Quick Cryptic 5 by Joker

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I have been nervous all week about having to fill an entire grid with fully parsed clues, and I think that the pressure didn’t help my solving time (I wonder how long I can use that excuse!). You really come to appreciate TftT when you realise that, no matter how often you refresh the page, those explanations aren’t going to appear until you write them! So thanks from a long-time lurker to bloggers old and new. Hopefully I won’t let the side down.

Looking back over the first week of Quick Cryptics, I’m very grateful for this addition to the usual Times collection. Knowing how long it takes me to (partially) solve the main crossword, I sometimes only attempt it once or twice a week. So it’s really useful and encouraging (not to mention, fun!) to have a puzzle that I can complete on my way to work. Having said that, I found today’s offering quite difficult: after about 20 minutes I had 4 answers, most of the rest came in the next 20 minutes, and I then spent ages chewing over the final few. Total solving time: 1h15m.

Across
1 PASTRAMI – “Prepared beef” from PAST (finished) with RAM (male sheep) and I. It took me a while after seeing “prepared” to stop desperately seeking anagram fodder.
5 ACTS – Double definition. A book of the bible; parts of a play. edit: “theatre turns” is better explained by ACTS = turns on stage. Hat tip to ulaca.
9 STILL – “Photograph” from ST + ILL.
10 NATURAL – Another double definition. If a note’s neither flat nor sharp, it’s natural; unbleached in colour.
11 CLOTTED CREAM – “Rich dish” given by CLOTTED (set) and CREAM (elite). The term dish threw me a bit here – I was thinking of meals/puddings rather than individual ingredients.
13 RAPTOR – “Bird” is the definition. Anagram of PART (indicated by “hybrid of”) + OR (yellow or gold in heraldry).
15 TINTED – “Coloured” from TIN (can) + TIED (bound) excluding I (one).
17 CROSS SECTION – “Annoyed” gives CROSS and “group in the orchestra” is SECTION, revealing what one would see on cutting. On first glance, I thought this might be “brass section” before realising that the definition was at the other end of the clue!
20 AMERICA – Although often indicating the letters US, “United States” is the definition here. MA (mother) is taken backwards + ERICA (girl).
21 ASIDE – Double definition. A disc’s A-side was the feature recording in ye olde days (or so I’m told).
22 MINE – MAINE lacking A gives the “source of coal”. I’m not sure what ambiguity “perhaps” is supposed to cover – would the clue be unfair without it?
23 VEHEMENT – HE-MEN (muscular chaps) in VET (make an inspection) provides the synonym of “forceful”. My LOI, and I ended up googling “hemen” thinking it might be a people known for their physical strength! In my mind, there’s only one He-Man.

Down
1 PEST – PESTO without the last letter (runs out before the end).
2 SWILL – S (first letter of sickness) with WILL (fixed desire, as in “against one’s will”) for “inferior alcohol”. I didn’t know the definition as specific for alcohol.
3 RELATIONSHIP – “Broken” indicates an anagram of R (right) + ETHIOPIANS + L (left) to give an “alliance”.
4 MONKEY – The definition is “mischief-maker”, which is also M (the origin, or first letter, of mayhem) + ON + KEY (an island of the Florida archipelago).
6 CURRENT – The definition is “now”. A RENT is a tear or rip in fabric, after CUR (mongrel). This went in à la nic_the_novice, but I had to look up rent=tear before blogging.
7 SELF MADE – “Upset” indicates an anagram of FEMALE’S, which needs to be put about D (for diamonds) to give a phrase for “personally successful”. I’m sure I’ve seen “diamonds” to indicate DD as well, and already having one D from 15ac, I managed to talk myself out of writing this answer in straight away. I guess that the plural has been used to aid the surface meaning in this case.
8 STOCK IN TRADE – Hosiery business is STOCKING TRADE, minus the G (no good) gives us a “professional commodity” – something used regularly by someone of a particular profession.
12 PROCLAIM – PRO (in favour of) + CLAIM (to the right to mine a piece of land). I’m not sure I’d use this to mean “make a decision” unless I’m missing something?
14 PROTEIN – An anagram of NOT RIPE (indicated by “unfortunately”) gives “good source of nourishment”.
16 SENATE – SEE (view) surrounding (about) NAT (national) for a governmental assembly.
18 OLIVE – “Tree” is the definition. O (ring) + LIVE (as it happens).
20 WENT – “Travelled” is N (north) in WET (rainy environment).

