface in this puzzle is 9A, which makes grammatical sense (in a newspaper headline kind of way) and describes a believable scene. Another example is 12A, which may not be believable but is amusing. Conversely, 1A has a construction which is necessary in order to be able to solve the clue, but the surface seems a little clumsy to the ear. For me, the surfaces are the second most important part of a puzzle after the humour (though humour is not generally a Times speciality).

      As a solver, though, it’s best to ignore (!) the surface since it may well send your mind in different directions to that which will actually help you solve the clue. A common misdirection is for the surface to indicate one meaning of a word whereas solving the clue requires you to realise it’s another, e.g. 6A, where the surface makes you think outstanding in the sense of excellent, but you actually need to think of it in the sense of unpaid. Similarly in 1D, where the surface seems to be referring to a proper noun (a person called Frank) but the meaning required to solve it is an adjective. Since 99.99% of all human writing has been with the purpose of conveying information (or entertainment) as clearly as possible, one of the hardest things for beginning cryptic crossword solvers is to suspend that expectation and treat a clue as simply a set of letters/words rather than a context. (The one exception to that is a type of clue called an &lit, but that’s a subject for another day …)

      1. Thanks for the explanation of surface, it was very clear. Any time you’d like to explain &lit clues feel free — below is a comment from Puzzle 45 from chrisw91
        I quite like the cd/&lit type clues when they make me smile!
        1. Just to be clear, the CD (cryptic definition) and &lit clue types are completely different. In an &lit (from “and literally so”), the entire clue provides the definition (in the surface reading) and the entire clue also provides the wordplay – this contrasts with a “normal” clue where the definition and wordplay are separate parts. I can’t give a better explanation and examples than are on Michael Curl’s excellent site: http://bestforpuzzles.com/cryptic-crossword-tutorial/and-lit.html

          A cryptic definition has no wordplay – it’s simply a surface that’s designed to mislead. Examples from the same site are: http://bestforpuzzles.com/cryptic-crossword-tutorial/cryptic-definitions.html though one of my favourites is “An alarming blood count?” (7), the surface suggesting some kind of dangerously high leukocyte levels but the answer being DRACULA.

          1. *bows in gratititude*
            Thanks so much for taking the time to spell these out so clearly. I’ve definitely got the hand of CDs (and the Dracula clue is highly amusing!). The &Lit examples in your link are harder and I’ll have to work on those a bit more.
            If ever you need help with SuDoku I’d be happy to repay the favour….
      2. ‘Since 99.99% of all human writing has been with the purpose of conveying information (or entertainment) as clearly as possible…’

        Obviously never worked in law, PR, politics, or, as I am finding out after sending our daughter to the same school I attended 30-odd years ago, private education! 🙂

  11. Finished 90% of this by getting the right words in, though only about 50% of those were fully parsed. Much less satisfying than when I can totally figure each part of each clue out. Progress though, nonetheless.
    Was convinced 2d was going to be OHM (reference to resistance, and I had the starting O) which held me up a bit. Was also convinced 14 across would have a J in (from “judge initially”). But in the end it was 6ac that was my LOI. Ugh. Liked 4d though – my COD.

  12. Is it just me or is there a change in the things that The Times seems to uphold? The other day we had less than 50% checking (and someone complained rightly about my using jargon, but I can’t think of a simpler way to put it) and now in 14ac we have midnight = g (not mid night or at a pinch mid-night, both of which would be just about accepted by wordplay pedants). Surely this is a first? Or will somebody now come up with a whole lot of examples like this that I haven’t noticed?
    1. I think you are right on both counts, however I don’t know if there has been any statement about whether the Quick Cryptics are supposed to be following the same rules as the main Times cryptic. I must admit that I never knew that the checking thing was a rule.

      The midnight thing is definitely a step away from Ximenes, though the Times hasn’t been properly Ximenean for a while – you’ll see occasional harrumphs on the main cryptic blog due to definitions by example (even in this puzzle we have one with mushrooms at 17A). I didn’t even blink when I parsed 14A, though that’s probably because I regularly do crosswords in other places where such constraints don’t apply, so I have found it less confusing for my brain to not look out for or rely on newspaper-specific rules. Though many beginners may not know of Ximenes, it’s interesting that a couple of people have pointed out that they were stumped by midnight, which may suggest that it didn’t follow whatever rules they may have become used to in the 45 Quick Cryptics before this one.

      In both cases though, without the editor chiming in, it’s impossible to know if such things are a deliberate, erroneous or unknowing change of policy.

      1. ‘Midnight’ has come up loads of times in the main cryptic, almost to the point of being a chestnut.
        1. Oh OK – I’ve only been doing the Times regularly for a couple of years, and I couldn’t recall seeing it in that time.
  13. Thanks for the heads up on the address of today’s crossword. Helped a lot.
    I got round to this one today and enjoyed it up to 21dn – thanks for the explanation.

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