Quick Cryptic 539 by Dazzler

Author   emu66Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A good workout from Dazzler, with some tricky clues and some more familiar outings. LOI 5a and COD 22a

ings

Across
1 Witticism involving English farm animals: EPIGRAM
English = E, farm animals = PIG, RAM
5 Notion that surprises me!: FANCY
Double definition, second a little cryptic (fancy that!)
8 Completely give up, like the Titanic orchestra?: ABANDON SHIP
Double definition, second cryptic
10 Intelligence provided by all bridge players: NEWS
Bridge players are identified by points of the compass; as with cricket, all my knowledge of bridge comes from solving cryptic crosswords
11 Set off to find college within a particular time: DETONATE
College = ETON, in side particular time = DATE
12 Preacher initially perturbed by criminal act: PARSON
Initially perturbed = first letter P, criminal act = ARSON
14 Spot Colonel after knocking back beer: LOCALE
Colonel = COL, knocked back = LOC, beer = ALE
16 Not great changes according to plan: ON TARGET
Anagram (changes) of NOT GREAT
18 Posh headgear returned in a state: UTAH
Posh = U (as coined by Nancy Mitford and commonly used in crosswordland) headgear = HAT which is returned = TAH
20 Ought the queen talk about place for make-up?: SHOULDER BAG
Ought = SHOULD, queen = ER, talk = GAB which about gives BAG
22 In Africa, one’s spotted laughing: HYENA
Cryptic definition
23 Alternatively overcome by nervous excitement continually: FOREVER
Alternatively = OR, inside nervous excitement = FEVER

Down
2 Identify fish I left: PLACE
Fish = PLAICE, missing ; a sign beloved of fish and chip shops,eg Ernie’s Plaice
3 Good girls making spectacles: GLASSES
Good = G, girls = LASSES. Seen something similar to this recently.
4 Help Matilda every now and again: AID
Alternate letters (every now and again) of Matilda
6 Pale like when beheaded: ASHEN
Like = AS, when without w (beheaded) = HEN
7 Money to invest for London, say: CAPITAL
Double definition
9 Short message husband lost during TV fundraiser turned up : NOTELET
TV fundraiser = TELETHON, losing husband ie without H, and backwards (turned up)
11 In Huntingdon, eg, a lovely county: DONEGAL
Hidden word
13 Yes-man in trouble about time for remission: AMNESTY
Anagram (in trouble) of YES MAN, about time = T
15 Go to pieces, caught before street fight: CRUMBLE
Caught = C, street fight = RUMBLE, as in West Side Story
17 Trouble with sailors below DECK: ADORN
Trouble = ADO, sailors = RN (Royal Navy)
19 Crook’s point of view: ANGLE
Double definition
21 I rise in the end and leave: EGO
Last letter of rise (in the end) = E, leave = GO

20 comments on “Quick Cryptic 539 by Dazzler”

  1. Very straightforward, I thought. 7 minutes. Was rather hoping for some All Fools Day japes.
  2. I hope I’m missing something in 8ac, or it’s just a very unfortunate misprint (UNlike), but as it stands it’s quite an offensive clue. Invariant
    1. Bit of a calumny, I’m afraid.

      Shame, this was easily hardest of the week for me. DNF with four clues unsolved.

      1. Thank you Anon. I am relieved there is an innocent explanation, but I still wouldn’t personally have used that surface if only because it could (easily?) be mistaken as a shocking calumny. Invariant
  3. I found that a lot harder than yesterday, but very good fun. A DNF at 18 mins, as I was just staring blankly at 5A for a a couple of minutes before giving up and coming here, so thanks emu for that, as well as for showing me how to improve my own effort!

    COD to a band on ship. Agreed, Invariant – it is a bit grizzly if you take the ‘like’ as meaning the band is *still* on the ship, rather than meaning that’s what they were. That’s sort of why I liked it – they didn’t give up, they were and they are a band on a ship. It gave quite a lot of, er, depth to the clue.