25 comments on “Quick Cryptic 5 by Joker”

  1. Congrats on your first blog, William.

    I took 20 minutes to solve and parse this and did not rate it at all easy in a few places.

    I agree with your misgivings over 12dn. I can’t find any support for PROCLAIM = ‘make a decision’ and it’s perfectly possible to do that thing without proclaiming it.

    On the need for ‘perhaps’ at 22, other things than coal can be mined could be one reason for having it but I would see it as optional. I’m not sure whether coal comes from anywhere other than a mine, in which case some indication of a query ought to be there.

    I seem to remember a lot of garments were rent in the Bible.

    I also didn’t know the alcohol reference at 2dn. A rare gap in my knowledge of the subject which I reckon is pretty comprehensive!

    ‘Aside’ was my last one in.

    Edited at 2014-03-14 09:00 am (UTC)

  2. Well done, William. Like Jack, I see no real basis for PROCLAIM = decide. At 5a, I took the second part of the clue to refer to the act or turn of a comic, say.

    23 minutes, with 5 at the end spent trying to justify ASIDE before the penny dropped.

  3. Congrats William – as a fellow first timer this week I totally relate to the nerve jangling experience that it is. I thought this one was tricky (glad I did not have it Wednesday!) Took me around the hour.

    Thanks for explaining the heraldic OR in 13. I had a vague recollection that a Raptor was some kind of bird of prey, and decided that made yellow plumage unlikely. But I was stumped for any alternative explanation.

    Agree your comment (and jackkt) re. SWILL. I’ve drunk a lot of rough stuff in a lot of odd places (with even odder people), but never once have I heard this term. It was generally applied to school dinners which were, sadly, alcohol free.

    On a friendly pedantic note, you might want to edit out the IS in your description of the anagram in 14 down.

  5. The “Friday Tricky” of the Quickie world, I think, so credit to William (or should that be JS?) for unravelling and blogging elegantly.
    PROCLAIM only went in because of the cryptic. I can’t find even a three point turn connection in the Thesaurus, though I wondered (a bit) about royal proclamations and such which were the equivalent of fixing the King’s decision: “so let it be written, so let it be done” Yul Brynner, the Ten Commandments.
    I was bemused for a while by CROSS SECTION, since I only know of the four traditional orchestra sections and only “strings” fitted.
    SWILL my LOI: probably Wodehousian?

    Edited at 2014-03-14 09:57 am (UTC)

    1. I’m rather partial to a ‘quick swill’ (recent main crossword ‘a quickie’) but I rather think PGW would describe it as a ‘gargle’.
  6. Well done on the blog!

    Another enjoyable solve today which has brought to an end a good week of Times puzzles, and a welcome addition to the crossword stable.

    Wonder how long before the Saturday one sneaks in?

    Edited at 2014-03-14 10:03 am (UTC)

  7. Good blog – I’m just boning up on the mechanics for a go next week. A few niggles on the crossword – I join the chorus for proclaim and would add that I don’t see clotted cream as a dish – it’s an ingredient rather than the sort of thing to eat on its own as a whole dish (well, not on a balanced diet). Sounds like I’m taking after yesterday’s setter (grumpy) but I’d also like to add ‘aside’ in my grumble – kept for later on is kept aside – if something is aside it could have been pushed there and not wanted for later? Cheering up with a smile at Stock in Trade (COD) 26 minutes.
    1. I remember the Devon tourist industry back in the 1950s used to refer of ‘dish of cream’ as one of the attractions of the county. I think the idea was that clotted cream was served in a separate dish along with jam and scones as part of a Devon cream tea. Maybe a bit of a stretch but I don’t think it’s wrong like 12dn.
  8. Top notch William. Like you, I had a slow start and just managed to finish within the hour. I was pleased to find no obscure words or phrases in the solution that sometimes prevent me from completing it. Just uncommon or alternative usage which I enjoy learning.

    Agree with everyone else on some of the definitions being a bit loose. 12d was a shocker. I had guessed the PROCLAIM and ASIDE from the wordplay but wasn’t confident.

    I only knew OR from French for golden as in Côte-d’Or (the département not the Belgian chocolates honest ;). Didn’t know about the heraldic link and thought that yellow was a bit tenuous until you explained. I understand it comes from the Latin via French anyway.

