Quick Cryptic 514 by Flamande

Author   emu66Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic
This seemed fairly straightforward – once I got going – and I enjoyed the amusing word breaks in 17a and 23a. A hint for new solvers – look out for words which look like linking words but are actually part of the clue, for example, ‘my’ in 18d and ‘for’ in 9d.
Thank you to Flamande.
Of interest, I believe there is an article on crossword solving and setting on The One Show, Friday 26th February, BBC1, 7pm.

Across
1 What could be great risk round far end of beach?: TIGER SHARK
Anagram (could be) of GREAT RISK, with far end of beacH; a type of clue termed ‘&lit’ ie the whole sentence is also the definition
7 Lodge viewed from front or back: PUT UP
Palindromic clue (viewed from front and back)
8 Name of female judge assigned to a French city: JANICE
Judge = J, a French city = A NICE
10 Determined group: SET
Double definition
12 Former vetter, say, in the treasurer: EXCHEQUER
Former = EX, homophone (say) of vetter = CHECKER
13 Bad actress mostly given different role: RECAST
Anagram (bad) of ACTRES(s)
14 Make known painted works by mischievous type: IMPART
Painted works = ART, mischievous type = IMP
17 Convey how to fill in voting slip: PUT ACROSS
Double definition, one slightly cryptic
19 Letter received by Socrates after retiring: ETA
Hidden word in Socrates backwards
20 Conservative way to reverse decay: DRY ROT
Conservative = TORY, way = RD, all backwards
21 Give everyone a set of religious books: ALLOT
Everyone = ALL, set of religious books = OT (Old Testament)
23 Helpful sort in emergency, making tree more stable: FIRST AIDER
Tree = FIR, more stable = STAIDER

Down
1 Pretty pics embellished printed copy: TYPESCRIPT
Anagram (embellished) of PRETTY PICS
2 Understand only odd parts of ghetto remain: GET
GhEtTo
3 Check leaders in reactionary English newspapers: REPRESS
Leaders in Reactionary English, newspapers = PRESS
4 Greeting sailor an illegal act?: HIJACK
Greeting = HI, sailor = JACK
5 Made phone call, going over European mountains: RANGE
Made phone call = RANG, European = E
6 Faithful account by clergyman: ACCURATE
Account = AC, clergyman = CURATE
9 Measuring instrument for farm vehicle: PROTRACTOR
For = PRO, farm vehicle = TRACTOR
11 After moggy jumps up, I become virtually speechless: TACITURN
Moggy jumps up = CAT backwards, I = I, become = TURN
15 Mother conceals a blemish – using this?: MASCARA
Mother = MA, including a blemish = A SCAR
16 Regular journeys abroad, going through southern half of Azores: ROUTES
Abroad = OUT, inside AzoRES
18 US recruit goes after my dog: CORGI
US recruit GI, my = COR (as in Oh My!)
22 Boy wearing clothes but no top: LAD
(c)LAD

15 comments on “Quick Cryptic 514 by Flamande”

  1. I whizzed through this, or so I thought, but a couple of clues held me up, and now I can’t remember which. ROUTES, I think, and FIRST AIDER. It took me several puzzles, but I finally have got used to ‘my’ cluing COR, as in 18d (not ac, emu), a nice clue, as was PUT ACROSS & DRY ROT. 5:10.
  2. A fairly straightforward 9 minute solve but with three of the four longest entries perhaps not so familiar to all and an unchecked elephant trap for me as I can never remember whether 12ac ends in -OR or -ER. Whichever I write always looks wrong. Oh, and the required meaning of 16dn is described in SOED as ‘Rare’.

    Edited at 2016-02-26 07:26 am (UTC)

  3. Better time this morning. Didn’t see COR as ‘Oh my’, but a dog ending in ‘I’ made it guessable. Not happy with the ETA clue, was Last One In. ‘After Retiring’ as a marker for a clue reversed inside another word. Still don’t see it. On a happier note, I like the Double Def of PUT ACROSS, and the palindrome across word boundaries of PUT UP. Didn’t we have FIRST AID in the QC just a few days ago?
  4. I think you meant 18d in your preamble.

    Finished within an hour (a first for me) and a few new markers noted. I guessed Corgi and couldn’t for the life of me see why me signified COR, so thanks for that. I enjoyed 1a, 9d made me smile and clue of the day for me was 6d.

    Incidentally, I think for newbies like me, when 1a and 1d are a reasonable length and at the easier end of clue, your hopes instantly rise about being able to make a good stab at today’s puzzle, as you now have lots of first letters to work with.

    I’m with Merlin on ETA though, retiring doesn’t seem to suggest reversing at all.

  5. It’s defined directly in all the usual sources variously as ‘return’, ‘recede’, ‘retreat’ especially in a military sense, ‘go back’ etc etc. It comes up a lot as a reversal indicator.
  6. Finished in 10 mins – one of my better times. I suppose received by Socrates means the word is to be found within Socrates, with Socrates pointing to the letter being Greek.
    I agree that persevering with the Quick Cryptic does improve crossword skills. I couldn’t finish the QC at first but my best time now is 9 mins – although only once!
  7. Only 30 mins for this. My quickest I think but I found the wordplay for ROUTES a problem not recognising OUT for ABROAD.
  8. Found this one not too bad, finishing just quicker than average. I thought 20ac would be my COD, but, once I understood it, 1ac just wins out. Invariant
  9. Some excellent clues in this mainly straightforward puzzle. I particularly liked 1a, 20a (favourite,just) and 4d which held me up at the end.
    MY LOI was 19a; I had thought that ETA was indicated by “retiring” but did not know it.
    Took me under 30 very enjoyable minutes. David
  10. 36 mins, so slowest of the week for me. Found it hard to get going and only had one clue (RECAST) after the first reading of the acrosses. Didn’t initially spot the anagram in 1a, and JANICE didn’t exactly spring out since I had it in my head that “a French” means “un” in Crosswordese.
  11. A bit of a struggle but eventually got there with a few guesses. About 90 minutes or so over a few sessions sandwiched in. Thx to the blog for explaining some of the detail!
  12. A steady 30 minute solve today with plenty of entertaining clues e.g. 9d and 20a. LOI 19a where it took me a while to figure out what was going on.
  13. Today’s 15×15 and the weekly TLS were exceptionally difficult and ate up all my crossword time quota this morning (and then some) so I only just got to this now. Thanks for unpacking ROUTES Emu, I’d just tossed it in as being the most likely. JANICE didn’t pop up immediately (I’m not keen on these “girl’s name” clues) and “my” meaning COR seems to be rapidly becoming a crossword convention.
  14. As a newbie, I am reassured that I am improving slowly. An enjoyable puzzle, particularly as it looked impossible on the first reading. I try to do it without help, and I am a bit startled to realise that I need to know the whole Greek alphabet! Diana.

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