I was doing very nicely with this one and on course to finish within my 10 minute target, but after 9 minutes I came to a grinding halt with 15dn unsolved and I stared at it blankly for another 5 before getting my brain back into gear. This is the 5th consecutive Quickie that I have failed to achieve my target. Despite that, I don’t think there’s anything too difficult here but I shall be interested to find out what others made of it.
As usual defintions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions} are in curly brackets and [indicators] in square ones.
|
Across |
|
|---|---|
| 1 | Revolutionary English painter? (6) |
| TURNER – Semi-cryptic definition. Joseph M.W. Turner (1775-1851) is famed as a painter of landscapes. | |
| 4 | Mouthful of food left by Oxford detective (6) |
| MORSEL – MORSE (Oxford detective), L (left) | |
| 8 | Bloomin’ nuisance, sound of glass in top of bottle (4,2,3,4) |
| PAIN IN THE NECK – Sounds like “pane” (glass), IN, THE NECK (top of bottle) | |
| 10 | Attack supported by group (5) |
| ONSET – ON (supported by), SET (group) | |
| 11 | Give up / freedom from inhibition (7) |
| ABANDON – Double definition | |
| 12 | Luke warm, like Pater in relation to patter? (4-7) |
| HALF-HEARTED – A definition and a cryptic example of the answer – so ‘pater’ compared to ‘patter’ has only half the number of Ts at its heart. | |
| 16 | Rum MEP worried about one insurance payment (7) |
| PREMIUM – Anagram [worried] of RUM MEP contains [about] I (one) | |
| 17 | Parrot beginning to make a harsh cry (5) |
| MACAW – M{ake}[beginning], A, CAW (harsh cry) | |
| 18 | Over protective government that may get our goat? (3,5,5) |
| THE NANNY STATE – A straight definition with a cryptic hint | |
| 19 | Talk incessantly at terminal? Not entirely (6) |
| YATTER – Hidden [not entirely] in {incessantl}Y AT TER{minal} | |
| 20 | Empty-headed moggy in farmyard enclosure? (6) |
| SCATTY – CAT (moggy) in STY (farmyard enclosure) | |
|
Down |
|
| 1 | Hint to leader of expedition to move stealthily (6) |
| TIPTOE – TIP (hint), TO, E{xpedition}[leader] | |
| 2 | Restoration of control over bank document (13) |
| REINSTATEMENT – REIN (control – an old crossword favourite), STATEMENT (bank document) | |
| 3 | Order observed in the dictionary (5) |
| EDICT – Hidden [observed] in {th}E DICT{ionary} | |
| 5 | Outdoor opera in revised version (4-3) |
| OPEN-AIR – Anagram [revised version] of OPERA IN | |
| 6 | One who moves fast to supply amphetamine? (5,8) |
| SPEED MERCHANT – This works all in one as a cryptic but there are two elements to it, each with a different meaning | |
| 7 | Predilection of monarch supporting large island (6) |
| LIKING – L (large), I (island), KING (monarch) | |
| 9 | Smart Dane working as shopkeeper, perhaps (9) |
| TRADESMAN – Anagram [working] of SMART DANE. A defiintion by example mitigated by ‘perhaps’. | |
| 13 | Warship‘s undoing, going round oil installation (7) |
| FRIGATE – FATE (undoing) going round RIG (oil installation) | |
| 14 | A way granny finally shows lack of interest (6) |
| APATHY – A, PATH (way), {grann}Y [finally] | |
| 15 | Like country gentry, ultimately not wimpish! (6) |
| TWEEDY – {no}T [ultimately], WEEDY (wimpish). This was my LOI (last one in) and my downfall, adding 5 minutes to my solving time. I simply could not see it or think of anything but ‘landed’ which was not an option because of checkers and it wouldn’t have accounted for the second part of the clue. Having problems completing the last one or two answers in a grid is something I suffer from occasionally, though not usually in a Quick cryptic. | |
| 17 | Notes produced by Greek character thus (5) |
| MUSIC – MU (Greek character – the 12th in that alphabet), SIC (thus – Latin, as used to acknowledge an error reproduced in a quotation from another source) | |
15 dn TWEEDY no problem 7.08 my PB
horryd Shanghai
Edited at 2016-03-21 07:54 am (UTC)
Also helped by being in warmer climes for last few weeks I suspect
Dave the Diver
Brian
Edited at 2016-03-21 10:38 am (UTC)
Edited at 2016-03-21 02:04 pm (UTC)
Playuppompey
This seemed a pretty easy puzzle to me as the four long clues all seemed very gettable after a first read-and they were.
A nice start to the week.Good to see Inspector Morse. I was able to parse Tweedy when I came back to it so all done in just over 20 minutes. David
Tweedy GeoffH