    I too was unaware of the inferior alcohol definition of SWILL, thought it only meant to guzzle. Again another guess for me.

    RAPTOR took me ages, I only knew the dinosaur from Jurassic Park.

    8d made me smile too.

  9. Good blog William, thank you.
    This took me 9 minutes, with a couple at the end puzzling over SWILL, which I didn’t know, and CLOTTED CREAM, where the use of the word “dish” in the clue misled me into thinking that the answer would be some sort of dish.
  10. Newbie here. The main cryptic is too hard for me normally. Missed the first 2 quickies but have managed to finish the last 3. Good omen was that my name appeared in the first quickie I did. FOI and COD 8d and LOI 21a. Time, about 1 hour.

    I am enjoying these challenges and thanks to William for the blog.

    1. Welcome aboard rubeculaw!

      I do enjoy a good omen myself (interesting how the superstitions of our forbears still resonate in our contemporary rationalist world…)

      So, in Re. name, given you missed the first two, we are looking at Wednesday as the first one you did (one I am somewhat over-familiar with as it was my first blog)and where your name appeared: so, this punter’s analysis is
      – Robin appears most likely
      – Furze would be exotic but less likely
      – Rake would be outstanding but improbable
      – Minelayer would be downright unusual

      Sorry, not intending to intrude on your privacy at all – just having a whimsical moment after a long week in the factory!

      All the best

      Nick

      Edited at 2014-03-14 12:53 pm (UTC)

  11. 10 minutes here, so a good deal harder than yesterday’s quickie (or maybe the amount of Jim Beam I consumed last night was a factor). PROCLAIM I just assumed was a definition I didn’t know, so it went in with a shrug.
  12. I wish I could say otherwise but working on the acrosses, my first in was 20a. I then got 22a,12d,14d and 7d and that was that. I solved more in the main crossword today. I usually solve the Private Eye and Everyman crosswords unaided and usually get around 75% of the others. I clearly wasn’t on the Joker’s wavelength not helped by not knowing that basil sauce is pesto or that there was such a thing as a natural note.
  13. 12 minutes here so definitely on the hard side. Still having a problem with letters jumping around or inserting themselves unbidden which caused a double typo in the “aside” “stock-in-trade” axis. Count me in on “proclaim” and I think of “swill” in the company of swine food.

    Z I believe BertieW went in for browsing and sluicing. I will join you on the tls later when I’ve a solid wedge of time. I’m curious to see what this week’s problem clue is.

    Congratulations William on a fine job with a difficult puzzle.

  14. Nice blog William and nice to see the quick cryptic drawing in some new solvers. To my mind, this puzzle was too difficult for a quickie. I’d never heard of swill for moonshine in 2d, hadn’t heard of a natural note or natural as an off white colour. I also can’t recall seeing OR referred to yellow rather than gold, and am baffled by 12d like everyone else. Am trying to persuade the wife to have a go at the quick cryptic, but when she saw me struggling at today’s, she had second thoughts. Perhaps I just wasn’t on the wavelength, and glad to see newer solvers persevering at tricky crosswords, but not my cup of tea.
  15. 8 mins and definitely the trickiest of the week. It will be interesting to see if next week’s Friday QC follows the pattern. On my first read through of the acrosses I didn’t enter an answer until 22ac. RAPTOR was my LOI.

    Count me as another who entered PROCLAIM with a shrug. Not that it made a difference because the clue was one of the easier ones, but the enumeration of 4dn in the paper was an incorrect (7) rather than (6).

  16. Nice one , William you’ve got more guts than I have . Got trouble with letters moving to different squares and didn’t find that easy. I think I’ll scan the grid in future and put in the answers when I know where the letters are goin!
  17. This is the first Quick I’ve gotten to, and it was kind of fun, plus challenging in spots. Thanks for the blog, which I thought well done.

    Now for some help – and apologies if this has been discussed and I missed it. I am still on a Crossword-Club subscription, and so don’t yet have a digital subscription. I have not been able to find the Quick puzzle on line. Is there a way to get it, or do I need to wait until I’m a full digital subscriber? Thx

  18. As others have said, well done, William. A braver soul than me. I share your concern and that of others, about proclaim but. Thanks for the heraldic OR. I figured it had to be something like that. 8d made me smile so was my COD. No time logged but it was plus difficult than yesterday’s.

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