Quick Cryptic 476 by Teazel

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A gentle romp from Teazel today – for which thank you! I was pushed just over ten minutes by some ponderings over 5dn. Rushing out – so forgive any typos (again!).

ACROSS

7. Print run – the number of copies. PRINT, RUN.
8. Wave – greeting. With (W), greeting (AVE).
9. Put out – miffed. Up backwards (PU), solicitor (TOUT).
10. Gabon – African country. Gab on = keep gabbing.
11. Ash – double definition.
12. Pigeon (Manuel’s pronunciation in Fawlty Towers has always helped me spell this) – bird. PIG, anagram (mauled) of ONE.
14. Trance – hypnotic state. Anagram (round) of CANTER.
16. Prague – European city). Pair (PR), fit (AGUE).
18. To date – until now. (T)o(O)k, fruit (DATE).
19. Via – by way of. (I)ndia inside VA.
20. Ochre – yellowish brown. River (R) inside old (O), revolutionary (CHE – as in Guevara).
21. Rescue – bring to safety. Anagram (remarkably) of SECURE.
23. Pill – prescribed. (P)retry, ILL.
24. Stagnate – make no progress. Without women (STAG), (N)ever, had meals (ATE).

DOWN

1. Croupier – dealer. Anagram (out) of POUR RICE.
2. Undo – free. A party for the UN – a UN DO.
3. Cretan – islander. In se(CRET AN)nouncement.
4. Knight – double definition. The wife of a knight is a lady – and the piece which jumps 1 space one way and 3 another.
5. Own brand – cheaper at supermarket. Admit (OWN), stamp (BRAND).
6. Oven – kitchen appliance. Finished (OVE)r – almost as it’s without the ‘R’, with new (N)
13. Eggshell – china. A cryptic wordplay – the egg shell is broken in the hatch.
16. Catsuits – tight garments. CAT, SUITS.
17. Even so – anyway. Regular (EVEN), like this (SO).
18. Tarmac – May be spread over the road. Anagram (ruined) of CAR MAT.
20. Otic – related to the ear. The contents of n(OTIC)e.
22. Sink – drop. Small (S), fluid (INK).

19 comments on “Quick Cryptic 476 by Teazel”

  2. Far from gentle for me, I failed miserably in the top half, and had to wait for the blog for some of the parsing. I always struggle with Teazel – the odd grid doesn’t help.
    Brian
    1. i deleted a comment here from an anonymous poster agreeing that Teazel’s puzzles are hard for them. Modern day terminology not intending to cause offence may have done so.
    2. i deleted a comment here from an anonymous poster agreeing that Teazel’s puzzles are hard for them. Modern day terminology not intending to cause offence may have done so.
  3. I also found this trickier than usual.35 minutes 10 of which spent on 16d and 24a.
  4. Paint yes, never heard of eggshell China. Stumped me. Otherwise pretty good for me. About 30 minutes.
  5. OK – it’s official. I am the worst estimator of the difficulty of a crossword! It just all flowed for me today.
  6. Made good progress through this and finished fairly quickly with Eggshell and finally Prague (took a while to remember ague = fit). I found this fairly easy compared with attempting yesterday’s 15×15 which had some easyish clues but descended into impossibility for me with Beachhead and Petrol et al.
    Anyway thanks for parsing Wave and Knight,both inserted without full understanding. David
  7. 48 mins – EGGSHELL LOI as for other people. 4d KNIGHT was a fun clue. I think I’ve seen AGUE in a crossword before, but only in a crossword, which is funny because I’ve only been attempting crosswords for about 6 months. I had to consult a dictionary to get the connection from “admit” to “own” in 5d. Not a usage with which I’m familiar; appears historical.
    1. I think ‘own’ in this sense is more common in US usage these days though it may have originated over here as your research suggests.
  8. Failed on 16a,24a,13d, 15d and 22d . Certainly not a gentle romp for me. I spend ages over those 5 clues. I did think of Prague but didn’t know ague. Never heard of eggshell for china either.
  9. I found this one a bit fiddly and it took me two sittings to complete. Didn’t parse 16a (LOI) as I was thinking of fit as in healthy, but it couldn’t be anything else with the checkers in place. I have heard of eggshell china before but spent a long time trying to think of something ending in ‘hole’ for hatch.
    COD was 5d.
  10. Thanks for all your help solving these over the past 18 months – I’ve learned so much from you all.
    Did anyone else notice it spells out ‘cuckoo clocks’ along the top and bottom rows? Is there a reason for this that I don’t understand? (I remember being very impressed by the poem at the start of November)
    JT
      1. I noticed ‘CUCKOO CLOCKS’ across the top and bottom, and all Ps at the left edge, all Es at the right edge. I wondered whether PE are Teazel’s true initials. I have no guess as to the significance of cuckoo clocks. Well, now that a few of us have noticed it, i hope Teazel will join in here and enlighten us – or at least provide a clue!
        1. Good spots everyone – more on the ball than I am. A question has gone up on the crossword club general forum in the hope of some light being shed. For now my favourite theory is that
          Teazel was doing a cuckoo clocks exercise – PE (or PT) being crossword speak for exercise.

          Edited at 2016-01-06 03:49 pm (UTC)

          1. From the Times Crossword Editor, posted in the Club forum:

            RE: Quick Cryptic

            posted 06/01/16 16:43
            Quote >

            I asked Teazel about this and received the reply that it was simply a way of “seeding” the grid.

            So there is no particular significance in the Ps and Es, nor is Teazel a particular fan of cuckoo clocks! Sometimes setters do this sort of thing, perhaps not always quite so prominently.

            That said, I did not spot it at the time either!

            RR

            Crossword Editor

  11. Seem to have lost my way recently. Several clues short on this one again. Struggled on the compound phrases with the little two letter words.

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