Quick Cryptic 556 by Teazel

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I have a long drive today so hope my fellow bloggers will field any questions. Fortunately the crossword was easy – I took longer trying to get the new format to work on an iPad – very difficult to get the puzzle and the keyboard up at the same time – the ‘give us feedback line’ seeming to make things worse (!).

ACROSS

1. Bright lights – double definition.
9. Graft – hard work. Great (GT) including RAF.
10. Visible – plain to see. Brother or sister (SIB – I presume short for sibling but haven’t seen this before) inside VILE.
11. Slither – slide. That girl (SHE) and runs (R) are across (around) illuminated (LIT).
12. Otter – river creature. Sp(OT TER)rier.
13. Bigamy a crime. Important (BIG), AMY.
14. Strand – double definition.
17. Roses – double definition.
18. Maudlin – drunkenly sentimental. This is how Magdalen College in Oxford is pronounced.
21. Despair – have no hope. Anagram (rarely) of PRAISED.
22. Priam – legendary King – Greek mythology – the last king of Troy, killed at its fall. He was father by Hecuba of Hector, Paris, and Cassandra. Stiffly formal (PRIM) holding A.
23. Maiden voyage – trip. Hmm – I see what the setter is getting at but this is the trouble with archaic/literary definitions – the Collins dictionary definition concentrates mostly on the fact that a maiden is a young unmarried female.

DOWN

2. Reading – double definition.
3. Get the message – double definition.
4. Tavern – pub. Cask (vat) tipped over (TAV), eastern (E), sailors (RN – Royal Navy).
5. In short supply – rationed. Briefly (IN SHORT) and flexibly (SUPPLY – being supple).
6. Habit – costume. Hot (H), somewhat (A BIT) – rather liked this one – COD.
7. Sneered – shown contempt. Be angry (SEE RED) holding a knight (N). I welcome discussion (well, on anything – but this particularly) – is sneered shown contempt or/and showed contempt?
8. Ages – grows old. T(A)n(G)i(E)r(S).
13. Boredom – lack of interest. Communist (RED) inside BOOM.
15. Allying – forming partnership. (A), liberal (L), LYING.
16. Improv – unscripted performance. Enhance shortly (IMPROV)e.
18. Sushi – Japanese dish. Anagram (prepared) of US HIS.
20. Name – one could identify with this – which is a cryptic definition, I think, where the whole clue cryptically defines the answer.

21 comments on “Quick Cryptic 556 by Teazel”

  1. At least you got it to work on an ipad – on a laptop it loaded but wouldn’t let me do anything at all. I had to use the back button to get out of it. In the end I waited for the paperboy to deliver the paperware version – far more reliable.
    Oh, the puzzle itself: quite straightforward, no difficulties, no holdups, no quibbles. With yesterday’s a PB for me, are we in a run of easy ones?
    Have a good trip Chris, thanks for the blog.
  2. (7dn) he has sneered = he has shown contempt so I guess it works for me. Certainly didn’t hold up solving it, anyway
    By the by, (18ac) it is also how Magdalene College Cambridge is pronounced 😉

    Couldn’t quite see the problem with 23ac? The idea is that even though it is called a maiden voyage, it is not in fact restricted to maidens.
    Interesting word, maiden.. a maiden voyage is for a ship that’s never been had before. A maiden over is an over that’s not been scored off.. hmm indeed

    Presumably you get the ipad edition of the Times Chris? Not sure if it is supposed to work, otherwise?

    Edited at 2016-04-26 07:22 am (UTC)

  3. This one had me worried, as I came up empty on the acrosses until MAUDLIN. But things picked up on the downs, although ‘shown contempt’ did pull me up short for a mo. Jerry’s reading will, I suppose, let the setter off, but it still strikes me as a bit awkward. No problem with 23ac. Liked 5d in retrospect; biffed at the time. 4:43.
  4. 7 minutes again today. I learnt SIB for “sibling” here within the past year I think. 20dn seemed a bit feeble to me.