    Thanks also to everyone for their very encouraging comments yesterday.

    Edited at 2016-04-01 12:49 pm (UTC)

  4. After a record QC time for me yesterday, and then nearly finishing the 15×15, I felt well prepared today. I was heading for another 10 minute solve, having got the difficult 5a. Solving in order, unusually, I was held up at the bottom by 20a, 19d and 23a. After a while I saw 20a,then got 19d. A trip on a bus to town provided the necessary mental break to finally see Forever. So a long time in total.
    Some good clues today and I rather liked 8a; 5a and 9d very clever. David
  5. Another dnf another very hard puzzle another week of qc not designed for newbies. Really depressing. Calling it a day. One of many I think.
    1. It’s supposed to be a learning curve. If you give up every time you hit a problem then there’s nothing to achieve. Sorry you’ve been put off but at least you gave it a go.
  6. Found this harder than yesterday where I only needed help with two clues. Too pleased with myself for spotting anagram as an answer again and so error messed me up. Love having the solution for help. On tough days I get the first two clues across and that can help kickstart me. LL
  7. I did most quickly and then got held up by five random short clues. Having not played bridge for about forty years the points of the compass escaped me. In 21d I wanted the definition to be I rise as I thought the E came from thE end. However, 20a and 9d were very clever and made me smile when I got them. Overall and enjoyable experience although I hit a wall for a while and nowhere near as difficult as Wednesday. Probably about an hour overall today.
  8. Held up by the south east corner, 19d and 23 accross. It has taken us about 12 months to be able to finish, a g and t helps! Do not give up. Thanks to the blog which is always helpful and often amusing. Elin and Ian.
  9. Today I went Clue Blind and could not finish, so imagined many others would find the same. Lo and behold some did, some didn’t! I think I’m now a two-year-old newbie, and still trying to recall if this is a clue I know how to solve or one that I don’t. Today I just couldn’t pick the right words. Mind you putting Shoulder Pad instead of Shoulder Bag did not help! So without all the bloggers how would I be happy?
  10. I was determined to finish this one after to DNFs so persisted trying to figure out my LOI (5a) for much longer than would usually be the case. Fortunately, much to my relief, I finally saw it. An interesting mix of the tough (e,g, 23a, 19d and 5d) and straightforward today I thought.
  11. One left (5a) after about 40 mins, but even though I jotted down 15 words that fitted, I never got to FANCY. So ending the week with a DNF, for a 3-2 week. I liked 8a, didn’t see it as offensive as I never really read the surface. DONEGAL appeared a couple of weeks ago with the same type of clue I recall. Was not able to parse 6d without the blog, kept looking for a word ending in ‘-ashen’. Not a deal breaker, though. COD was 20a.
  12. I feel I must re-echo the comments of so many who have only been at these quickies for a couple ofm years or so. It is amazing how, with the learning from the daily blog, one has been able to develop from staring at a blank grid to completing within 20 minutes given a following wind. Thanks to one and all. My CoD is 17d. It took ages to separate ‘below’ from ‘deck’ – that typifies what makes a good clue and brings frustration, fun and fascination in varying proportions. One question: what is the distinction between link and thread? Being as old as the hills it is beyond me to provide a picture and my wish to preserve a degree of anonymity means I sign off as DM
    1. Can’t help you I’m afraid. Both options appear to do the same thing. To be honest I’ve never clicked on either before today, and I’ve been round here for nearly 10 years!
  13. DNF for me, defeated by NEWS, ADORN, EGO and FOREVER.

    Didn’t help that for 20a I had checkers S___L___/B__; making the Queen = Bee link, and otherwise mystified by the clue, I bunged in SPELLING BEE, which held me up for a while.

    Well done Dazzler for some bamboozling clues.

    1. Yup, I had SPELLING BEE for a bit, based on Bee for Queen, it went a bit fuzzy after that.
  14. Another dnf another very hard puzzle another week of qc not designed for newbies. Really depressing. Calling it a day. One of many I think.

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