    I understood the Oxford and Cambridge Magdalene colleges were pronounced differently though I could never remember which was supposed to be which, but I see (at least according to Wiki and Jerry) this is not so. I wonder where I got the idea from.

    Edited at 2016-04-26 08:01 am (UTC)

    1. I always refer to my brothers and sisters as the sibs: although didn’t spot it here.
    2. I think they are pronounced the same, but it’s Magdalen College Oxford and Magdalene (final e) College Cambridge
  5. Goodness me – 8 minutes – smashed previous record by several minutes. It must have been easy!
  6. Yes, nice and easy today with a time of about 6 minutes all in.

    I can’t seem to find anything that would do any better in explaining NAME than the explanation that our blogger has given above. I did wonder about some special significance of ‘one’ in the clue. If the clue works as a whole clue cryptic, then the clue could just as easily be ‘you could identify with this’. The best and most fitting definition of one that I can find is my on-line Chambers, where one is defined as ‘An individual thing or person, identified by implied reference to a known noun, as in two red pens and a blue one’. In this sense, one is used to identify an individual thing or person (a pen), which is otherwise a noun or name. This interpretation would make the clue a double definition, with one of the definitions still seeming a bit week and obtuse though.


  7. This was as far as I can recall my slowest time ever for the QC.

    13.48 I just didn’t get going on 1ac BRIGHT LIGHTS I started with LONDON LIGHTS but then started on other possible cities!I should have thought of BRIGHTON!Is it a city these days?

    I’m good with 7dn SNEERED

    16ac IMPROV is such an unpleasant imported and truncated word.

    a MELDREW word if ever there was one – “What’s wrong with improvisation? Too long for you, matey!!?

    horryd Shanghai

  8. Was on par for record time, but then came up against several tricky clues in the SE corner. 21:14 all-in.
  9. Quick, easy and fun again. I am learning to expect Tavern, Reading and Sushi to crop up about once a week on average!

    Chris

  10. Generally fairly straightforward I thought. having been married to a child psychologist I am very familiar with “sib”. Don’t like “improv” at all, but it is in several dictionaries so I guess I have to let the setter off. For me, “sneered” is just plain wrong. Showed contempt yes, but shown contempt no. Sneered is active as is showed, shown is passive.
    PlayupPompey
    1. Not entirely sure how tenses work in crossword land but could the clue imply that when he sneered at the wording he had shown contempt to the setter?

      Bit disappointed to discover that it wasn’t me getting better but that the puzzle was easier.

  11. Also thought I would beat a sub 20 for the first time after a cracking start. Ended up at 25:27, still good. Agree with above that NAME, my LOI, was a weak clue. Was slow to see MAIDEN VOYAGE, and thought PRIAM was COD. Oxbridge colleges along with Oxbridge slang makes us Russell Groupies feel left out.
  12. As I understood it, in (especially) Child Psychiatry a sib referred to a brother or sister, while a sibling meant the child of; in Ornithology siblings in common usage referred to the fledglings of parent birds.

    I have always thought the distinction useful, though have been derided – sneered at even – by others . . .

    As for “improv”, whatever its legitimacy, it smacks of gangster rap and I don’t like it!

    Philip

  13. Pretty straightforward LOI 7d I think sneered is just about OK but I will insist on trying to fit in kt for knight COD 9a
  14. Just over 10 minutes and I thought this had some challenges in the SE with time lost when I doubted a word ending R_V. Maudlin and Priam could be hard until you have the checkers. Main puzzle also worth trying for second day running for aspirant QCers. Thanks Teazel for some excellent clues.
  16. Could someone explain why rarely works as an indicator of an anagram please. I can usually see the logic but not with that.
    31 mins today. I too thought I might break 20 mins but the bottom half didn’t just slot in like the top did.
  17. Ah yes – I was thinking of rarely as ‘not very often’ rather than ‘unusually’. Many thanks.

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